It pays to complain

A few weeks ago while we were shopping we decided to by a tub of cheese dip and some nachos to have as a treat sometime. You can imagine my disappointment when I got home to discover that the jars lid hadn't been fitted correctly and the contents of the jar had a nice cover of mould. So I wrote an email to the company to complain instead of taking the jar back to the shop which would have meant a trip back to the capital. Well today a box turned up with a whole load of products from the same firm. So it pays to complain.

Working in the forest.

With Theresa starting the private classes this year I am again helping out with the young ones. This means that I have to come in with her to school and amuse my self until we go to the classes in San Pedro (near Santa Cruz), as it happens to be  on the day that she has a full morning at School and two private classes in Los Sauces. I have to find something to do for around 5 hours in the morning and 2 in the afternoon (we meet for lunch). I could go home, but that uses petrol so at the moment I read, walk and do other things.

So here I am at 10:20 am sitting in the car with the Laptop powered from a 12v power pack and Inverter catching up with the Blog. Ok no internet here (no mobile coverage ether) but it is a nice environment working in the trees in Los Tilos,  Just took the picture below so you can see the spot.

One day I may try to take the laptop up to the picnic area, really up in the trees and work up there for an hour or so. (I just have not got the courage up yet, and its raining on and off at the moment.)

Paying the Bills

Well its that time of year again when we have to make the trek over to the main town of Garafia, Santa Domingo to go to the town hall and pay our bills for this year.  the bills we have to pay at this time  are the council tax (25€), rubbish collection (38€), Car Tax (51.72€) and the water bill for the previous six months (17.65€).  The only big problem with paying the bills is that they don’t get sent to you, you just have to keep an eye on the village notice board where a notice will be posted telling you that the bills are available to be paid and you just have to turn up some time in the two month period and pay the bills in cash at the office.

Rendering the walls

I am not very good at Rendering walls, I never seem to be able to get a good result. Usually the walls are never flat and not very smooth. So as I have to do the 3 external walls of the bath room before the bad weather sets in I thought that I would try something I had noticed in an old book. Using battens attached  to the wall to get an even thickness.

Before the battens were attached we had to chip the old render put up a plastic mesh to help the new render adhere to the wall.

Once the Mesh was up we put up battens and then started the rendering.

I did the first panel in one coat and had some problems with the thickness, too much render in one go. so decided to try the second panel in two coats. (I also did not have enough render made up for the one coat).

The second coat was put on after a coffee brake. and seemed to go on very well. The level was achieved by using a straight edge resting between the battens to take off the excess render, and then using a float with a sponge attached to smooth the surface down.

Once this was done it was left to dry, which was a small mistake as it was then very hard to take the battens out….

But this was fixed with a little render. I think next time I will remove the battens after each panel is done and before it sets. But I am rather pleased with the result. Only two more walls to do…

Let there be Water…

The final connection to the bathroom to be has been done. now there is water in the room. Ok I have not got the fantast idea when the rest of the work will be done but all the services are now in the room.

Also need to make good the hole that is still in front of the front door.

As part of the work we also sealed up the hole in the wall that all the pipes come through.

A Spanner in the works

We went over to the town hall this morning to collect a piece of paper which is our grant for half the cost of putting in the bathroom. On the way out of town there came a knocking from the engine we pulled over and I stared the car while Helen listened. “Turn it off “ she shouted. Helen suspected that it was the timing belt that had gone so we decided to call a tow truck to take the car to the workshop for them to have a look at. While we waited for the truck to arrive a group of people arrived and asked if we were OK. We explained the we were waiting for the tow truck due to the problem with the car and they said why didn’t we come and wait at there house which was  just up the road. It turned out that the couple had lived for a while in Venezuela and could speak a little English. So while we waited for the truck we have a chat and were given dinner just as the truck turned up. With the car loaded on the truck it was time for the long drive all the way over to the capital. When we got there the workshop was shut but we left the keys with Sheila's brother-in-law who works in the office there. The bad news came early next week when we were given the quote, just a little over 1000€ as we had broken all 4 sets of valves.

Carrots and Onions

This afternoon once the rain had cleared. I started to plant out some of the veg for winter. the first thing to go out was the carrots and onions. These are planted together to try and confuse the pests and keep them away.
The strange looking silver things are in fact orange squash bottles that have been sliced in half. these should help to protect the seeds and plants underneath.

The pepper plants that we put in as two inch high little things at the beginning of summer are going well and producing lots of lovely red and green peppers.

Top of the wall, mah

It seems to be a week for toping off walls – First we have finished the curved parapet wall at the front of the house. When I say finish, I mean that the wall is built, now I have to get the whole thing rendered. I am not looking forward to that, my plastering is not that good.

The last block on the curved Parapet.

Miracles of Miracles, We have finished the first repair to the terrace wall, its only taken 2 years to do it….. Now we just have to finish the second repair and put some concrete in at the base of the walls so that more does not collapse.

The wall is  finished….

And we have started to reinforce the base of the wall to
stop more coming down.