Waste Not, Want Not

After a lengthy and counter-intuitive sequence of permits and fees, we are finally underway with the sewer connection project.  The trench you see below runs from the southeast corner of the house (now sans deck!) down the hill and through the fence to Plumosa Avenue, where we've hooked into the main pipe.  Cheyne and his crew have done an excellent job.  The actual work on the waste pipe took about five times less time than did the research and paperwork required for the project.  Hopefully that will be the case with the house construction, too!

While the engineering contractors dug up the yard, Russell tinkered with rocks and boulders for our future hot tub grotto complex with jungle waterfall.  The idea is to install a tub against one of the concave rocks and run a waterfall off the top of a boulder nearby.  This may be several building phases into the future, but it's fun to dream...

salvaging rocks from old retaining walls

testing rock formations in the grotto

the hot tub rock (foreground) with old cement footings from the deck

Snapshots

Russell found some photos hidden under the old fridge...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

a snapshot of Helena

a group shot with Helena on the right;
not sure which one is Tadeusz...

Demo Time

We began some demolition on Saturday by taking down the drywall in the old kitchen and bedroom.  Tough work, but it didn't take too long.  Unfortunately we have to pile the drywall pieces in the yard and wait for an opportune time to rent a dumpster again.  Hopefully we can prep most of the house for construction in the next two weeks and then get started on the foundation and framing soon.

























On Monday Russell kicked down the ceilings and pulled out most of the bathroom.  I joined him after work and helped to pile up the drywall outside and pull the nails out of the walls.  Tedious, hard work! 



















Now you can stand in the old bedroom and see all the way through the bathroom to the kitchen window.

Russell did a fantastic job of cleaning up the rest of the drywall before we started on pulling up the floors...

Fruits of Our Labors

Shortly after my mother's visit in July, the big cacti by the driveway and garage bloomed-- but only for one day! The huge buds appeared overnight, and then the blossoms the next day. Gorgeous but too short-lived. Maybe we can coax them into blooming again with a little water...

The fruit tree in the backyard has two trunks, and one definitely has spines.  Maybe it's a lime tree?  I cleared out some dead branches and accidentally cut off the only branch with any fruit growing on it.  Brilliant.  It smells like citrus, so hopefully it's lime or lemon.

The real mystery tree sits at the southeast corner of the house.  It looked feeble when we got the house but has bounced back nicely since we started watering in July.  Even our local landscaper and arborist could not identify the tree, so we are waiting for the fruit to give it away.  Some buds have appeared, and they still don't give us much of a clue.  Pomegranate?  Your guess is as good as ours.

UPDATE!  The tree is a cherimoyas, a Peruvian fruit also known as a custard apple.  You can find them in the supermarkets nearby for about $7/lb.  They grow as big as grapefruits, so we will keep watering it and see what happens!

The old washing machine that escaped the dumpster is now a planter for geraniums, and the bougainvillea is blooming nicely.  Watering certainly does wonders...