The Rain(bow) Report

Whew -  barely made it back inside with Clove before another downpour started.  Poor dogs had to be satisfied with a pee dash instead of midday walkies today.  The rain has been generous and fairly well-behaved over the last 6 days.  Daily rainfall has ranged from 0.7 to 1.7 inches each day, with a chance for more than 1.7 inches yet today (1.2 so far, with more coming down now).

Last evening, Barnie and I spotted this lovely rainbow as the sun was setting.

A hint of a double arc.  The main arc spans from approximately Pine Ridge Creek to Great Monkey Cay.

Unusual (to me, anyway) to see a rainbow this low.  The brown water is from a plume of fresh water from Monkey River due to all the rainfall in the recent days.

The colors at the base intensified as the rest of the rainbow faded away.

We were greeted this morning by a rainbow in the western sky as the sun rose.  I have learned to grab my camera any time I notice the sun shining while the rain is falling - chances are good there is a rainbow in sight!

A single arc over the swamp and jungle.

Always a great way to begin the day.

I call this rain well-behaved not only because it gave us rainbows, but also because it was spread out over time and hasn't caused any flooding, it topped off our water vats, and still let enough sunlight through to charge our solar power system.  The rain that fills our water vats is our only source of fresh water for drinking, cleaning, etc.  Dennis keeps a close eye on the vats and their maintenance.  We have to make sure we have enough water on hand to make it through the dry season.  That includes watering the garden.

Dennis also keeps a close eye on our solar power system, making sure that we don't shorten the lifespan of those big, expensive, batteries by letting the charge drop too low.  If it gets too low, we will need to run the generator to recharge them.  We have become very spoiled with our solar system.  When we first built down here in 2005, we had a big diesel generator for power.  The power tools for construction ran straight off the generator.  We soon added a small battery bank for the generator to charge so there would power 24/7 instead of only while the gen was running.  Our goal always was to move to solar power, which we did in 2015.  We installed solar panels on the roof of the new cabana, which we had oriented to maximize solar gain, and installed the baddass batteries we have now (here is a post Dennis wrote with the gory details of solar system we installed).  We were able to decommission the big diesel generator and get a smaller gas-powered generator for backup power.   The sound of silence when we turned off the big generator for the last time was magical.  The bit of red roof in the next-to-last photo is the generator shed, which was actually the first building constructed here.  With that generator and its big barrel of diesel fuel gone, we can use the shed for storage of gasoline for the boat and new generator; it also houses the water pump.

As I am finishing up this post, the sun is out, the batteries are charging, and the water vats are full - life is good.

Up On The Roof

June has been a busy month for us.  Too bad our internet connection has been painfully slooooowwww or I would have blogged about what's been happening sooner.  It's still slow, but I can't wait any longer.  For now, I will go fix breakfast while these images are uploading.

One hour and ten minutes later ...

The first week of June brought us the first of the newly hatched iguanas from the nests on our property.  Not sure how many hatchings there were, but we saw at least 10 different individuals on our veranda.

Baby female (left) and male (right) iguanas cling to the screen on our veranda.  We are thrilled that the breeding was successful.

We also commenced on the second phase of the solar power installation.  Queue up the appropriate music by clicking here.  We have 13 (12 and a spare) big batteries for the battery bank.  Each battery weighs 315 lbs!

The crew slipped 3-piece bundles of threaded rod under the handles so they could carry the batteries up the stairs.

These stairs are 4 ft wide to make it easier to get cumbersome items up.

We had intentionally not installed the rails on these stairs so they could bring the batteries up unimpeded. 

At the top of the stairs we had a heavy duty dolly for the battery so we could roll it to the box.

Getting ready to place the first battery in the box.  

The box is specially designed by Dennis so that it is a Faraday Cage to protect the batteries from lightning strikes and lined on the bottom with an acid resistant fabric to soak up battery acid should there be a spill.  Several other safety features are incorporated, too.  He'll share the details in an upcoming blog.

Checking to make sure the batteries are in the right orientation.

Bring 3 batteries up, one at a time, take a break, repeat ...

Only two more to go.

The ProSolar crew cabled up the batteries and tied them in to the charge controllers.  Then our crew put the front on the battery bank box.  The lids come next.

 Meanwhile, up on the roof, the ProSolar crew mounts the 15 solar panels.

The panels are linked into five sets of three panels.

The output from the panels then goes to two charge controllers to charge up the battery bank (via the battery chargers in the inverter units).  DC output from the battery bank goes back to the inverters and then finally to the breaker box in the form of AC electricity.  All this (except the batteries themselves) takes place in the inverter room, which Dennis also designed with lots of safety features.

The inverter room with the charge controllers (smaller black units in the center) and the 2 inverters (the big units on the right).  The grey units (to the left) with blue lights are disconnect switches and surge protectors.

The solar panels are all on the south-facing roof of the new addition.  The pitch of the roof is such that the panels are angled directly toward the sun during the winter months.  This will help compensate for the shorter day length in winter. The angle of the sunlight is not optimal for summer, but the longer day length will offset that.  At least that is how we planned it, time will tell if it actually works out that way.  Theory vs actual.

And here are the 15 panels.  Note the lightning rods along the ridgeline and at the lower eave.  Cables are in the white flexible conduits leading to the inverter room below.

Can't you just feel those photons being absorbed by the solar panels in the image below?  And a good feeling it is, too.

View from the front.

And I will leave you now with a view from the Sunset Balcony.  Goodnight photons.  See you tomorrow.

A Roof to Keep Us Dry

I seem to have succumbed to Island Time with regard to my blogging frequency.  Not that we are on an island, but you couldn't tell it from our view.

The increasing frequency of rain squalls are a sure sign that the rainy season is gearing up.  Our goal was to have our addition dried in before the rainy season, but we didn't quite make it.  The top photo below was taken Sept 25th. No roof, no windows, and 4.3 inches of rain in our rain gauge in the previous week.  It seems the rainy season was not aware of our timeline.  The bottom photo was taken today, 23 days and 20 inches of rain later than the top photo.  Now only 1 more door and 1 more window to install and then we will be totally dried in. Yea!  

Another view of the sea. 

 Here is what happened in those 23 days:

The wooden straps that support the sheet metal roof were put in place along with the boards needed to make the eaves.  Those dark things in the sky are dragonflies.  Tens of thousands of them migrated through the day I took this photo.  It was amazing to see them.

 From the inside you can see the roofing trusses and upper level walls. 

The large Santa Maria wood roofing trusses are bolted together with iron plates.  These babies ain't goin' nowhere.

From below you can see the 2x4 wood straps to which the sheet metal (called "zinc" here) will be screwed.

We love these blue sky days.

Another view from below showing the crew securing the last 2 sheets of "zinc" on the north side of the roof.   

Given the irregular shape of the roof, we actually had to start the courses of 10x4ft zinc sheets at the top of the ridge line and work down instead of starting at the bottom and working up.  The next course had to be slipped under the first course.

We used mostly 10x4ft sheets of zinc along with some 8x4 sheets for the corners.  Oddly, the undersides were different colors.  Luckily, that won't show from the inside once we are finished.  However, it isn't uncommon around here for the zinc to be exposed, i.e., for the roof to be the ceiling.  We will be installing rigid insulation against the 2x4 straps and then some sort of finish over the insulation.  Not sure what yet, maybe tongue and groove mahogany paneling.  Suggestions are welcomed! 

Another view of the roof from below.

This is with all the roof, including the ridge cap, up and most of the doors and windows.

 Before and after shots of the north side are below.

Before the zinc and windows.  You can see how the gable end eaves extend out. 

After the zinc, windows, and 3 of 4 doors.

 We had the windows and doors custom made in Spanish Lookout by Peters Glass Shop; we highly recommend them.  I am so happy with how they turned out.  We will be putting up the exterior trim around them next week.

The crew working on the south facing roof.  This is the side on which the solar panels will be mounted.

The sheets of metal roofing are all installed.  Next, we will come back and finish off the gable ends with sheet metal covers and then install the soffit.  That will keep it weather tight.

The collage below shows the southwest corner and the south facing roof during the construction.  Either 18 or 20 solar panels will be mounted on the roof.  A small shed room will be added to the windowless wall to house the inverter and the batteries will run under the windows along the wall on the right.  The space the batteries will be in is on a breezeway that will be covered by a shed roof that links the old cabana with the new addition.  The breezeway will be screened in.

 Once the roof was up, we took the tarps off the Santa Maria wooden beam.  You can see the beam and some of the posts in the collage below.  I had thought that putting the roof on would make the space seem smaller, but it doesn't.  The space is nice and open with plenty of light coming in through the windows.  I'm sure that will change a bit when we put the loft in, but with 10 foot ceilings under the loft, it should still feel open and airy.  

There is still an amazing and daunting amount of work yet to be done.  Getting the solar panels, inverter, and batteries up and running is our priority now.  The panels are being shipped, the batteries and inverter have been sourced and will be ordered next month.  Things are happening!

Looking more like a house every day.

Building a Home in Belize - Plus Bonus Birds and Beast

Last year we started building an addition to our small (668 sq. ft.) vacation cabana to make it more suitable for living in full time.  We designed a small space of a little more than 600 sq. ft. that would include a nice master suite, an office area, and some storage space.  The whole thing will have a wrap-around veranda, some of which will be covered and screened.  It will be a separate building joined to our cabana by a covered breezeway that will house the batteries for our solar power system.  The east-west orientation of the roof's ridge-line will provide the proper orientation for the solar panels that will be mounted on the roof. 

Before the rainy season last fall made the roads impassable, we had poured all the foundation and footings for the 10 ft. tall columns the addition will be built on.  Then nothing happened for ages.  Belizeans take their holidays seriously and each time we thought it would get started up again there was Pan American Day, Garifuna Settlement Day, Christmas and New Year, Baron Bliss Day, Easter week.  After a few fits and false starts in early 2014, we are finally making headway on the construction, as shown in the photos below.  If you are bored by construction just scroll through and toward the end you will be rewarded with some bird and beast photos.  :-)

The foundation and columns for the addition are at a 26 degree angle relative to the existing cabana to achieve the proper orientation for the roof-mounted solar panels.  Stacks of wood are kept dry under the blue tarp to the left.  You can see the first wood sills mounted to the top of the concrete columns.

The addition looks huge from this perspective, but most of it will be the wrap-around veranda.  The area underneath will be used for more water vats, storage, and workshop.

Pascal and Richard are fitting the cross-beams across the floor joists onto which the plywood subfloor will be screwed down.  We have some "interesting"  angles in order to accommodate the 26 degree difference in orientation between the 2 buildings.

Here are the floor joists from below.  The columns have all been water-sealed and all will ultimately be painted white.

The floor joists from above.  You can see that the addition will be approximately the same height off the ground as the original cabana.

These joists in the breezeway that will connect the 2 buildings are extra sturdy to bear the weight of the batteries for the solar power system.  Each battery weighs more than 100 lbs. The joists consist of 3/4 inch plywood sandwiched between 2x6s.  Lumber here in Belize is full dimension, so a 2x6 really is 2 inches by 6 inches.

The breezeway joists from above.  Under the blue tarp is the subfloor for the interior.

Here is the subfloor from below. Our original cabana does not have a subfloor, only tongue-in-groove flooring installed right on the joists.  Although it has worked better than we expected, it was pretty buggy inside until Richard applied wood putty in ALL seams.  The flooring had shrunk so much that there was between 1/8th and 1/4th inch gap between each piece of wood.  Wood in Belize is not kiln dried, so you can expect such shrinkage if you don't let the wood dry first.

We are also adding a veranda to the back of the original cabana on the left.  The notched space between the 2 verandas and the breezeway is where the stairs will come up from the ground.

The blue tarp covers the subfloor for what will be the interior living space of the addition.

Soon (maybe late fall of 2014?) this view will be quite different the addition atop new columns to the right. The root top of the addition will be about 8 feet higher than that of the original cabana. 

As promised below are some birds and beast.  Spider warning!

The lovely black-headed trogon, Trogon melanocephalus.

Black-headed trogon with its blue eye ring, glimpse of yellow belly, and violet iridescence on its back and rump.

Golden orb spider, Nephila claviceps, snacking on what looks like a hover fly.  You can see the golden color of the web in this shot.   The gold color is washed out in the 2 flash photos below.

She has a chain of mummified meals in the upper part of her web.  Her body alone is a little over 2 inches long and her web, which she had woven in our lime tree, stretched over an area of about 4 ft by 3 ft.  The males are only about a tenth the size of the females.

Fearsome looking, but she won't bite humans unless provoked by rough handling. Even then, her bite is supposedly not very painful and leads to a minimal red swelling similar to a bee sting.

The moon and a Brown Pelican, Pelecanus occidentalis, lit by the same low evening sun.