We are starting to finish this house at last. The bedroom has its ceiling brick cleaned and sealed. The walls have been primer/sealed and painted. I set up our bed and slept in it the last two nights for the first time in over four years. Now to get hot and cold water running in the attatched masterbath.
León

http://smg.photobucket.com/use....jpg.html?sort=3&o=0
we are starting to plaster the outside of the house. Looks a little different, true?
León

Es verdad, Leon,
I have to say I liked the brick finish, but this will look better when it's done. Nice to see it coming to a finish!

Dick

Dick,
We never intended the brick to be the finish. It is just that it took a long time to get to this point.
León

The old woman sat down on the commode which was her own, in the house that was her own. These two things she now owns for the first time in her life. Before this she had always used a commode in a house that belonged to someone else. When she was done she used a bucket to flush the commode because the old man who shared ownership of the commode and house had not yet set the tank on the commode because the Federal Electric Commission of México has refused to run an electric line down the street. Thus there was no running water. He had the top off the plastic septic tank so he could check that the contents of the flush indeed would reach the tank and not get hung up somewhere in the pipe. He was satisfied that it all worked to perfection. He replaced the lid. The next morning he also set upon the commode himself. There was no wobble at all because he had worked very carefully and precisely to set the commode. No more would he have to go to the back wall of the property and dig a hole and set one cheek on the bottom of an upturned five gallon bucket to do the morning necessities. He had planted the septic tanks himself, had installed the pipes from the commode to the tanks himself and set the commode itself that afternoon. It was indeed good to see something work that he had built that was not a part of his previous building experience, although he had often seen the work being done by subcontractors.
The reason he had set the commode that afternoon was because he had invited the old woman to share their bed for the night (his wife of forty years) and she said she could not use the great outdoors for her morning necessities. So she was able to join him happily in their own home for the first time since he had begun building.
It was a great night and they were able to travel a mere ten minutes to attend the church that would be part of their routine in the future, God willing.
León, in ole México

That's quite a story.

Congratulations on being almost there. You have had quite a journey. Hopefully you will be blessed with electricity soon!

BC

The old man eased away from his cook fire. The heat from the fire felt too warm on his bare legs and chest. It was 85 degrees at the time, with the sun heading for the western horizon in about a half hour. His pot of mixed vegetables was soon to be finished steaming and he would eat his evening meal, having painted ceiling I beams until almost 7 PM. He ate two slices of oats fortified bread with butter and honey. The honey local and unprocessed. He had found out that honey and cinniman cure just about anything. He would have to get some cinniman soon. The old woman was not with him for this night and he would miss her dearly. But soon she will be joining him permanently. Life is good, praise the Lord.
León

Thanks doublelong spring and BCR.
León

Volatpluvia (Leon)
It's good to hear that "Life is Good". Sounds like your life is blessed. Thanks for the sharing of your journey.

Talltree

Keep your tail high and dry!

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I have a wildcat! As you can see the paw print is nearly three inches long. This cat is my friend. It is the reason that we don't have rats and mice at our house. I want it to keep coming around every couple of nights. It was there two nights this week and last week while I was there sleeping. I would like to see it some night, but from the safety inside the door or window. My contractor has actually seen this cat and it can leap over our three meter property wall in a single bound and not touch the top. I am glad I have a commode in the masterbath now. I used to go out on the balcony to pee at night. I shudder to think what would have happened if that cat had been standing on the balcony when I went out there...
León

Ms. Audrey and I left Lake Chapala at 5AM today and are now in Laredo Texas. We will be in the USA until about May 11 or so. For this reason there will not be any posts on the house for the duration. For this I am sorry, not for your sakes but for my own. You can't know how hard it was to let the work lay and leave. But we need to attend some church meetings in PA and see the grandsons, and their parents, hee, hee. Good trip so far. Living in the Lord's blessing. Hope He chooses to continue to bless.
León
BTW, My contractor is continuing to work, so the house is not standing still. It is going forward. I will post pics when I get back.

Neat to hear about the wildcat! I wonder what kind..you've actually have several possibilities down your way.
Maybe you should look into a trail camera while you are up here in the states. You might be surprised at what comes visiting at night!

Enjoy your visit north!

We are in PA since Friday afternoon, getting some business done, visiting the number one daughter and number one and number three grandson. They have become more sociable in the last two years and we had a good time with them.
Church meetings tomorrow and tuesday, then clean out the last little stuff out of storage and put it in the car.
The old Sienna needs some work and is scheduled for tomorrow at New Holland Toyota.
Then on to more visiting of relatives. Hmmnnn...
León

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Here is a pic to show you the finish that is going over the first coat of plaster. The first coat is on everywhere outside and by the time you read this the finish coat should be on everywhere.
My contractor is going to start cleaning up all that metal work and painting it white with enamel paint. When I get back I want to place the tile before the rainy season.
León

Okay, we are back in México. The house has a coat of sealer/primer on the outside all around. And the much of the metal work is painted. I did not have the camera along so I don't have pics. And our man is working on the railing around the second floor deck. Yesterday he and I rattled the cage of the Central Federal Electricidad again and got a new contract for what that is worth. We also got an estimate of a full array of solar panels, batteries and inverter, in case CFE continues to ignore us. There was someone there last week from the main office in Chapala who measured the street, so maybe...
León

http://img.photobucket.com/alb...a49.jpg?t=1368784714

The outside of the house is now primered. It looks kinda grey like the plaster because the white primer sinks in and seals. Ms. Audrey needs to select the shade of yellow she wants. Yellow is my request, what shade is her priviledge.
León

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The neighbor who was lending me a little electricity for some weeks has been divorced and his ex pulled out my line and said 'no more!'. So I wanted light on thursday night. I had bought several LED bulbs in the USA. They put out light like a 60 watt incandescent but pull 9 watts. So I screwed one into this floor lamp, ran a hundred foot cord to my car plugged it into the inverter that plugs into the cigarette lighter and turned on the key. Then I went upstairs to the bedroom and turned on the light. This is the result. I read for two hours and then turned it off and unhooked everything and went to bed. The next day when I needed to run out for materials the engine turned over and fired up as if I had not been running a light off the battery for two hours. I can imagine what would have been the result if I had run a 60 watt incandescent for two hours. It is a really good quality of light and I read very comfortably.
León

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I had a local craftsman make doors and drawer fronts for the kitchen. This was 19 drawer fronts and 28 doors for a grand total of about $450. That is a rough estimate in dollars from pesos. He did a great job. I was staining all day today.
León

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My contractor and friend, Gerardo, helped me put in the water pump that pumps water to the tank on the roof, from which we get a gravity feed. Since we wanted to protect the pump from prying eyes, we put the tile roof on this morning. We also wanted it protected from the rain, which was good because it rained this evening.
León