3-16 pickles

sunrise. Another cursed sunrise.



makin coffee



did I put this in here twice? whoops.





Greetings from Eleuthera.

sun set

Greetings from Eleuthera.

GOiNGS ON 3-16

Greetings from Eleuthera.

The excavating is done. THe hill, she is a-carved. The house, she has a place to sit. Now, the dirt that the house sit on, she must be a made strong with a wall. The wall, she must have a strong post in her to make strong back, like elk. The post, she sit in a hole. Deep hole, like the quarry where we used swim as boy. The hole, she must be four feet inch a deep, and 18 inch a wide! NOw that's a big hole! Then we put the steel. Lovingly, we caress each piece as we place in the hole, like when we roll the dough for the pizza pie. THen, we make the cement to hold the stones together. ANd so after we put the posts in, we can build the retaining wall, using 20 foot long rebar and the rock from the dig, maybe six feet high in some places. The foundation under the front corners of the building will sit on concrete posts 24" in diameter, sitting in a hole dug in the rock, with a 24" thick beam running between them as a footing.

Then we put the house on the top! That's a nicea donut. Waiting on cement mixer, water, and electric hookups to get started on that part. Money running low, must budget. Need conserve phone usage. Do work myself cheapest strongest way. Can't get carried away. Can't use many words. Must... warn... others...

3-11 pics for your d**ks

this is what a vodka tonic looks like. I can't even describe the taste. Sky vodka is only 13.50 a bottle here. Beer is 4. Do the math, Einstein, and then drink your vodka. There, that's a good boy.



This is a lightswitch in the office of the building department of the department of public works. Notice how the wall is built over the socket. Yet, I have to have my plans done to codes much more stringent than the U.S. Things have changed a lot since they built this office...



This is what G and G did to our trailer. They fixed it for free though. THe wheel is still all bent up, but the guy who fixed it did it out of the goodness of his heart on his own dime. That's more than I could have expected. I'd just be in a lawsuit over it back home.


Greetings from Eleuthera.

These are the waves crossing the main road during the windstorm. I have a video of it somewhere.

Greetings from Eleuthera.

3-11 pickles

more sunsettage



thatsa nicea biga motha


Greetings from Eleuthera.

now where do I put this table? And where do I sleep? Hmmm...

3-11 more pics

thatsa "klowd." They appear in the sky often. I've seen weirder clouds here than back home. I saw one that was shaped like a fourteen pound bowling ball. True story.



This is the water, taken from the lot. That's actually what it looked like. This is not a genetically altered photograph.



One of these photos is a close up of the other.



"Open."


Greetings from Eleuthera.

HOmeless dogs. WHich is almost all of 'em, unfortunately.

3-11 phottos and what not

Make sure you make a mental note of what this looks like. This is your before picture. Frame it. Then hold it up to the magnificent dwelling that will soon be yours to enjoy any time you like.



I never thought I'd give a damn about a sunrise, or have ANYthing nice to say about one, but this one was tolerable.



sun "set"
Greetings from Eleuthera.

3-11 pic lickles

hooverville, modern day



boat that washed up after the crazy windstorm. some were saying it was like fifty mph, or more I forgot. It was frickin' WINDY. I would have gotten out and walked around, but the rain was going sideways with it, and I didn't want to sleep soaking wet. Otherwise, it's kind of exciting. Unless you're on a boat, in which case it's rather nerve wracking. Exhibit A above. Ruth and I got caught in one blow north of here by Harbour Island, and that sucker pulled the anchor free and sent us HUMMIN sideways toward the other rocky shore. We smacked another boat, got our anchor fouled in their anchor line, and it took all our brawn to pry them two boats apart and get us set again safe. Anyway. Don't mess with the wind, kids. THat's a pair of pants hanging out of the side there where it got split in two.


bad omen? (we're on buccaneer road in case you missed that)




sunset schmunset
Greetings from Eleuthera.

3-11 photroes

el troca. she finally arrived, my new home.







this is a close up of "the sun."






Greetings from Eleuthera.

This is a big ball of termites that's bass crazy kickin' it across the road. We had one just like this on our property except it is less tall after the bulldozer ran over it a few times.

Whoops. There was a caption in that last post of a plam tree stump. Or "palm" as they call them here. It's the one with alla them lil ole holes up in dere.

before



kelvin. Guy's a badass. Similar mind to mine, (well, him, Joe, and Nathan too) McGuyveresque. Picture of old boy here with his homemade coconut gathering harness that he invented.












This here is Rachel. I'll just say she is pleasantly neurotic, and leave it at that. Very cool person. Totally nuts and very sweet.
Greetings from Eleuthera.

this was taken from above




that thars a pitcher a tha wind





This tiny kitchen held many awesome conversations with these two over the time they were here. Brothers, two great guys. FUnny how a tiny kitchen, three big mouths and some rum can make some good buddies in a short time. ANd yeah, that's the whole kitchen.





This speaks for itself.




Greetings from Eleuthera.
Does this little boat look familiar? Somebody stole our idea to come over in a macgregor, or something similar. It looks just like the boat Ruth and I lived in for those 6 or so months, parked in the same spot... that girl on there isn't nearly as capable though. Or the man so pretty.

This shadow is my and the truck's silouhette that I was hitchhiking on.



Greetings from Eleuthera.

try this one instead... 3-11-10

Greetings from Eleuthera.

Whoops. Yeah, okay, let me try that again. This photo goes with the caption below...

the exciting part,

Greetings from Eleuthera.

Okay, I think this picture says the most, if I had to pick one. Just in case I get hit by a bus or swept off by a twister, I thought I'd get this one up here so that you guys have SOMEthing to see to understand what's up, in case any one happens to... ya know... read this. (you guys sure are quiet out there, if you are reading).

Anyway. That's my man Zhivago. As in "Dr." He's also known as Rasta, the Physician of Excavation. He's pretty damned good, man, I'll say. One of the teeth fell off the excavator, and he used it to pick through the debris very delicate- like. Like a surgeon. As my friend Benjamin once said (are you reading this, you old fart?) You have to treat it gently, like a woman... but not as gently as you might think.

Anyway, he's pretty good, I ran around pointing at what I wanted done and running up and down the hill scoping it out, marking stuff, etc., and he dug it out, shaped it and flattened it. This took about three days, almost 2 grand, but well worth it. I'm borrowing him again tomorrow, and we're gonna dig the septic field, a flat spot on the bottom of the lot, and clean up some of the debris. The money though, yikes, it be a-flyin out the do.





The floor plan is looking kinda like this now, I don't know if you can see it from these jpegs, but it's 50 wide, 30 deep, kinda. 2 Stories, and the garage is where you drive in from the hill above.

I'm gonna post this and take a look...

3-11-10 aarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrggghhh. ahem.

Greetings from Eleuthera.


I'm just writing to say I'm sorry I'm not blogging more, or writing more, but I'm not really in the spirit for it. You know how I get when I'm in the middle of something. I don't feel like talking. I feel like figuring it out and getting it done.

I'm working really hard, I'm pushing really hard to accomplish things and get people to help me accomplish things, but just like back home, there's always a maze of shit to wade through, jsut here it's moreso. On top of that, there's things like deadlines to apply, reviews that have to occur, "you have to talk to this person and he's off island" etc. I'm half working hard/half wheel spinning all the while grinding my teeth and holding my breath. I'm fairly anxious about all this. There's a few LARGE obstacles here to getting a temporary building up.

The grade. Steep. Must be worked around.
Earth movement due to steep grade. Don't want to pour a footing and have it move.
applications that must be made before footings occur.
Budget tight/overrun/not going to be sufficient, possibly.
Delays due to communication problems, dialect barriers, etc.
No water yet. "Next week." Right.
No electricity yet. We'll see.
Palms bagged up and waiting to plant. Dying.
Materials not on island.
ETc.
Need blueprints. Can't print blueprints. Keep changing blueprints. Blueprints need to be reviewed by this city next wednesday, individuals there before then, and approved by Rainbow bay before that. Tough when they change daily due to the grade taking shape.

I'll write more next week. Promise. Till then I'm busy