The Boss shows up

Back to concrete. After an eleven day wait for concrete we poured. Given my location and the ruggedness of the road up one cancellation is pretty good. As previously mentioned I had hopes of pouring my upper footings, lower retaining wall, pool and septic slabs and whatever was left over, spread it on the driveway three inches thick. In my short time working with concrete I always try to have a bail out point if I come out short or have too much. You can measure all day but there are so many variables getting within a yard or two is pretty good. First you start off with uneven surfaces on most footings, the pumper eats some concrete, spillage everywhere as pipe is broken down and moved and finally Majestic gives you a ballpark on how much is in each truck! I think I once mentioned on how I ended up with an extra truckload of eight yards and a site nearby was thrilled to buy it but when it came to paying a month later they said there was only seven yards in the truck. Yes, I took money for seven. Truth is, it was a stroke of good fortune they needed it otherwise it would have been dumped somewhere by the side of the road and I would have eaten it. You get my point however. Estimating concrete here is an art.

Back to the pour. The only hard part on this one is putting out all the pipe, especially with the extra seventy feet further down the hill to the septic. Jeff, the pumper, wanted to pour the footings then the wall, pool, septic and then break all the pipe down and relocate most of it back to do the driveway. Somewhere in there we would top off the pier and beams from a prior pour.

Somehow I lost the original pictures of the footings after they were poured. In the picture above you can see the footings as they wind around what will be the upper patio. I put a corner in to save a palm tree and some jasmine trees. It's in that back corner where the exterior shower will be. We are forming the retaining wall on top of the footings in the pic above.

Things proceeded as planned along with all the bitching and moaning about all the pipe--200' on this pour. That's a lot. I have to pay $20 for every ten feet over 100'. a picture of the lower retaining wall just prior to completion last December.....

My first genuine nightmare.

We had a blow out. The following pics are after the fact. The lower retaining wall slopes from ten feet down to three feet over a run of about seventeen feet. By retaining wall standards it was pretty straight forward. In fact I pretty much forgot about it as I had built it several months prior. I should have checked my work.

Everything was going smoothly. The area on the back of the wall, where I knew I had a small opening that I could not close because of, yet again, another small mud slide, presented no problems. We filled to the leak, let it settle and set, and then resumed pumping. The wall was filled to about two feet from the top when a loud pop was heard, then another. A long pregnant pause gave way to the sound of the lower course 2x4's being snapped like toothpicks. Then even a 3/4 inch sheet of ply buckled two feet from the bottom.

the stain on the wall says it all......

I had heard about blow outs. They are almost spoken with fear and reverence. You know, "back in 94 I was on a job when..." or "the wall blew out over on Gift hill and almost killed that guy" that kind of talk. They are the reason for having excess crew standing around on every pour. The "just in case" guys. Well now I know why, first hand. It's the ultimate gut shot on a pour. Forget the money, the labor, the time all loss in a heartbeat. It's the personal failure, the panic of knowing you have three yards of hot steaming concrete leaking out of a wall, now passing your knees, rising three feet high that is going to be rock hard in no time. It's the other concrete trucks lined up waiting to unload and they have no time for you. It's 95 degrees in the shade, your head is bursting, you can see your heart pumping in your chest and everyone is looking at you for what's next. Like I f'king know!?

After a top of the lungs profane blue streak that even stunned the workers I fell silent for about thirty seconds making sure I wasn't having a heart attack and collected myself. Change of plans. Forget the septic. I'll take care of the spill, everyone else pour all the concrete on the driveway. Originally the driveway was my bail out for any extra. Now it will take everything left. Thereupon I set out filling two five gallon buckets and spreading it on the adjoining patio I had just back filled. It was a race against time. I had about thirty minutes at most to move all I could. Anything I could not would have to be jack hammered out at a future date at a complete loss. Everything I could move would not be wasted--it will mean less concrete needed for the patio.

I topped off the pier and beams from the last job and then started spreading it as fast as I could. By the time I collapsed I hadn't got it all. Lost a yard probably.

Thor putting on the whalers......

The stain on the wall above says it all. It was in that corner that the 2x4's on the bottom two rows blew out. In talking to Mike he said the popping sounds were the snap ties failing. Snap ties pass through the wall and hold the whalers to the wall. You can see the snap ties in place in the wall above, where there is no plywood, sticking out through the rebar. The snap ties pass through the plywood and are attached to the whalers. Then you put 2x4's across all the whalers. It's very sturdy when completed. Why I feel some responsibility is I could have further reinforced this set up with another trim board running down the existing wall that has the stain on it. Had I, its not out of the question that even with the snap ties failing, the wall would have stayed up. The mudslide on the rear of the wall actually was helpful as it held the wall in place. With the additional support on the front it may have held.

When I finally threw in the towel I went up to see how the driveway was progressing. Believe me, I could barely walk up the hill to get there. It was a wonderful sight. Practically the entire driveway was poured and floated. I pretended to help.

When it was over I paid every one double for pouring the driveway and headed to the showers. A very expensive lesson these blowouts. I didn't even want to think of the work coming, to jack hammer out a wall and residue pile. The only consolation is showering first, which means I get the hot water in the hose!

Thor said he was going to go look at the damage. While crying in the shower I heard Thor hollering about something or another. It turns out the concrete inside the wall was not completely hard yet. Truth is, I had given up out of exhaustion and figured a few days with the jack hammer when I was feeling better. Not Thor thank god. I jumped out of the shower grabbed my skill saw, screw gun, etc and set about taking down the plywood forms. That took all of fifteen minutes. Sure enough it wasn't rock hard. Forty minutes of hard picking, all but ten minutes by Thor, and the wall was carved to within reason. I would still later rent the jack hammer to bust up the spill and fine tune the wall. Actually it was my hammer drill that did the yeoman's work on carving the wall. They are amazing tools and easy to work with. You can see the results in the pics above as we are rebuilding the forms. Net, net I have no idea if I got off easy on the blow out. Plus there's no sympathy from the crowd. What do you expect? You are pouring concrete! Get over it, as everyone laughs days later! Yikes.

But I'm scared now. It's definitely like falling off a horse.

say hello to my little friend...the infamous jack hammer, again!

Sometime while we were digging the pool, WAPA-the electric company was making noises on the road coming in to the cul de sac. Sure enough, after a year and a half, they were stringing power. Now mind you, stringing power and getting power are not one and the same thing. I won't bore you with the details but at least we had power on the poles. And that how it stayed for weeks. None the less we dropped everything at first sight and put up a temporary power pole.

There she be and there she sat for weeks. More painful still I thought I had worked out a deal with persons to go unnamed that I would be hooked up. Even worse they came and hooked up a nearby house and left me high and dry. Plus, getting hooked up does not mean power. It means you are ready for another department to come and put in the meter. And so it went through February and most of March.

The good news, Denise was coming on the March 21st for eleven days. Bad news, my housing sitting gig fell through and even so she said she would stay at the shack. What a trooper. Don't forget, Deadwood comes with an outdoor jungle shower and a crab toilet, if you get my meaning. There is cold water however! Not to forget its grand size at 12x12. Living large as they say :). What it does have is a grand view of mountains, valleys and sea while sitting in bed.




During the ten days following the pour we worked on repairing the blow out and building the forms for the upper retaining wall.

As the wall turns a corner at the back it drops from eight feet to six to four and finally three following the contour of the hillside.

This is the repair to the blow out wall with the reinforcing I should of had originally.

The night before Denise came I went down the mountain to have some dinner around five o'clock. Hung out to about eight and started back up the road. Pitch black. When I pulled into the cul de sac something was missing around my temp power pole. The hanging wires. Number 2 wire no less--very expensive. Grabbed my spot light and hopped out. Not a happy camper. As I approached the pole, before looking up, I was stunned to see a METER. They had come after five with the cherry picker and not only hooked up the wires but installed a meter at the same time! Winston, I love man. I had power, okay sure it was a couple hundred feet away from the shack but I had power. Of course I didn't tell Denise that night over the phone.

Next day off to St. Thomas, Home Depot and the airport. At Home Depot I picked up a 200' role of #10 exterior three wire cable and went to the airport.


Never said a word. Denise kept saying it would be like camping. When we got home I pointed to the pole. I was the man! Power! While she rested the next day I dug a shallow 50' ditch along the road burying the cable. At the mango tree I turned it down the hill and ran it over the ground through the jungle to the shack. Hooked it up to a 15 amp GFCI, plugged in a couple of surge protectors and proceeded to connect a fridge, microwave, toaster oven and a coffee maker. Yes, and just like at home in SF, I can't run the micro and toaster oven at the same time. Big, big bonus, I now have power for my phone and computer.


Mind you all this sits on top of beige/white marble counter tops. Such a gay man! Passing through Home Depot awhile back they had a left over load of 12" tiles for $4 each in boxes of 10. Big spender that I am I bought two. Now I even have a marble back splash. They stay in place by gravity and nothing gets between the sharp edges. I suppose if anything did, I could lift it up. Hehehahahoho.

Denise was happy. There was peace in the kingdom.

Oh, I forgot to mention my Martha Steward hanging closet. K-Mart rules.

Yes, there seems to be a blue theme going on here.

Over the next few days Thor and I continued to work finishing up the walls while Denise chilled out. Meanwhile I got in line for concrete to pour the upper wall, fix the lower blow out, the slabs for the pool and septic. We had about ten days, weather permitting. Thor went and did something else while I vacationed with Denise for a week!

a local resident......


We do the standard stuff folks come to St John for. Beach, hiking, restaurants and as they say in Coral Bay "it's a drinking town with a yachting problem". Like most National Parks everywhere you look the vistas are stunning.

The beach above turns into the pic below when there are storms out at sea. Fifteen to twenty footers are unusual but very possible.


These following pics are from a popular hike. Of course Denise turned it into a death march, late start, not enough water, high noon and seven miles. You start up on Centerline Road and hike down the Reef Bay Trail for a couple of miles, various plantation ruins along the way. Mostly old slave quarters. If you organize it, which I didn't, you get picked up by a park boat and motor half way around the island back to Cruz Bay. Instead we skipped a lot and hiked about seven miles by joining a few hikes together with a beach stop in between, blah, blah, blah.

One trail we did take was closed. That's why I went. It was to the old house that follows. This is another of the great houses they are letting go to seed instead of turning them over to private enterprise under park supervision. That is the norm all through the West. This is criminal. I don't want to hear any excuses about this shit. This could be a great hiking destination as the pics will show.


This is the view from the house. What a classic small plantation building. Probably fiteen hundred square feet with 15' ceilings. Just perfect. They kept it up until the 70's or so and now who knows what they are doing. The house you see in the distant right above the beach is our friend's house we stayed at last year when Denise first came here.

This is the view looking back from our friend's house. That tiny white speck you see in the far mountains tucked into the valley is the plantation house.


After getting back to the main trail heading down the mountain you end up at the sugar mill that originally belonged to this house. The mill kept working until the 1930's (?). I'm too lazy to look it up now. Just past these ruins is the beach where the boat would pick you up.

While Obama came to St Thomas to walk around with his mates the Clinton's came to St John to hang out. Just kidding, just kidding!

Another favorite here is Caneel Bay, the old Rockefeller estate/resort. This time we went to Turtle Bay, a grand old home tucked in the far end of the property. There's also a reasonably good resturant here at a stiff price.

I have no idea what I did with the pics of the house and grounds but here's a few watching the traffic go by from the patio.



And live from the veranda we have this clip.




Well after a few other shorts trips, including St Thomas, the standard intros to the locals, Denise headed home.

Me, back to being a hermit.

Wilson....

The Year of the Rat

Got back on island January 8th and set about making the shack livable. First on the list was getting some rudimentary plumbing hooked up. Sink in, shower out. I had a four hundred gallon tank at the top of the driveway which gave me great pressure for the shower. For the sink I put the 150 gallon tank on the roof. Pressure is OK. In fact less is better as I'll use less water that way. Water cost me $135 for six hundred gallons. Not cheap.

When I was loading my containers in Florida the guys at the dock threw in several new hoses and nozzles, which happen to have shower settings, from an open container that was never claimed. Too perfect! One of the 100' hoses runs down along the driveway to my jungle shower out back. The sun heats the water during the day. However it was cold in the winter.

If I ever get electricity I'll be dangerous. As it is now I use hurricane lamps--they work really well--and a Miner's headlamp that Denise gave me for Christmas. My AT&T phone along with my laptop with the mobile internet connection, at a little faster than dial up, work reasonably well. None of this even existed six months ago so I'm totally thrilled. Net, net it's a great place to work, shower and sleep. Down in Coral Bay the Big Belly Deli just opened. Great food and more importantly great prices. They even have a vegi wrap on the menu. Homemade pizzas and the standard breakfast menu. At this point I don't need more than that. I have coolers and ice to supplement but the waste almost makes it not worthwhile. Things will change when electricity comes. We have been waiting over a year now. At least the poles are up!

Back to the hard work.

Laying in the footings for the upper retaining wall. A lot of digging to get the trench relatively level. So much stone and mud. This concrete work can't end soon enough. It just kicks my butt.

Finally something easy--putting the trim boards for the driveway.

I'm only pouring three inches deep as opposed to the normal five to six. I still have to bring back the big track hoe. It will bust up the driveway pretty bad. Afterwards I'll add another three inches when I'm finally done with the heavy equipment. Also it's only nine feet wide. This way one track can stay on dirt giving the operator pretty good control going up and down. Ultimately the drive will be about twelve feet wide.

They stop by every day.

The pool moves! That's it being dug below.

One of the significant advantages of being the designer, builder etc is you can make changes. The pool is a major change. Previously is was sited on the upper patio at the base of the retaining wall in the far corner near the exterior shower. Anyway I even penciled in french doors where the two windows were and was going to add an exterior door to the shower. With the french doors open you could look from the pool through the living room out the opposite doors across the valley and to the sea. You know the routine--curtains blowing in the sweet smelling breeze etc etc. Plus you didn't have to traipse through the house to use the bathroom. You would simply use the exterior door and walk through the 6x7 outdoor shower.

Well cancel those grand plans.

With the sun moving south for the winter the upper patio doesn't get very much sun, in fact none at all for a couple of months until I drop some trees to open up the forest canopy. In addition at approximately a 1000ft above sea level its chilly in the shade. At night it's perfect sleeping weather in the low to mid 60's.

As the picture above shows, I moved it to the corner of the lower patio--the only place that gets sun in January. Now the hard work. On the upper patio, when the time came, a track hoe would dig out the pool in one hour. On the lower patio it would have to be dug by hand or, with great difficulty, bring in the mini track hoe that I used previously. The easy access is now blocked by the shack and retaining wall. There's no way I could dig that pool having already dug the footing for the pier. I said then, never again.

The Big Belly Deli to the rescue. The guy in the pictures below is Thor. We got to chatting while eating and he was looking for work while he was passing through. "I can pay you or I can pay Elvis and his machine". Two days later we started. Yeah I got roped into it to. Someone had to remove the dirt/mud as it came out of the hole. Seven days later a pool was dug and all the earth had been spread, back filling the footing that I had just recently poured. Patio and pool in one hard back breaking shot. Mostly his back! At 31 he can take it. At turning 60 this year I can't!

Thor in the hole.

The gut is almost gone!

I'm going to pour the walls of the pool on the inside of the existing pier and beams that you can see are still inside the plywood forms in the picture above behind Thor. I'll make those two sides of the pool with an infinity edge. Folks are down on these type pools here because they lose so much water, our most valuable commodity. However this is basically a small cocktail pool so I'll spare the expense for the look. The view will be nice when the landscaping is done. The pics below give a hint. Its going to be a great pool for the moon.

The view from the shack when the clouds and rain moves in.

While Thor set about digging the pool I jumped further down the hill to the hole I originally had dug when we did the original excavation for the foundation and laid in the rebar and key way for the septic tank. I'm making my own. Yes it's a pain the ass but it solves all my logistical problems. Getting a plastic tank, sand and water etc to this hole would be a nightmare. Pouring concrete is just more pipe. The cost run about the same but I end up with twice the size septic tank. This tank will also handle the upper cottage.

Now back to the pool to lay in the drains and rebar.

My grand plan at this time was to pour the driveway, the footings on the upper patio, the slabs for the septic and swimming pool, top off the pier and beams that suffered in the last pour and finally pour the lower side retaining wall which continues to suffer from mudslides. (It still needs some work.)

With that completed my next stage would then be to build the upper retaining wall and the pool and septic walls and frame up part of the lower patio. Then pour again.

The drains you see above were purchased on St Thomas. You need two now, thank you California, and as it turns out they have to be inspected before you pour. Nevertheless I put myself on line for concrete. I should get it, weather and supply permitting in eight days. Off to see the plumbing inspector.

In a voice that is best described as "Kingfish" (you either know who that is or you don't) I was told that although my plans have a pool permitted my plumbing permit doesn't have a pool permitted at this time. "Say What?" You needs to have "pool" written on the actual slip of paper. "How do I do that?" You needs to have your licensed contractor submit a request which will be forwarded to St Thomas. "How long will that take?" Abouts three weeks. "I have concrete coming in eight days." Not to da pool. "It's just the drain. Has anyone ever been turned down for a pool?" Well nooo. "Well?" Wells yous have a problem. You needs yours permit. And on and on it went.

I got my concrete on the eight day. On the ninth my plumbing contractor called to say he changed his mind and I could pour without the pending permit. He just cost me an extra pour for $1200. Don't stop the Carnival!

Here's some pics of a place on Little Lameshur Bay lived in until the late 50's. The house and grounds, an old bay leaf farm, were lived in by one of the main characters who turned the island into a park. His name escapes me but he initially had plans to develop the bay into home sites--that is until he started living there. The raw beauty changed his mind. In fact he started the whole National Park in motion by writing Lawrence Rockefeller.

These pics show what happens in less than 50 years.

the cookersMany folks are having a hard time with the park. All the ruins are going to seed. I mean what's the point. In fifty years what are they going to say "there used to be a plantation here". Hello, don't tell me you don't have the money, take care of these places or turn it over to private enterprise so these sites are preserved in some form or another. When we hiked most of the National Parks in the Northwest, including Canada, most of the lodges, tea houses etc were privately run inside the parks. You hike to a glacier and there's an old hut serving food etc. There are several plantations houses that could be somewhat restored and used for the same here, not to mention the revenues they raise for the park. They become hiking destinations. They hide behind the canard that this is some pristine untouchable landscape. Hello. This whole island was taken to the nub and planted with sugarcane for 300 years. The mongooses, feral cats, goats, burros etc are not original, not to mention most of the fruit trees and flowers. Lets get real here. Save these historical artifacts.

On a brighter note look what was spotted here. I might not have to smuggle any in from Puerto Rico!

In the old days they blotted out the sun on occasion until they were all eaten. I love the little buggers. They look like the ones we have in San Francisco.

I already have shack guests.

RATS. Thankfully not ugly city monsters but nice golden brown country rats--but rats nonetheless. On the bright side they seem to travel alone and they are pretty bright. When they do visit it's one at a time and thankfully they slip under the screen in the same place rather that chewing a hole. They don't crawl over you here like they did in Jamaica where I had a shack on the beach. But they make a racket eating plastic containers or whatever so you do get woken up. I shine the flashlight, I chase them, they chase me and then they exit whence they came. They usually only come once a night, two or three times a week. I did have to set a trap for one however. We went through the chase scene four times in one night. Not cool. On the fifth time the trap got him which messed me up at the same time watching him breath his last gasps with those little clenched fists. I couldn't watch.

Then a loud noise. I turn on the light and he's loose. I'm kind of glad. Then I had to watch the Bataan death march as he slowly, hand over hand, climbs the chair to get to the ledge to get under the screen and then continue to climb up a 4x4 to the roof. He couldn't make it and came back down. I thought he was coming back in when I nudged him off the ledge and he fell ten feet into the brush. I have not seen him since. I hope he made it.

It's now the beginning of March.......