Weed wacked the lots

After a week in San Miguel and 3 weeks up north I came back to grass (wild) and weeds almost 3 feet tall. Two days with my Ryobi weed wacker in this heat got most of it. Still have two rooms to go since they have no floors.

Double lot forsale in Pinal Villa - Just outside Melaque

The new lawn

Well the yard is cleaned up, gravel and sand moved, septic covered and pretty much leveled to handle some heavy rain. I was thinking about bringing in some turf of the Bermuda or St. Augustine type but it would just be ruined if and when construction ever starts again. So I cut a bunch of plugs out of my garden and planted them around the septic to both hold the earth and mark it's location (no vehicles). For the last three weeks we've had water all day - every day, and sure enough when the grass goes in - no water. I've been taking those five gallon jugs of water out every day .... because stupid me drained the tinaco.

Here I go again with another bottle and see if we have water yet ....

The new lawn (pasto)

Front gates installed

The front gates were installed yesterday and only the two front window bars remain for next week. They came late on Friday to install but we are only setup for 110 volts and their welder is 220v. Yesterday they climbed the wall and hooked directly to the incoming lines giving them the 220v.

Definitely not the strongest protection in the world but we can always beef it up later. This will work to deter people with a minor interest in looking around but there will be little there to see - kids have used it as a playground.

I've been moving the stacks of brick and block over to the side so we can level the lot and cover the septic. Still have to move a large pile of gravel and then a much larger pile of dirt .... so will probably enlist a neighbor for that. I want the lot level with a slight slope towards the street before the rains. Not ready for turf yet so may bring some grass seed to hold things together

I think on the last post I called the fencing material Maya Ciclon but on the ferretería bill it was called Malla Ciclon. Pronounced the same but interesting

Installers putting in the last section

Complete from the outside

Added the window bars this morning (the 5th)

Villa Pinal, Melaque, Costalegre

The septic tank is finished

Chui is just filling in around the sides today. They finished the top Saturday working pretty late (well almost). After the cement pour, it needs to dry for two hours before putting a cement wash over as a sealer. We had borrowed a neighbor for the cement mixing and for two hours we drank caguamas along with a few other neighbors. Saturdays are usually half days but we finished up after 4 PM.

The top will sit for a week before covering to allow it to dry ... and doused with water so it dries slowly. The registro shown below is the connection box and also a cleanout. Not sure if a registro is a fall back to pre-plastic days when joining a bunch of pipes was difficult but it was insisted upon. We also added a capped pipe to the street in the event we get a sewer system in Pinal

I found a guy for gates and windows today so that's the next project before we close up shop for however long. Might as well secure the place. Just decided on metal frames for the gates with Cyclone fencing (maya ciclon) welded on. Will have normal bars on the two front house windows

Building the box

The registro or connection box for pipes

Wood forms and rebar (varilla) for the top

Starting the pour

House project put on hold

Sadly the project is being put on hold. Someone with keys to my house has relieved me of about 15,000 pesos ($11-1200 dollars). Mari had the keys but was not guarding them well so I have to assume it's someone in the family. Going to give it a couple of months and let the feelings work themselves out.

We will finish the septic tank since the hole would collapse in the rain and that will take a few weeks. I'll post on the progress of that .... and then, quit for awhile.