Surprise, surprise, both flights were empty. That just doesn't happen these days. Give me an empty middle seat and it's as good as first class. In fact I prefer a window seat in econ so I can lay my head against the window. In business/first class the window is too far away. Sounds crazy, I know. But business/first class on a red eye is nothing to brag about. The seats don't lie flat and the free drinks I don't have, aren't worth it. The connector flight from NY or Miami is just a larger seat. No big deal.
Good news, the truck started right up at Roger's. The bad news, the shack had no electricity. Sugar ants had moved into my GFCI receptacle and somehow found a way to short it. My problem, I didn't know this. Ants? WTF. So back and forth to the power pole trying to figure out why I didn't have power. Only when I tested the actual wires, seeing I had current, did I notice it was the GFCI itself. Normally I would have been a little quicker but after almost 24 hours I'm just glad I didn't electrocute myself. Thankfully I had unplugged the refrig before I left. Rotten food for a month is no fun in the tropics.
The return routine to STJ is pretty established. Jump over to St Thomas for food and supplies. Sit in the truck both ways drawing up a punch list for the work to be done over the next five months, in no particular order. It basically sorts itself out after you start the first task. Yup, money comes into it also. I've been on a monthly budget for a long time.
What has to be done immediately, ordering a new rack and pinion for the truck. Another of those unforeseen expenses when you can least afford it. Driving on St Thomas I was seriously drifting side to side. Reminded me of the old junkers we used to buy in Detroit for $100. If you were lucky you got six months, but you had a caddy!
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| You can see the white plastic temporary gutters that directed the water into the splash pool that I drained as necessary. |
Get the gutter up, dry fitted, and then solder them in place. Normal crews would do it all on the ground and then lift entire sections up onto the hangers. You need to be able to clamp and roll them as you solder. Of course I couldn't do that. I had to hang them first, put a few rivets in, clamping as best I could, and then solder.
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| The thirty six foot run on the back, dry fitted. |
Standard learning curve issues. The house has a hip roof so I have corners and longer runs. For pros it doesn't mean a thing but to me it was complicated all of a sudden! Gutter capacity vs downspouts vs location of the cistern openings. Trust me you can drive yourself crazy especially if you are worried about torrential rains in a tropical storm or hurricane. We haven't even discussed the aesthetics of the slope of gutters across the long runs! Oh yeah, I had myself going crazy. How level was the fascia board? Will it show? Stupid stuff.
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| Propane, igniter nozzle and finished downspout insert. |
The soldering went well, sort of. Everything done on the ground, the piece above, turned out great. In fact, with the right tools it was a lot easier than I thought. Never even burnt myself. The problem was up on the scaffolding, working on the pre-hung gutters. No way I could get the solder to stay on the top half. It would simply roll down the curve to the bottom of the gutter. Not the end of the world. The straps and rivets basically hold the gutters in place and the solder keeps them from leaking at the seams--every ten feet on the long runs. The solder stayed in place to basically the half way mark. Translated, it would suffice for everything but monster rains. The top half I caulked with a silicone that I found went to 175 degrees. Because all the solder and caulk are on the inside--out of sight out of mind. I pretested the caulk on some copper scraps in the blazing sun and it did what it said it would. Ultimately, if I get my wish for a copper panel roof, I plan on wrapping the panels down inside the gutters and screwing them home for one continuous roof to gutter look. They tested perfect after the first rain.
That is not a smiley face. It's the house laughing at me. Years ago, feeling like decades now, when the lower floor and cisterns were poured the intake pipe on the back of the house was put in a position that just couldn't work without some ugliness. It would call for the downspout to drop down, turn a corner, pass through some trim work and disappear up into the ceiling of the lower porch, then passing through the concrete wall of the cistern. I have seen worse. Just go out and start looking at some of the chaos that is hanging on some very fine houses. Aesthetics aside it just seemed like a lot of work with finishing details that would look worse. I decided to move the intake pipe. On the plus side, I knew where the rebar was, a very important detail!!! Measure over ten inches for the other wall, allow for the floor joists on the other side and hope you were consistent in assembling the rebar. Score one for the good guys--no rebar transiting the hole.
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| the poor man's approach
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Real builders have a concrete hole drill or they rent one. Me, I have a standard hammer drill, 5/8 drill bit, and a paddle. First, I had no idea if this would work, drill as many holes as I could without burning out the hammer drill and then, letting it cool down of course, flip the switch to straight hammer and bust out the pieces, sometimes using a four pound baby sledge and a big chisel. Hours later I had a tight fitting hole. Yeah it felt good! ;~)
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| The view from inside the cistern. While I was in there I put on another coat, hence the grey. |
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| The old intake pipe, soon to be capped. The new intake is 8' to the right on the wall. |
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| The finished 4" downspout. Originally it was going to be on the other side of the door, make the same turn and go through the trim detail. Yuck. |
There's always some bad news. No matter how much research I did I couldn't find anyone to fabricate 1" offset pipes for the front porch to solve our design problem.
What we wanted was the look on the far right but the problem, not seen in the photo, the 2" offset was keeping the catchment basket from lying flush to the fascia board. So I made my own. Once it gets its patina no one will know.
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| Trying out my stylus on the note! |
Truck parts came. Of course they sent the two wheel drive rack and pinion not the four. Bertrand only discovered it after he had spent two hours removing the old. Worse still I think I made the ordering mistake. That's going to cost me shipping twice.
The continuing saga of the centerline repairs...almost four years and counting. Pics I posted on Facebook got some traction and made the rounds on St John.
http://www.stjohntradewindsnews.com/index.php/past-issues-web-mainmenu-38/599-2014-03-news/8865-after-weeks-of-no-work-concrete-is-poured-on-centerline-road-hole
Mandatory full screen and speakers on.....with a shout out to Eadweard Muybridge
After falling through the upper ramp I finally got around to rebuilding it. This time I used the indestructible siding stored under the shack. Not only is it perfect, it is naturally non skid. No small benefit.
NBC to the rescue. All the Winter Olympics via streaming. The best part, after five Olympics this being her last, Tsuper wins gold.
Finally, one of my dumber stunts that I will not be repeating. That is a fully extended 25' ladder propped up against a male mango tree. I had to put it straight up to reach a joint where I could tie it off. The part you don't see--the 25' immediate drop off from the base of the tree. No doubt it would be curtains by the time they found me. But I had to get those four branches off at the top. I punked out for months every time I thought about it until I figured a way to get a rope over the branch and attached to the top of the ladder. My game plan, I would never let go if things went south. Even still it was a dumb move. But with the view restored I was a happy camper.
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