Sunset Balcony

A quick construction update here.  The screening for the veranda has been completed.  It joins up with the screened in portion of the old veranda and wraps around to the northeast corner of the addition.  Most of the north side of the covered veranda will remain without screen.  We like having a mixture of screened in and open areas.  What we call the "sunset balcony" on the upper level of the west side has been completed, too.  I am in happy anticipation of evening cocktails while sitting on the balcony and watching the sun set over the jungle. Salut!

The north side of addition.  The sea is on the left (to the east).  This shot was taken while they were putting up the rail on the sunset balcony. 

The sunset balcony has great views over the swamp around Black Creek and the adjacent jungle.  Before we venture up the stairs to the next images, queue up the appropriate music from the movie Vertigo by clicking here.

Stairs from the back veranda up to the balcony.

The footprint of the balcony is a roughly 10ft square with a tapered end off the north side of the square.

Looking toward the tapered end from the top of the stairs.

Looking toward the top of the stairs from the tapered end.

 The views are grand.

Looking south from the top of the stairs, you can see the older cabana with the shade cloth-covered pergola.  That 10-yr-old roof doesn't look too bad! 

View to the southwest across the swamp and Black Creek.

Those taller trees along the left horizon are the dense jungle through which the Monkey River runs.  The jungle is home to troops of Howler Monkeys that give Monkey River its name.  We can hear the monkeys howl during the still, pre-dawn hours.  It is a sound unlike any other.

The sunset balcony is 22 feet above the ground.  

15 steep steps from the balcony to the veranda and then another 16 not-as-steep steps from the veranda to the ground.

Do you think we need stair rails?

The Twain Have Met

As promised, here is the second part of our building project update.  The twain have met!  Not only do we have the veranda roof connected between the old and new buildings at the front, we also have the decking joined the back.

We started with a huge stack of flooring we had laid out to finish drying several months ago.  Only 30 pieces, enough to finish a landing for the front stairs, remain now.

Tongue and groove flooring drying inside the new addition.  All this was used to floor the wrap-around veranda.

 Max tested it out at various times and places throughout the installation.

All this hard work wore her out.

 We changed the direction of the boards as the veranda wrapped around.

At the corners, we had wedges with the boards running at right angles to one section and what ever angle was the difference for the next section that came out perpendicular to the building.

Straight out from the French doors at the front.

Max, on the job.

Max doing the roll-over test to make sure it is all flat.

The back part of the veranda does not have a roof, per se.  It will have a large balcony with regular decking that will provide good shade from the afternoon sun.

The tall posts will support the balcony.  You can see the ledger board for the balcony on the back wall.

 Max loves to catch the breeze on the veranda.

Feelin' the breeze on her belly fur.

The guys also got the shed roof and the railing up on the little balcony at the front.

Still some work to do on the balcony rails.

 The views from the balcony are right at tree level - great for bird watching.

In the tree tops on the balcony.

 You can also see a bit over toward the southern part of the swamp that Black Creek runs through.

Looking south.

I really like how the pattern of the flooring turned out.

Hard working kitty.

Look at the wind brushing her long fur.

 We have sticky balls up until we get it screened in.

The screened in part with the door (where the broom is propped up) will come down so that the 2 verandas become one.

 Did I tell you that I really like the pattern of the flooring?

What can I say?  The kitty likes the veranda.

At the back, the twain have met!  At least north and south have, if not east and west of the poem.  Amazingly, the flooring height matched perfectly.

The 10 foot gap between the old deck and new one has been bridged.  We can now walk entirely around the 2 buildings while on the veranda.

 A 4 ft wide stairway to the ground 10 feet below will extend down from the left of the bridge.  All those rain gutters and downspouts are critical to us because all of our water for drinking, cooking, cleaning, bathing, flushing comes from whatever rainwater we catch.  We have no other water supply.

You can see the breezeway between the 2 structures.  The batteries will be on the other side of the halfwall where the paint can is.  

 Below is the view of the front early this morning.

You would think we had planned it to look like this!  ;-)

Screen, doors, and stairs are next on the agenda.

Made in the Shade

I'm sure you are wondering how our building project is progressing!  ;-)  After all, I haven't posted any construction updates since October.  A lot of progress; in fact so much that I am going to split it into 2 posts.  As usual, things move slowly but steadily.

This is how things stood at the beginning of January after we had taken a break for most of November and all of December.

Two separate buildings connected by an uncovered breezeway.

The biggest conceptual challenge was to figure out the roof line to cover the breezeway.  We tried several layouts using long slats of wood.  We decided to continue the roof on the old cabana and have it butt up against the wall of the new addition.  But the eave of the new cabana roof prevented us from just taking it straight across.  After dealing with various structural constraints, this is layout we settled on:

We extended the ridgeline of the older roof so that it angled to the front.  That way we could keep the ridgeline horizontal yet get it tucked up under the eave of the roof on the new addition.

 The finished breezeway roof from underneath looks kind of cool.

It was important that we get this roof to shed water to the front and to the back and not streaming against the side wall of the addition.

Once that was completed, the crew worked on a little room just off the breezway.  This will be the inverter room, conveniently located near the batteries which will be on the breezeway.

Putting the shed roof on the inverter room.  

 Next up was getting the veranda roof up.  The veranda wraps around the entire addition and will be covered except for the rear section.

The ledger boards for the veranda roof and for the little balcony are in place and the crew is just starting to set the support posts in place.

This portion of the veranda will be screened in.

Rafters going up.

The finished roof is very nice and keeps the inside of the addition much cooler.

Joists in place for the flooring to come.

 The addition is an irregular hexagon, so each corner is different.

We used lots of fasteners to secure the lap boards to the the rafters, the rafters to the sill, the sill to the posts.  We can't ignore the possibility of hurricanes, and are building to withstand a direct hit from a category 3.

 Max is responsible for the daily inspection and approval to proceed.  After all, this is her veranda!

Max, checking out the progress from the temporary decking.

 Before the roofing went up, the crew put up the frame for the little balcony.  The posts rest on the rafters of the veranda roof.

The little balcony is taking shape.

Installing 2x6 decking on the balcony.  Don't panic - railing will be next!

View of the balcony from the breezeway roof.

Adjusting the flashing on the roof.

By the end of the first quarter of 2015, the breezeway roof and veranda roof were complete, the inverter room was finished, and the balcony platform was in place.  We are really pleased with the quality of the work.  Max is too, and we know that is the most important thing.

After the Rain

The morning sun shines onto the veranda after the rain.

 

Three and One Half Weeks

Time is moving right along, as it does.  Our weather has been quite nice, allowing us to do some outside clean up in relative comfort.  I say “us”, but really it has been Dennis who has cut up the fallen tree and moved the wood into the woods to rot, drained the garden hoses and put them away, etc.  I managed to bring a little pottery birdbath inside to clean up and put away.  My big accomplishment has been to sort all my clothes into 4 categories:  clothes that I need for work until December 12 and that I will need again in March when I return to Minnesota, clothes that go to Belize with me for immediate use, clothes that will be shipped later, and clothes that will go to Salvation Army.

I have also been working on selling some of our furniture.  It just doesn’t make sense to take it all to Belize with us.  We will have a much simpler lifestyle there that won’t require as much “stuff” as we have here.  What a relief that will be.

We will celebrate our last Thanksgiving in the U.S. this coming week.   Part of the day will likely be spent at the storage unit where we have the boxes stored that we will ship to Belize early next year.  We need to squeeze a few more things in order to make room at our house for the house sitters.  And we also need to pull out the things that we will ship down right away.  We are hoping that the shipping company that is handling the car will let us pack the car full of boxes.  But back to Thanksgiving – we will have a non-traditional dinner of scallops and fish with cranberry/orange sauce, Brussels sprouts, salad, and cheese blintzes with ginger syrup for dessert.  A nice sparkling almond-flavored wine will accompany the dessert.

So what is worth all this effort, anxiety, and turmoil?  Is it the fresh fruit we can grow? 

Fresh guava from our own tree.  It makes an incredibly refreshing drink when macerated and mixed with fresh, sweetened lime juice (also from own tree).

Is it the wildlife (including fabulous insects) that also make their home in Belize?

Lovely red dragonfly.  I haven't keyed it out yet; that is part of the satisfaction I am looking forward to. 

Is it the back-to basics cabana and associated lifestyle?

This what our cabana looked like in 2008.  Since then Richard enclosed the part below with a cane screen to hide the black water vats and poured the concrete slabs.  The coconut trees are now taller than the cabana. 

Is it the tranquility?

This is my favorite sight in all the world - coming home to our beachfront cabana where life is sweet and simple.

Is it the snorkeling off our front veranda?

Our veranda that overlooks the ocean.  I keep my snorkel gear (in the blue and yellow bag hanging on the wall) handy so I can snorkel at  moment's notice right off our dock.  Or what about relaxing in the hammocks?  Maybe a cold coke will hit the spot while keying out the fish that I spotted while in the water will do the trick. 

Or is it sharing all this with all the other oddballs who found their true home in Belize?

Dennis with Sam, Martha, Chris, and Sue.  We know why we are here in Belize.

It is all of those things and more.  Come visit Belize and see for yourself.

Belize Bird of the Week #9 – Ivory-Billed Woodcreeper (Xiphorhynchus flavigaster)

One afternoon while we were in Belize this past April, Dennis and I walked up the beach to visit our friends Sue and Chris at SteppingStones Resort. When we returned to our cabana, we saw a new hole torn in the screen on the veranda. Now our veranda is our primary living space. We use it as our dining room, sitting room, place to chill, and place to entertain guests.

You readers know that I love Belize, but there is a fly in the ointment. Or should I say flies in the ointment, sandflies, that is. Sandflies are aggravating little beasts no bigger than a speck (a 1/16th of an inch speck, to be exact). Where there is one, there are hundreds. Usually the sea breeze keeps them away, but when the breeze slacks off, the sandflies make you miserable with their constant biting. The first time we experienced sandflies in Belize while on vacation there in 1998, their bites left a tiny little flat, red circle about 3mm in diameter, and they hurt a little at the time of the bite. But the next day the sites of the bites were big red welts that itched like crazy! It took more than a week for the bites to fade away. And of course our legs and arms were covered with dozens of bites; we looked a mess.

The worst part is that sandflies are more numerous when there is no breeze and more active at night. That means that any part of your body not covered by a sheet on a hot, still night will be bitten. Covered with a sheet or covered with bites, those are your choices! So when we designed our cabana, we decided to use a very fine screen on the windows and veranda to keep the sandflies out. We had to purchase the screen in the US and take it down there with us. It turns out that the best screen is made out of nylon and you can get it pre-treated to be resistant to degradation by UV light. Even with that treatment, the screen gets fragile quickly and has to be replaced every 2 years or so. And we wind up having unsightly patches on it just to make it last that long.

So when we came back to the cabana that afternoon after visiting Sue and Chris, we immediately noticed the big hole in veranda screen and wondered how it got there. Had a twig been blown into it? No twig in sight on the veranda or on the ground below. As you could tell from the photos, the cabana is 12 feet off the ground, so it wasn’t a crab. But we patched the screen and forgot about it as we about our business.

Dennis went inside to get something and then I hear “Wilma, get your camera and come see what made the hole in the screen!” It was a bird that was still in the cabana. Poor thing had flown through the screen and hadn’t been able to find a way out. I took a couple of pictures of it clinging to the wall. Then we opened the back door and tried to shoo it out. No dice. We took screens off the windows and tried to herd it out. But it just couldn’t see that as a way out because of the louvers. Finally it was in the back bedroom which has 3 windows. Dennis took the screen off 1 of them and the bird was perched on the 3rd. I took a few more photos as Dennis took the 2nd screen down. By this time Richard, our caretaker, was helping us. Richard and I blocked off the doorway as Dennis moved toward the bird. In desperation, it finally flew to freedom through the 2nd window.

It was a very pretty little brown bird with a slightly curved, longish bill.

A friend from the village (Ralph Zuniga, who runs a wildlife tour business) stopped by to visit. As usual, we sat on the veranda with Ralph, catching up with each other since our trip last October.  Ralph was the person who first showed us this property back in 2004 (click here to read about this trip). Ralph and his wife Ilna helped us immensely before we started building on the property. We showed Ralph the bird photos and he said it was a wood creeper, either a streak-headed or an ivory-billed.

After looking at all the pictures and descriptions in bird books and online, we are pretty sure it is an ivory-billed Woodcreeper. It has the creamy chin with no streaks, streaks down its breast and from the top of its head down its back.  They live year round in Belize and the rest of the Yucatan Penninsula and are fairly common birds of the forest.  We will definitely be on the lookout for more of these when we go back in October.