She who must be obeyed arrives

 

 

Has it really been a year since Denise's last visit? Wow. On the positive side a lot of things seem to have gotten done on the house. Sometimes it doesn't seem that way when you visit every six months or so. For myself, nothing seems to get done, everything is a drawn out slow motion play. I don't know what possessed me to start this blog many years ago but thankfully I did. It forced me to take pictures and write a general outline. Had I not, I can say without reservation, I would have no idea what the sequencing was. It's all a blur now,  hustling from one thing to another.

 

the ruins of Leinster Bay

 

 

 

 

http://seestjohn.com/history_leinster_bay.html

 

 

Waterlemon Cay

 

Because dueling was illegal in the Danish West Indies, those convinced of the necessity of settling disputes or defending their honor in this manner would travel to Tortola where the practice was legal. In 1800, however, the British Virgin Islands also prohibited dueling. Consequently, the remote and uninhabited island of Waterlemon Cay, far from the eyes of Danish or British authorities, became the new "field of honor."

http://www.seestjohn.com/beaches_leinster.html

 



Mangrove snorkel

And just like that, Denise was gone after two weeks. While she was here I generally worked every morning, finishing the Juliet balcony off the kitchen/dining room. We went hiking or to the beach later in the afternoons--usually the beach. With Wi-Fi in the shack Denise also worked when necessary. Who doesn't love the connectivity these days? But a lot can also be said for the old days. All those years I spent travelling in the 70's the only real means of communication was letter writing. Post offices all over the world had general delivery where they held your mail until you showed up weeks, months later. It's true, I missed family weddings and a funeral by the time I got the notices but I would have not returned anyway. Hitch hiking from Central America back to New York, Michigan, California or wherever was quite the effort. I did it a few times--both ways! Best time, seven days, SF to Lake Atitlan, Guatemala.

Lake Atitlan, worth hitch hiking to.

Next in line--the downstairs, framing out the rooms. The only drag, it's my storeroom and general workshop.

I did the typical work around. I only moved the 2x4's! Previously I had put all the plywood, sheetrock and doors within the confines of what would be the utility room. You would be surprised how much labor it takes to move 60+ sheets of 3/4 inch plywood and 9' sheetrock. I was pissing and moaning about just having to move 50 or more 16' - 2x4's. Virtually all the stuff in the picture below has to stay sheltered otherwise the elements, termites etc will destroy it.

Hanging from the wires on the back wall was a Bananaquit nest with babies! Yes, yes, I framed around them ultimately leaving open walls so they could fly about. They tested my limit though when we had a mosquito bloom and I had to leave the window opening unscreened.

They are really small. The first time you see them flitting about you might think they were very large humming birds.

On a sad note, after 37 years Maho campground is closing after losing their lease. Maho among other things was a springboard used by many short and long term residents on St John. They had a long standing, slave labor to some, work for lodging arrangement that gave some folks the toe hold they needed to stay on St John until better job prospects surfaced. Here's the story.

http://stjohnsource.com/content/news/local-news/2013/04/25/stanley-selengut-reflects-37-years-maho-bay-camps

http://newsofstjohn.com/2013/12/05/and-the-maho-bay-buyer-is/

I did not have enough steel to frame out all the walls so I happily went with treated 2x4's. Generally I would have done everything in 2x6's but I needed the extra two inches from each wall. Things are tight for a number of reasons and none of the walls are load bearing although I felt good about them adding support to the floor joists.

Rather than skim coating the back concrete wall I framed it out by splitting 2x4's in half lengthwise and hung sheetrock. Basically it was a 28' run encompassing the bedroom and walk in closet. Like so many concrete walls it was neither smooth nor plumb. Now it is. The other walls I'll skim coat. Those walls have very large door and window openings not to mention that any framing would screw up how I planned to frame and trim each.

the walk in closet

 

 

Too many birds. Where are the hawks when you need them?

No question, working with wood is easier when it comes to plumbing, electric, and putting up sheetrock. As previously mentioned, driving screws into 12 and 14 gauge steel is not an easy task especially when you are holding up sheetrock doing a ceiling. More on that later.

Thor shot me an email and mentioned he would be on island for a day or two before returning to Maine after the boat delivery. He volunteered to help if I needed any muscle. He said the magic words, "volunteer". With the money long gone, the days of having paid help are warm memories! Long story short, I still had a 20' container up the hill with 40 sheets of 10' siding and about 30 sheets of 9' sheetrock. I had previously moved some of the sheetrock myself and it was insanity. It was every thing I could do to prevent snapping the sheets in half. Out of the container, slide under the camper shell, drive down the driveway, out of the truck, walk the ramp, down all the wooden stairs, around several corners and scaffolding, more stairs and then find some place to put it without flexing it so it doesn't break. You only do that a few times. It will prove to be the heaviest 70 lbs. you will ever carry! Now where was I going to put seventy sheets of assorted materials?

Why of course, under the shack!

Despite a lack of headroom to swing a pick, it was dry and the grade sloped downhill. Looking back I think I stretched it over two days. We got everything moved except for about 10 sheets of siding. There's no risk of breaking those so I can get them alone at a later date. Thanks Thor. Now I can sell the container when the opportunity knocks.

Discipline!!! I played every song on shuffle/no repeat without touching the iPod.

 

Hole in the ceiling? There is a method to the madness. Everywhere there is a joint in the plumbing pipes I left the ceiling open so I can check when I get water pressure. Right now the cisterns are empty and there is no utility room. Those are my last two major projects. For some it is their first, for me I have chosen those last for a whole host of reasons. Blah, blah, blah.

I mentioned that moving 9' sheets of fibre glass sheetrock was very difficult. I chose nine foot lengths because that was my wall/ceiling height but when it came to do the ceilings I knew I would have one foot of waste as the rafters are 16" on center ending at 8'. To make things easier on myself I cut my pieces under the shack at four feet making carrying and putting them up a breeze. The only work was one extra seam to mud. No big deal.

I had to leave the bathroom wall undone because we hadn't been able to find a suitable medicine cabinet on St Thomas. What is it with these gi-normous medicine cabinets? Are they secret in-law units? We had been looking for what used to be the standard 20x26 pedestal sink cabinet. We'll have to order it online and hope it arrives in one piece. Until then the hole shall remain.

God takes care of idiots. Thank god I left that wall open. It's through there that I carried all the sheetrock to finish the other rooms. I almost painted myself into a corner as they say. All the sheetrock is on the other side of that wall or up under the shack. Whew!

And yet another opening! We could never decide on sink and shower fixtures so I had to just keep on moving forward. Boy, they are not playing around on pricing. Stuff that just a few years ago was a couple of hundred dollars now sells for $500-$700. Good grief.

MSI had Durabond! It's hard to beat for a first/second skim coat on sheltered concrete. The walls look great and I'm not even finished yet. You will not be able to tell the concrete walls from plastered sheetrock. That's one huge worry off my list.

Yeah, this is what I do in my spare time! ;~)

One last task before heading back to SF. Carrying down all the Travertine for the bedroom etc.

Extreme bummer. I carried down about 300 square feet, almost a ton over several days, started to dry lay it, and realized I did not like it at all. The light reflective quality changed dramatically compared to upstairs. It went all muddy looking. I stared at it for a day, moved them all around and basically ended up crying the blues. Not only was I out tile, with none on the horizon, I had to hump it all back up to the truck area. 50lbs a box doesn't sound like much but 40 trips up several sets of stairs and traversing an uphill ramp is a very depressing thought. Plus, now I have to estimate the future thickness of a floor so I can trim out all my doors etc. The work has to continue. I had to do the upstairs that way and it sucked. It can be done but it's pain in the ass stuff.

On a sad note, I found one of the feral kittens dying outside the shack. I took him, made him comfortable and he died later that night. In the wild most animals die young, that's why the litters are so big. Out of every 100 bush chicks, maybe 2 or 3 make it to adulthood. Even the lizards eat each other.

The one month party ends on the day I leave, July 4th.

The queen goes by as I wait for the ferry to St Thomas...


Back on the Rock

 

http://www.angelsrestusvi.com/index.html

 

 

The "red eye" express back to the rock. Usually arrive around 1:30pm.

 

The truck has a flat, it always does. I have a leaky rim. Put a can of fix a flat and limp down to the gas station in Cruz Bay. My buddy Roger lets me park at his house so it's not too far. On the bright side, the truck, no matter how long it sits, starts right up. Praise the lord! In a rush I make for the market to pick up a few things before I cross the island to Coral Bay and the shack. I need to get in there while it is still light out. Things move in when you are not around. Plus, the electricity might not work. There's a short punch list of things that can make my jet lag even worse. This time everything fired right up. Plugged the frig back in, same for the micro and we're living large again. No tree rats. A man can't ask for more than that. I always bring coffee from SF so we're good for a couple of days until I can jump to St Thomas and provision. Tomorrow I'll deal with the house.

 

This was the porch when I left

The house was in good shape for being closed up so long. Some mold was trying to start. The drill is the same every time I return. I wash all the walls with diluted bleach while trying to figure out what I was doing before I left for SF.

 

Seven weeks is a long time to be away. Don't get me wrong, I wish it was even longer but the major drawback, and it is major, I have no idea where I left off. Worse still, when I do remember, I can't recall how I was actually doing things. Say what?

 

Take the railings below as an example. Sure I designed them using readily available bits on site and copper pipe from Home Depot but I forget how I assembled them, what little tricks I had learned, where had I hid the used 2x6's and scrap 1x stock that I could make the stanchions with. Oh that's right, I needed more screws and I'm out of primer, copper pipe and the wood putty has gone dry. You get my drift. That's  just for the railings. Usually I have about five different things going on, so just extrapolate it out. 

 

 

Because St Thomas is a whole day affair, not to mention the barge costing $50 plus other fees, I generally lay about for a couple of days and figure out what I need from Home Depot and any other stores to keep me busy for the next month. The finished railings above were my way of easing back into work mode once I remembered how I had made them. All the pictures I take are the key.

 

Next on the agenda was finishing the upstairs wiring, putting in all the receptacles and switches. Same drill, re-study everything. It has been many years since I was certified at City College in SF so I have to get out my textbooks and review everything. It wouldn't be St John without a delay. Home Depot was out of the fan switches I wanted so I had to order them on Amazon. These then get shipped to SF and then on to me from Denise. So now let me tell you what happens in real life. I move onto other things, weeks later the switches will show, I'll keep working on something else and the switches will sit in the corner for who knows how long. Then by the time I get back to the fans I'll have forgotten which dimmers I'm replacing. And so it goes. Whereas, if I was stateside, I would have gotten the switches I wanted the next day and the wiring would have been completed while it was fresh in my mind. Now instead I have a gi-normous punch list with hanging chads. And so it goes. 

You have seen this guy before. He's king of the wild goats. I'm always happy to see him.

 

 



My first remodel. I mentioned in my last posting that I originally penciled things out with wall sconces for the utility and bedroom door lights. Denise and I had even starting looking at lights. I worked out how I would get the wiring through the concrete, blah, blah, only to realize while contemplating storm shutter design when I returned that nothing can go on the walls--that's where the open shutters go--duh! 

 

Now I have a problem. The ceiling is up and its wired but not in the right places for any fast/easy fixes. The first solution was recessed lights with glass panes. I bought three for wet conditions. The existing wiring would work with some effort. While holding them up for possible placement the little people on my shoulder started in. What is this, a Holiday Inn? Back and forth for a week while I did other things. The end result, the lights are going in the ceiling of the closet. I pulled a new cable and the covered porch will now have two small chandeliers (so gay..;~) with a fan in the middle. (the wire sticking out above). My boss in SF agrees. I hid the holes I had to make under the trim divider board that I removed for the job.

 

More termite tracks

Thor arrived on island for his winter hibernation while waiting for a boat delivery. He gave me a hand, his idea, moving the refrig, dishwasher and stove from the container down to the house. OMG, it almost killed us. It wasn't so much the weight but the ramp and stairs. All I can tell you, stoves are a bear at 150 lbs. We weren't sure we could do it. Things get really dicey on a 4' wide, suspended 32' ramp over a very deep divide, across a small slanted roof and down 17 very steep stairs. All I could see was the frig taking a tumble. God forbid if these appliances don't work after so many years in the container. The property might look like Appalachia! I totally understand how these things end up on front porches. ;~)

 

Who knew termites love Styrofoam. You don't even want to see the refrig!

  

 

 

You think you are going to town? Oh no you're not. A concrete pumping truck decides to take the scenic route on the north shore and gets stuck for half the day on a switch back. Of course it blocked both lanes. A dump truck and a chain saved the day. Until then we all stood around saying how we would do it! Good times had by all.

 

 

 

 

My second remodeling job. This was truly a pain in the ass. That little corner took all those tools. The one problem with building Fort Knox is when you decide to change something. Those steel studs are 14 gauge. In layman's terms, weldable steel. This is not the stuff you see commonly used. My problem, I had to lower the drain pipe and I didn't have the right tools for such tight spaces among a host of other issues. It doesn't take much effort to break a wrist when the torque gets out of control on a power drill. It ended up a two day project all because the basin of the pedestal sink had an appendage that would, or so I thought, make the p-trap drain assemblage to low causing the sink to drain too slowly. Am I certain about it? No. But I did not want to find myself in a situation where I was right but the bathroom was done, the walls were finished and I had a slow drain. Truth be told, I had forgotten how many studs were in the wall, how close they were, all the while thinking it would be a layup. Haha.

 

 

Island hopping with my truck!

wiring the crown molding

Moving along I jumped back into the living room after returning from another trip to St Thomas. It's a once a month thing. I brought all the 1x4 stock I needed to finish the crown molding. Previously I had already finished the base and wall attachment. Now I spent the time wiring all the spots. Once completed I then attached all the facing boards. I put up all my trim wet, screwed in place. If I don't, a lot of the treated lumber goes all twisted especially the 1x stock. I don't have the luxury of ample space where I can stack and dry it properly.

I let it sit for weeks before I prime it with oil.

think 4th of July for a month

 



The latest from the "sunken boat" chronicles.

http://www.stjohntradewindsnews.com/index.php/586-news/2013-02-news/8389-s-v-perstary-catches-fire-sinks-in-coral-bay-harbor

 

Next project, the Juliet balcony. Way back when, while framing the house, I changed a picture window in the kitchen/dining room to a set of French doors. Now at last, the balcony that goes with it. Steel from the scrap pile bolted onto the wall. That gauge will hold thousands of pounds.

 

Once again the subfloor gets covered with Strataflex, the water proof/earthquake membrane before tiling. It gives such a nice surface to work on not to mention keeping everything dry until I get around to laying the tile.

 

Keeping it clean and simple I just carried the same design, trim etc from the porch. Ultimately the travertine trim will continue all the way down the side of the house. I cut the 16" floor tiles into 4" strips and away I go. The only added expense is the pencil trim that goes on top. Another bonus, I get to use tiles that I wasn't happy with on the floor. Cut in strips I don't see what bugged me. I know, I know TMI....Denise will like it because the house will  feel a little different than last time. She arrives next week.

 







Hole? What hole?

"Recent heavy rains brought down a new section of the already eroding area of Centerline Road near the Upper Carolina subdivision turnoff, above. DPW officials are aware of the problem but don’t expect to move ahead with repairs for at least three months."



In true island style they have been saying this since October 2010. Thank god this is not California otherwise the road would have been closed a long time ago. The tourists don't know any better and we just drive by and smile!

 



The latest entries to the "smugglers blues" category...

 

http://stthomassource.com/content/news/local-news/2013/05/19/roberto-tapia-arrested-drug-conspiracy-firearms-charges

 

http://virginislandsdailynews.com/news/feds-nab-v-i-police-sgt-in-tapia-probe-1.1495472

 

http://stjohnsource.com/content/news/local-news/2013/04/10/dea-and-coast-guard-harvest-3000-pounds-marijuana-sea

 



 



 Full screen

A lazy Christmas

California Street with a zoom lens



It was a lazy decorating Christmas

Yes, the tree is supposed to be the root ball with the red ornaments. We were just not up for a tree this year. We'll bounce back next year. When you don't have kids running around it's easy to make excuses. This is our first time. It seems we are not the only ones. A quick drive through the neighborhood shows a significant decline in outdoor lighting etc.

 

Upon returning to SF for a month during the holidays it doesn't take long to get right back into our fur lined rut. Museum exhibits, most of the movies contending for academy awards, dinner parties, great walks, boxes of chocolate, the perfect car to drive, HOT water, you know, the normal things. We basically cram into one month what we probably would have done together in SF over the previous five.

 

This holiday season was especially nice, lasting almost seven weeks. I arrived the day before Thanksgiving just catching my bother and sister in law from Australia.

It's not all play however. I generally bring home a long punch list of "things" I have to buy that fit in my luggage.

 

 

http://www.sfmoma.org/about/press/press_exhibitions/releases/937

 

the Presidio walk that never gets boring

 

a new house--a rare event in this area of SF

Another Andy Goldsworthy installation in the Presidio. Three cheers for his liking SF. I'm for anything that cuts down the Eucalyptus trees. Not native and they burn hot. Make sure you check out the google link of his work. Very interesting stuff, a lot of which disappears with the elements.

http://www.presidio.gov/explore/Pages/andy-goldsworthy-spire-wood-line.aspx#.Usx_m8jD_Dc

 This is a google link to pictures of his work. http://tinyurl.com/kog49qh

 

The best movie of the seven we saw.

 

A great private collection. Walking through it is hard to imagine having so many wonderful paintings hanging on the wall. I'm glad someone got to enjoy it.

 

William Paley

 http://www.sfgate.com/art/article/A-Taste-for-Modernism-review-artistry-flair-3866009.php



this would look good on St John   ;~)


In art related news from St John.....heiress Lisa de Kooning was found dead at her home.

http://tinyurl.com/mpoyx57

 

 

Not everyday is sunny. The famous fog horns as freighters pass under the Golden Gate.

 

Her 21st birthday. Only 125K miles.

 

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaJ3XQBqKn0

 

If you like ballet, I think they are some of the best athletes in the world maybe the best, this was a great installation. You felt like you were backstage, all the while with life size videos of several performances playing, shrouded by thin curtains. It was great. I had no idea he got busted in the Haight at a party. Too perfect.

 

 

Even if you think you don't like ballet give this a chance. Margot Fonteyn was in her mid forties while Nureyev was in his mid twenties. She retired at 61! Full screen of course.

 

The one exhibit I missed. She came just after I left SF.

 http://www.thestylesaloniste.com/2013/01/girl-with-pearl-earring-opens-at-de.html




Tennis buddies

New Years at Lake Tahoe. Denise's friend Carolyn and her husband have a wonderful home overlooking the lake. What a lucky invite. As it turns out her husband Bob and I practically lived in the same tenement building in Manhattan when we were still in diapers. What are the chances. 

 

 The view out our bedroom. Cut a tree down? Go to jail. 

 It's a crazy world. A couple of days later, a different beach, the sand is white and the temps are in the 80's. It's back to work.



I'm back at the beach....