More rain preparation

In the previous post you can see the beginning of the drainage we turned around from the yard next door - into my yard. You just can't dump any amount of water on you neighbors no mater how small the amount. It's now all stuccoed, sealed and painted just waiting for impermeabilizante covered cloth.

Second project was beefing up my front sidewalk. Three downspouts dump water on it, ants build caves under it, chickens excavate the edges looking for bugs .... and then there's the kids who like the sidewalk and the dirt in front of it. I told Hugo generally what I wanted and let him make the design decisions. I like what he came up with. A little more on the driveway to go.

The final is my north wall.  Because someday (maybe never) there will be a house up against that wall I didn't worry too much about the stucco and it is pretty sloppy and very ruff. I also cut corners on properly sealing and painting it. Shoe had a couple 5 gallons of cheap paint that was old so I mixed that with a little sealer and some decent paint but not semi-gloss. I'll only paint with semi-gloss from now on.  

So I figured I'd clean it up, primer a few areas and let Hugo go at it with a roller. Turns out I have wire brushed and/or cleaned with Clorox almost the whole wall. Also it's so ruff that doing a good job with a roller is almost impossible and you can't see your holidays 10-12 feet above you.  I will end up painting that whole 20x4 meter wall with a brush. Plenty of other painting for Hugo.

The second sidewalk

North wall mostly painted - sealed the bottom section today

20 meters by 4 high

Keeping the pool clean in this heat

A few weeks ago the water temp went through the roof and started turning green. That's the first time in over 4 months. I gave it a good hit of Shock and surprisingly it was clear the next day. Now I just give a hit of Cloro out of the bottle every morning and it's doing fine even with big crowds.

I gave up doing the chemical testing for PH and CL. It just didn't seem to be doing anything for my knowledge or helping the pool. I will get some more Shock but adding acid in any form was just a waste of time and money. I stopped by the local pool store to see what could be done for vacuuming and the kid that works there gave me the best tip. Just get about 4 meters of 3/4 or 1" hose, get it siphoning and suck out the stuff on the bottom. Good excuse for me to get into the pool.   Every time you vacuum the level goes down so a chance for some fresh water. 

Cleaning a cistern

Every now and then you need to clean your cistern and I was totally unsure how much mud and sand was in mine. All I knew was that the intake valve was often plugged after non use of my pump and the first bit of water was always dirty. The first year the system had no filter for water from the street so I thought it might be serious but there turned out to be less than an inch of mud. My intake valve is 4-5 inches above the bottom so how it got plugged I don't know.

I drained most of the last 5 inches with a bucket and then we lowered a neighbor in and he finished the job with a sponge, rags and a little cloro. I imagine with double filters the cistern will be good for 3-4 years now.

Entrance under the palapa

Yony inside partially cleaned

I just liked this foto

Week of rest and cleaning up - Week Eighteen

Three days of no workers because Chui took his kids to Guadalajara to visit family. I moved most of the rock pile that was partially buried from the cistern excavation and spread some dirt around. Finally hired a neighbor to move the heavier rocks and finish spreading dirt. I came back yesterday to rake it out.

Next week they should be finishing up the side wall and starting on the front where we need a large gate for vehicles, a people gate and an electric pole.

Lot from the street

Lot from the top of the back stairs