Sisyphus

If you have to leave St John this is not a bad place to land twelve hours later!

For the first time in memory we bailed on a tree. That's it in the background with the red ornaments. There seemed to be some blahs in the air. True, the cost of trees is through the roof but the whole city seems pretty dull by standards. The usual displays of gi-normous trees looking professionally decorated were absent in most homes. 

Venice at the De Young

Museums and movies--most of the Academy nominees--take care of the cultural dt's for several months.

Only time in the US and third time out of Rome in 400 years.



 Interesting story behind the piece: http://www.sanfranciscosentinel.com/?p=166541

Yet another exhibit at the Legion. It's common to think of Pissarro as a leading Impressionist but Virgin Islanders tend to think of him as a local boy made good! Born and raised on St Thomas in 1830 when it was still Danish.

http://www.sfexaminer.com/entertainment/2011/10/pissarro-s-people-home-san-francisco-s-legion-honor

One of the world's best settings for a museum. Virtually everyone has seen the Legion, one way or another.

Sixty five years later little has changed in this video from the museum to the city scenes.

Back on the rock....

Returned to St John after more than a month in SF which included a week long delay on my return flight. It was obvious I was going to miss my connection to St Thomas out of New York so I simply took a flight a week later rather than hassle with what could be nightmares in NY and later trying to get to St John, my truck and on to the shack. There's a good chance I'll have a flat and the truck may not start. I'm bringing a new ground cable with me. Denise was thrilled with the week delay.

A week later the truck wouldn't start and it had a flat! The cable worked and a can of fix a flat or whatever it is called got me to the gas station. The shack was in reasonable shape but the power had been off. The micro was showing "0" for time. However the bowl of ice cubes in the freezer still had their shape so the outage was less than a day so everything was still good. The chickens and cats were long gone as usual.

It's always something when I get back. This time it was the beginnings of mold/mildew. Before I had left I painted most of my skim coat patches with the remaining oil primer from the shutters. Sure enough all the places I didn't paint were showing mold. You can see a distinct line in the picture below.

It's a little disconcerting having been told this would not happen. More work. The rock just keeps rolling back down the hill. Next day jumped over to St Thomas on the barge for food and painting supplies. To sleep at night I'll have to paint the entire place with oil primer after washing the walls with bleach and setting up the scaffolding in the living room again.

Lesson learned--if you have to wash walls with bleach wear a respirator. I did not on the first day and it was nasty. It sort of sneaks up on you. It is not good! Is there such a thing as bleach poisoning!?

Two days to paint the place. Had to wear my respirator for oil primer.  Working with a respirator is a real pain in the ass.

This is what happens when things break in paradise. Watch the video. Forty two days!

The mold issue really psyched me out. Even though the oil paint seemed to solve the problem I thought I kept seeing some starting here and there. I had to get an eggshell finish coat up with some extra mold/mildew additives thrown in. Painting was not part of the master plan at this time. Finishing the window shutters and trimming out the interior was. Whatever work I do now I'll have to do again at some point. I could not wait for a final color decision with Denise. I bought  a color that I thought would be close and painted with the knowledge that ultimately I would have to put up a second coat. I could adjust it then. I left the other rooms with just the oil and every time I thought I saw something, real or imagined, I washed the wall with bleach.

The last of the window shutters being constructed

This is not what you want to see at the bottom of your coffee cup after the last sip! One of my close friends.


Just another "moderate slope" build!

Things are taking shape



Eric Clapton drops the hook in Coral Bay.I would have preferred Jimmy Page but.... 

When we dry out we look like California in the dry season.

A lousy way to start the new year. Hovensa decided to close its refinery on St Croix. This is the VI's largest employer with good paying jobs. Not to mention it supplies us with all our energy needs. Two thousand jobs on an island of fifty thousand. Try to imagine 10% of your community being laid off on the same day and no one could leave town. Not good.

He was run over in his dingy one morning by the Caneel passenger ferry, shown below, at 6 am in Cruz Bay. He's in very bad shape in a Florida hospital.

Well its not all work and no play. My friend Roger called and asked if I could help a friend of his bring a boat over from Tortola. After a careful review of my non existent social calender I grudgingly said okay. Coincidentally my friend Thor was also returning to St John from a sailboat delivery. We jumped over to Road Town, Tortola along with Fran, Roger's wife. His boat was at Moorings. Here's their promo.

John's 42' is in there somewhere




Waiting to clear customs for our sail to St John

Sailing to St John

A perfect day was had by all. John wondered if we would be interested in cruising for several days around the Virgins. That's how I got roped into sailing the islands! ;~))

We over nighted at Norman and with an early start made the Baths at Virgin Gorda by ten.




The Baths at the east end of Virgin Gorda

Thor and I amongst the rocks

the Caves

We made for Cooper by night fall. Cooper has a nice layout with a great bar. As it turns out we had looked at some property online there many years prior. I got to see it in person. St John was a much better choice. Cooper went from remote and sleepy to a small bustling resort and a favored yacht destination.

http://www.cooperislandbeachclub.com/look/

Captain John

It was a great three days. Don't hate me but John wants to do it again next December for a week!

Sisyphus will get back to the house tomorrow.....

I never saw the kittens again.



Memory lane

Interesting dental plan

My mini vacation ended with Denise all too quickly. Lots of beach time, really the only time I go, while working about three hours a day. Denise could not take the goat droppings so the downstairs has been cleaned. We could not get the exterior color or the living room right no matter how many samples I made. Plan B, we are going to actually knock on the door of the house where we saw the color in SF and see if they will share. As I mentioned previously, if they had a colorist choose their colors they may not. Sometimes it is even a contractual affair. The living room will even be tougher. We want the color of a national interior design company. It's akin to calling Tiffany's and see if they will give you the formula for "Tiffany Blue". We'll find out.

I dropped Denise at the St Thomas airport on November 1 and I'll be back picking up a childhood friend on the 6th.

The work now is pretty humdrum. Thirty two shutters to take care of all the upstairs doors and windows. Multiple designs preventing any real production sense. Every now and then I had to unscrew a piece because the backs and front are different as are the left and right sides. Space out just a bit and you end up making everything in reverse! What I can tell you, I learned why custom shutters cost so much. Even with the most economical lumber, hardware etc, putting labor at just $25 an hour, a pair of serious door shutters will set you back about $700. Kick everything up with stainless fittings, hinges, milled lumber and the like and you are way past $1500.

With my friend Jimmy coming I'll drop the shutter routine and figure out some two man labor.

Friends since we were seven. The math is scary.

With Jimmy here for two weeks I figured four hours a day of work with the rest for the island. He lives in NY so we don't get to see much of each other. Years go by. St John will actually be much more convenient.

The blue container was nearly empty except for about 40 sheets of the nine foot fibreglass sheet rock. While I have moved a fair number down to the house it is a delicate job for one person. Weight aside, getting them out of the container, sliding them into the truck then reversing the process and walking down the ramp, the fifteen steps or so into the house without breaking them is quite the feat. This time around we have to go even further, to the lower floor. One person very stressful. For two people its a tiresome lay up. Hello Jimmy! Furthermore, I have already sold the container and promised, with short notice, that I would empty it when called. Because of the steepness of the driveway, the camper shell, blah, blah, I can only take about 10 sheets per trip. Let's just say we took a couple of days to move it!

In an act of perfect timing Jimmy got an intro into island living. A concrete truck overturned on the way to Coral Bay. Remembering that we drive on the left this truck was probably full. Just a guess--he was speeding. Speeding on St John is going about 35! The speed limit is 20.

The weather was perfect for all the usual tourist happenings. This is the view along the ridge to the house or as I say when I have a guest--the "Three Seasons". With a tent pitched in the house, an outhouse of dubious merits and a cold hose jungle shower, I don't have many guests, as you would imagine. The paradise buzz only goes so far. Did I mention my cooking? It won't kill you but you do get to put your feet up everyday while I slave in the kitchen. Think of it as happy trails slop. As an added bonus I also do the dishes!

He's starting to get the picture at my Casa Rustico' !

Lameshur ruins

Annaberg ruins

Continuing with Jimmy's intro to island 101, this from the smugglers blues category.....
http://virginislandsdailynews.com/news/domicanos-in-court-in-8-million-bust-1.1233720#axzz1iLTf3jPi


The view from the tent room suite. It could be worse. Don't forget at night it comes with all the rain forest sounds. Going to the bathroom can be quite the experience! Think of it as "outward bound" by accident.

Continuing the "I will work for room and board program", we jumped downstairs and put in all the electric and roughed in most of the plumbing. Two people make it so much easier. Afterwards we sheet rocked most of the bedroom ceiling.

In just two weeks he experienced the full monty of St John. Rainbows virtually everyday, wild goats, sheep, donkeys, deer, lizards, iguanas, feral cats, chickens, the hawks that eat them, noisy roosters, turtles every time we went snorkeling, some rain at night, all that and no mosquitoes. On top of that, now that I think about it, I even paid him money I didn't have. WTF.

the money shot

Here he is performing at the Castaway's. Ignore the bar noise in the beginning. He sings this song whenever we rally. He once sang it using a traffic cone on the Golden Gate Bridge 50th Anniversary walk back in 1987 and stopped foot traffic on the bridge. Yes, he has a band in NY--The Hey Baby Band. With different members it's probably going on 30+ years.

What makes it all the more remarkable is this is how he spent last year. He's now a survivor as they say after a brutal year.

On his last night we jumped over to St Thomas for the Paradise Jam. Easily the best deal in college basketball. Top teams, court side seats. You can walk out on the court during the shoot around and harass the players if you are in the mood. My friend Roger organizes it every year, springs for the tickets and a meal before the game. Who's better than him? Not to mention he even gets us over to St Thomas on the barge.

Just like that two weeks were up. I dropped Jimmy off at the airport and went back to the shutters. I have two weeks to get them all constructed so I can hang them all before I return to SF for the holidays. All I can say, they take a lot l-o-n-g-e-r than you think. Just trying to sand wood that should be planed takes over a week. What a waste. I won't make that mistake again. Well actually I will. Several thousand counter sunk screws take for ever to fill and sand. It all looks easy and simple to you actually do it. Paint, sand, patch, paint, sand, patch. Rinse and repeat four times. I can see why a lot of folks choose a more carriage bolt look for their shutters.

getting some primer on

Ultimately they will get four coats. Two primers and two top coats, sanded between with wood putty where needed. New construction takes a lot of paint. Benjamin Moore on St Thomas did not carry the oil primer I use. They said there was no demand for it here. I had to use a quick dry Zinsser stain blocker. It is not what you want to really use. It doesn't level and I find quick drys to be too brittle. Indoors ok maybe, but I prefer a true soaking oil primer for exteriors. These days the best long lasting combo I have found for wood trim is a slow/normal drying oil primer with a Latex topcoat. Beni Moore Super-Spec oil with a MoorGlo topcoat. With good prep you might get 10 or more years on the sunny side. Thankfully they carry the Satin Impervo oil for my interior trim.

Hanging them up to dry while I'm gone. I'll have to get the windows on my return in mid January.

These guys hung out everyday. The grey male was chased off by the local tom after a good beating one night a couple of weeks ago. I never got a chance to get him spaded. I need to take the two females in.

Lizzy was fixed at the beginning of the year. They have a program on St John where they give you the traps for feral cats and they fix them for free on Wednesday's. Every time I leave island for a month or so I wonder if it will be the last time I see them. Lizzy has returned twice so far. The Tuesday before I left to SF the young females disappeared and avoided the trip to the vet.

the hurricane year in review

Spotted as I was leaving St John.