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tired

Jonna — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 05:33:12 +0000

I’m tired. I feel like I worked non-stop all weekend. Funny how when you are retired, you go out to dinner every night during the week and then stay home and work on the weekend.

It’s not like I worked at a job or anything, just keeping up with my own stuff. I cleaned 2 ponds and filters, washed about a ton of laundry, made a week’s worth of dog food, made cat food, made soup for the humans, unpacked 3 boxes, washed the contents, bought black foamy stuff to line the shelves of the new credenza, went back out and bought double sided tape to stick it down, lined those shelves and put all the stuff on them. I think there was more but it’s making me tired to list it all. Oh, well, we did go to a marvelous brunch at the monthly brunch restaurant Remixto.

Raui investigating

About those boxes… When Mimi and I went fulltime in our RV and sold our house in San Anselmo, we got rid of pretty much all our stuff. It was cathartic, sad, emotional, and when we drove away, ecstatic. The few things we did save filled about a dozen boxes and have been stored in California for 7 years. Mimi got them down here with friends last fall and I was happy to see my cookware again and some of the other stuff. Funny thing, almost all of it had something to do with eating or drinking. There were 3 boxes of assorted crystal that have stayed in the garage because I didn’t have anywhere to put them.

It’s good stuff but it is not a set. I’m not much for things matching anyway. The good stuff I inherited from my mother I mostly gave to my son. I’m not sure if he got the glassware, it’s possible my step father never sent most of it. I kept some rocks glasses that I remember my father having his nightly drink in when he got home from work. There are 3 of those left, very heavy, cut glass with a small gold rim. I use this stuff, so it breaks or chips or disappears. That’s ok. The rest is stuff that I’ve bought or been given over the years. I usually buy wine glasses in pairs, more is not always better I think.

all clean and on a lined shelf, mission complete

So, it was nostalgic to open these boxes after so many years. There was a set of 4 beautiful martini glasses and a silver topped shaker that Mimi gave me for my first birthday after we got together. There were the cut crystal wine glasses we bought in Ireland. The burgundy glasses from London. I had a good time washing them and looking at them again. In fact, I’m having a little red wine right now from a satisfyingly full shaped crystal burgundy glass that might have been my mothers. It feels good in the hand.

The hardest part of all of that was measuring and cutting the shelf liner and then getting the 2 sided tape on it and sticking it on the shelves. I don’t measure and cut very well, I don’t have the patience. I tried to persevere with this, it’s sort of even. The double sided tape really only wants to stick to me and itself. We fought, eventually I won. I’m more than a little pleased with myself for getting it finished.

I’m happy with the credenza, it moved a lot of stuff that is better being near the table out of the kitchen to the terrace/dining room. At some point, I’m going to look for a stone top for it. I’ve got the locations for a couple of stone warehouses here and it will be fun to go and browse. With a stone top, it can also function as a bar which will make having half of it full of bar glasses make more sense. I also have to get Mimi to cut a hole in the back of one section for the iPod and speaker cords, that will clear it off better.

I’m really trying to keep things clear, to not accumulate a ton of stuff that I rarely use, to not have so much around that you can’t really see any of it. I’m no minimalist but I appreciate the look more than I ever have.

The Great Wall of Tita

Jonna — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 20:15:13 +0000

it came in pre-cut and shaped sections

The pieces of bamboo for the wall arrived yesterday morning, without any warning of course. I can’t hear the doorbell from the bedroom upstairs and when we didn’t answer, they called on the house phone and my cell phone. So, it’s not like they couldn’t call the day before, it just doesn’t occur to them I guess.

like putting together something from IKEA

You can’t really get scaffolding set up because of the pool and the pond so they had to balance on the wall. It went up pretty easily, they drilled the holes and tied it into the metal framework.

Jeremy

The bamboo structure came from Xixim Bambu, a bamboo farm outside of Muna here in Yucatán. The director is Jeremy Faulk, who is an American from Tennessee that has lived here for many years. He’s fluent in Spanish as he spent several years in the Peace Corp in Peru. He’s an interesting guy and his work with bamboo and other renewable resources is fascinating. Check out their web page for ideas. I want to go and see the hacienda one of these days, they have 25 hectares of bamboo. I love great groves of bamboo, the sound, the movement, the peace they invoke.

the gap is to the right of the scaffolding, over the pond

There were a couple of snags. In one corner they were lining up the bamboo by the tops and that left a cat sized gap at the bottom. I had them move it down and I don’t think the difference in height matters in the corner. Along the long wall to the right, there are places that the wall dips several inches. The wall is 100+ years old and has been repaired many times and is no way level or even. If they lowered the bamboo to cover the gap at the bottom, you could see the metal framework at the top. None of us liked that. So, they raised it to cover the metal frame and Jeremy came up with the idea of having rocks concreted in on top of the wall to fill the space. It’s the area over the pond and there isn’t anywhere for Tita to get a good stance for jumping so we’re not too worried.

the left corner completed

Alfredo came over (one of Henry’s job bosses, he is working on this project for us) and we talked about the neighbor situation. Yes, we have the official lot dimensions from the city that show the wall as either our wall or a common wall, depending on which part you measure. Remember that the wall is neither straight, square, or level. Our land according to the city map is slightly over 8 meters in width at the back of the lot. We measured from the inside of both walls and it is 7.6 meters. So, dividing in half there is at least 6″ of wall that is ours. However, to absolutely establish the facts it would be necessary to involve the city and pay for a survey. When we bought the house the city surveyed the front and found it within their range of error so they certified it. What if an exact survey showed that we owned 6″ into the neighbors yard? Or, they owned 6″ into our yard? Either of those is possible. Where is the gain in pursuing it?

Alfredo and I went next door to talk to the neighbor. I have a new situation that is coming up a lot in Spanish conversations. In situations like this, I want a native Spanish speaker to talk for me so that there are no misunderstandings. However, I find myself wanting to jump in and remind them of things or add something. Alfredo and I only speak Spanish, all our previous discussions were in that language, so I suppose the misunderstandings could already be there. Just an interesting aside, I’m not sure whether I should indulge when I get these urges because it could negate me having someone else speak.

The neighbor answered the door in his wheelchair, I still cannot believe he got up that ladder to the top of the wall the other day. He was very nice, Alfredo told him that we would be happy to have his yard cleaned out and plant the 2 cocos. We arranged that the workers would come on Monday and also that while they were in his yard they could add a couple of stones to the wall where the gap is. All good, Señor Vecino (I can’t remember his name) said some very flowery things about good neighbors and cooperation and we all smiled and shook hands and that was that.

view from above

Once the workers left, we let Tita out free in the backyard. She was so excited not to be dragging her long rope and anchor around, she covered every inch of the yard sniffing. She also spent a lot of time staring up at the new wall from every direction. She went back to her favorite jumping spot under our bamboo plants and stared up at the top. We left her there, checking every so often, and we don’t know if she tried to jump or not. I didn’t see any broken plants from a fall but there are quite a few broken stems from the workers so I’m not sure. She stayed out all evening, coming in through the new screen and going back out. This morning she walked out along the lip of the pond on the wall side and stared up at the gap. We chased her off but I still don’t think she could make that jump.

We are both really pleased with the new height. It gives us a real feeling of privacy, that this is our oasis in the city. It blocks our view of the pieces of tin and flattened cans that make up the roof of the sheds behind us that are rented to very poor Chiapan workers. It blocks more of the ugly hotel on the street behind us, when our bamboo plants get fuller I think we will have eliminated that eyesore. So, while the impetus for getting it put up was to try and keep Tita safe, we really like how it looks and the increased feeling of privacy.

Tita laying at her usual launch spot, "what have you done?"

walls and neighbors

Jonna — Sun, 16 May 2010 19:27:06 +0000

welding the frame together

The great Tita wall is continuing. The iron workers were here for several days installing the framework for the bamboo. It’s incredibly built and I’m no longer concerned about wind moving it. While they were working on it, a ladder appeared from my neighbor’s side and his head popped up. The workers called me and I went out to try and understand what was happening.

My neighbors on that side have been very nice. By that I mean that they always say hello, the wife welcomed us when we moved in, we talk very superficially when we see them and they have a well behaved dog. The wife has religious meetings at various times of the year, they met nightly during the build up to Christmas. Lots of praying the rosary and candles in the front room, they leave the door open for air and at first I thought someone had died. These were well attended events, with 15 or 20 people crammed into the small front room along with a big statue of the Virgen de Guadalupe and a lot of flowers. The only other thing I know about them is that the husband is not very well, he goes off in an ambulance fairly often and he walks with a cane.

So, I was a bit surprised to see him on top of a ladder looking over our wall. I could not understand anything he said. This is how bad it was, the workers were “translating” what he said into more intelligible Spanish for me. The upshot was that he said the wall belonged to him and that I was going to block his air with the new extension. I called Henry.

Henry sent the job boss over and he went next door to talk to them. He said that the neighbor wanted “a gift” for blocking his air. He wanted all the crap in his yard cleaned out and a couple of coconut palms planted. Meanwhile, work continued.

Henry is double checking the official plot but the wall is a shared wall and the extension we are adding is on our half of the wall. OK. We can take him the dimensions from the city and prove that. However, there is also the idea of good neighbors and the positive benefits I would get from having less debris in the yard next to mine. In spite of his trip up the ladder, my neighbor is not in good health and no one has done much with that yard for years. There are piles and piles of debris back there. Not garbage, just plant material that has fallen as well as overgrown vines and weeds. All of that is a good mosquito breeding area (and possibly shelters other vermin as well) and I’d like to have it gone.

We are proceeding slowly in the usual fashion and who knows how it will end up.

another day of workers

Jonna — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 22:15:10 +0000

I didn’t know they were coming once again so I was upstairs and didn’t hear the doorbell, which is not surprising since I can’t hear it even when I’m in the same room with it. I did hear the house phone but I hardly ever answer it anyway and certainly not when it means jumping out of the shower and running down the stairs. Then, my cell started ringing and I did answer that. Well, there were 2 albañiles with Alfredo here to put these metal things (technical term) into the top of the wall. The brace for the bamboo extension will then be bolted to these.

OK, silly me I had planned to go to Sam’s but that’s cool. I spent another day hanging around and cruising the internets. About a half hour ago though I realized I was going to miss another Spanish class so I called and asked if they could quit at 5pm – early for here. Clearly Alfredo doesn’t think I need these classes because he answered me about a gazillion miles an hour in what had to be slang. Anyway, I see them sweeping up out there so the message was delivered.

I got these pictures that I have to show you, I couldn’t believe these guys balance. Amazing. They are chipping out a hole in the top of the wall and then the other guy makes a bucket of concrete and puts the ‘things’ in the wall. Check it out…

chipping the hole

this run has the glass shards they used to use for security - he's sitting on them!

bucket of cement + rocks for filler

filling the hole

without the zoom lens

A minute ago I got a whiff of hair oil and knew they were cleaning up to leave. They’re gone and I’m off to class.

planting starts

Jonna — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 23:02:41 +0000

bags of dirt and plants separated

Stuff never happens too quickly down here but we are finally starting to plant in the new beds. This is the absolutely worst time to plant here, it’s the beginning of the hottest and driest time of the year. Ah well, I will water a lot and hope for the best. I don’t want to wait 3 months to have some greenery out there.

Henry and I went to a nursery the other day and bought a bunch of plants and a lot of good dirt. I forgot to take the camera but I’m going back and this time I will. Nurseries are different here, I can hardly remember what they were like NOB but I think they are a lot more organized up there. I seem to remember neat rows of plants and everything having a little tag that says what it is. No tags here, if you don’t recognize it then you need to ask. There are some things that you have to know what they are to recognize them and then you have to ask if they will dig it up and sell it. Yes, some of the stuff is just growing in the ground but they will hack up a piece and sell it to you.

one section done, several more to go

I had 2 guys here working all day, my back is shot and I don’t want Mimi to do hers in too. So, I took pictures and directed and they did the hard work. Forty bags of dirt were delivered at 8am in sacks, remember that everything has to come in our front door and get carried down the hall to the back. Not the most efficient set up but it works here. They started emptying the sacks into the back planters and dividing and spreading out the existing heliconia. I love heliconia and I now have a lot of it. We got 3 of the really tall ones at the nursery, Henry had to talk them into digging them up from their little plot in the ground. The guys spaced those with the ones I already had in that back bed. The bed is higher now so they had to move them up anyway. I think we have too many, so some of them were pulled to go in another bed. Smaller ones, a red torch and a variegated rose were put in the bed in front of them.

Mimi expecting the whole shebang to fall in the pool

Those 3 beds used up all the soil we had so then the guys moved some palms for me. We had moved the dwarf date palm out while the concrete was laid in that corner and now they had to get it back. We borrowed a long board from the workers at the house next door and two of them plus the two guys working at our house got it back in place. No one fell in the pool and they didn’t drop the palm in the pool either. I think Mimi was sure that was going to happen at one point.

ready for more dirt and more plants

I’m happy with the results, tomorrow I need to arrange for more soil and see about the palms for the middle bed.

concrete is finished

Jonna — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 05:05:03 +0000

day 18 - finished concrete and rock work

It’s the end of the 3rd week and the albaniles are done. It may take us a week or two to get all the dust cleaned up. I dragged a bunch of potted plants out tonight and washed the white dust off them, they’ve been out of the sun and with little water for all this time.

I’m really happy with the new look, it’s clean, we can walk on it and put a lounge chair on it. I have 4 times more space for plants, this is the fun part. The BBQ fits perfectly in its spot, the pond is easy to get to and will have a more natural look with parts of the edge planted.

We’re not done. The plumber and electrician now come back to do more on the irrigation and lighting. The extension for the wall has to be put up so we aren’t filling the pool until that is done. I heard some good advice to put 3 or 4 inches of sand in the bottom of the planter beds to keep the soil from washing away. When it rains here, it is a downpour and all that good soil you bought washes down through the limestone. The sand lets water through but holds on to your soil. Since I’ve got all these empty beds, I’m getting sand brought in before I get the dirt.

day 18

I know it looks like a lot of concrete right now. You have to imagine it with plants hanging over the walks and water in the pool. I do have a plan in my head, we’ll see if it works.

it continues…

Jonna — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 04:44:01 +0000

day 3, pool empty & planters growing

We are at the end of day 10 of construction, it is taking longer than I hoped. Well, of course it is. I’d hoped it would be a couple days and then everyone would leave and I’d get to start picking plants. Um… not. I started out taking lots of pics every day, then I realized that day 6 did not look much different than day 7 and I just took one pic a day. They are doing a lot, there are delays waiting for the concrete, or the electrician or the plumber but work has been steady. I can’t believe the long days, the workers get here before 8am, if I open the door at 7:30 or 7:45, they are outside waiting. They don’t leave until 5pm and they don’t take much of a lunch.

day 5, 3 planters built and 1 more to go

I’m sure most of you know by now that I’ve never been considered a “morning person” so did you notice that line up there about opening the door before 8am? For like, 10 days and counting? Mimi and I have started splitting the morning detail so every morning one of us gets to sleep in until 9am or so. Bleh! I don’t know what to do with myself at 8am, I wander around in a daze, I can’t even make coffee without spilling everything I touch. Plus, the animals are getting crazy from being locked up for a couple weeks, Mimi and I are too because we feel that one of us should be here all day. Then there is the fine dust everywhere, some of it is from the renovation being done on the house next door but most of it is ours. I can not imagine how horrible it would be to live in a house through an entire remodel, my hat is off to those of you who have done it.

day 7, planters built and electric and water lines installed.

They put in the first concrete patio section today. I would say ‘poured’ the first section but really, they carried it from the dirt where it was mixed in a 5 gal bucket and dumped it in the forms. I’m hoping they will finish the concrete this week, then the bamboo wall extension can start. Also, then we can put water back in the pool. Warmth has returned to Mérida, it was about 100F today, not bad inside the house but it would be better with a pool.

day 10, bender boards and half pipe for bull nose on bench in place

I’m a bit anxious about the garden design. This is a blank slate, I need to have a plan of some sort or a mental image of the layers and colors I want to plant. It’s a bit intimidating right now. I’ve considered getting a landscape designer but then I feel like a wuss. It is the part I’ve been looking forward to for a year, I can do this.

end of day 10, one section of concrete is in.

I’ve had to change many of my original plans for planting. The planter bed by the pool hit solid rock a couple feet down. I shouldn’t be surprised, it took weeks to jackhammer out the pool and pond. I had the option of getting the jackhammer back and making it as deep as I wanted. I don’t want to spend that much money for one thing and I just couldn’t take it for another.

except those 3 holes, it's solid rock and the holes are only a foot or so deep.

It doesn’t drain well because of the rock so I asked them to break a hole from the bottom of the planter into the well next to it so water will drain directly into the well. It’s not the well we use for water, runoff from the back half of the house goes to it. Anyway, cancel most of the trees I was considering, I need something with shallow roots. I’m now pretty set on fish tail palm, I’ll let 2 or 3 pups grow out and keep the rest cut back. I can keep the bottom fronds cut and the trunk is rough so I think orchids and bromeliads will attach to it. Same problem over between the outside shower and the pond, I wanted some more timber bamboo but it’s solid rock about a foot below the surface. I haven’t got that one figured out yet but hibiscus has wide and shallow roots so that might be a solution.

Once the hardscape is in, I’ll take you along on some trips to nurseries in the area.

another round of construction

Jonna — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 22:07:57 +0000

We’ve now lived in our house for over a year, it doesn’t really seem that long to me. One of the things that kind of bugs me is I’ve never gotten to a place where I think, OK, this is about complete. I really do want to have an open house for friends here in Mérida but I’ve never felt it was ready yet. I decided I had to pick something and say ‘enough for now’. We already have a fine coat of salitre on the walls so they look old and like they haven’t been painted in 100 years. Some things, like these salt deposits that appear through paint, sealer and concrete, I’ve decided to get Microsoft about – it’s not a bug, it’s a feature! I decided that people spend millions on old Italian villas with the same stuff on the walls, so I don’t let it bother me.

Before

The garden though, that had to get fixed. It was beautiful with the stone and I think it would have been perfect for someone else, perhaps a snowbird or someone without pets or a yen to plant things. For us though, it really did not work. We have 3 fair sized dogs and they have a steady output of poop. We pick it up but getting it off uneven rock is not easy. Think of an English muffin with all those nooks and crannies. After your best attempt with the bag, you have to hose off the residue and the only place it goes is into the sand the rocks are seated on or down the drain into the dry well. The smell was a bit rank in spots.

Henry explaining what we want to the head albañil

Plus, I’m a gardener. Not always a good one as my previous green thumb seems to have turned brown on the edges down here but I’m an enthusiastic one. There was very little space for anything to be planted in the ground and pots had to be very large – don’t ask how Hombre has killed several of my plants in lower pots – but they also didn’t sit well on the uneven stone. Lounge chairs or tables were out of the question too, unless you wanted to wobble around on them. Mimi and I have both turned our ankles walking out there and the number of times I’ve almost fallen out of my chanclas is high. As these things piled up, we really started to hate those rocks. Mimi even got out there and dug up about a dozen of them to allow a place for the (ahem) run off from hosing them down. Then she had to go out and turn the sand over every week or so or the smell killed us.

designing a planter

So, yesterday was day 1 of the big yard update. Henry had done some drawings and we’d decided that it was simple enough we could just line out where things went and keep it simple. I thought it great when they showed up with lots of pieces of curved plastic pipe in different lengths. Using those to make lines with cal, the shapes were smoothly curved and organic, you could bend the pipe wider or narrower as you wanted. If you made a mistake, a broom was the eraser.

it begins

The workers cleared all the terrace plants and furniture so there was a straight shot from the front door to the work area for block and cement. Then they started prying up the rocks, the smell when some of them came up wasn’t good. One of the things I was careful to include in the design was a border of plantings that could collect run off. Plants will help to prevent that smell from happening, the bacteria on their roots convert urea to useful and clean smelling dirt.

We are using brushed concrete for the paths and an area for the BBQ and for a lounge chair and table. The rocks are being used to build various height planters in several places, some of them will also serve as seating. Always though, there is at least a strip wide enough for plants between the concrete and the plantar wall.

the end of day 1

So, day 1 ended with a neat pile of rocks and rebar stakes to mark where the chalk lines had been. This morning the truck came with block and sacks of cement. The neat stack of rock started coming back down as walls were made for the planter beds.

rock walls go up

Our dogs don’t like most workmen, perhaps it is that they sense fear or it could be that we purposely don’t introduce them. So, they are locked up all day while this is going on. They spend the day on the roof and in the bedroom or in the living room and office. Everyone gets really quiet when we bring Cuba the doberman up or down on her leash, she usually makes a show of it barking and growling. The cats stay locked up too, because we don’t want them scared and now also because we have to keep Tita locked up all the time.

The story on that is that last week Mimi saw her run straight up the rock wall to the top. She couldn’t believe it but she did it. Then, she took off to explore the rooftops and stray cats of the neighborhood. We can’t take the fear of something happening to her so once we got her back inside (bless Whiskas) she’s only been out on her harness and leash. Henry has an idea to put a meter high bamboo wall braced with metal on top of our wall and offset it inside the wall so she can’t escape. That has now become part of this garden project. If we can’t keep the brat inside a 16′ wall then I don’t know what we’ll do, try and live with it I guess.

So, that’s the update. I’m waiting now for the plumber/electrician to come by and show us where to put some pvc for future irrigation and cables for lights in the new planters. Here’s the same angle at the end of day 2.

end of day 2

a REAL house

Jonna — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 02:12:10 +0000

the sala

For some reason, Mimi and I seem to keep being surprised by the fact that we live in a REAL house. I guess all those years living in the RV, or some subconscious idea of what makes a house real. We now have a coffee table!! and a side table and chairs and a table in the office. This has happened over the last month or so but today, the coffee table arrived and that seemed to make it real. We kept looking at each other and saying ‘we have a real house’ like it was a revelation.

So, I guess for us, a coffee table makes the house real.

ps. it’s great for putting your feet on, that’s what is important right?

rocks and stone

Jonna — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 03:19:45 +0000

steps or a swim up bar?

Never a dull moment around here. The other day the stone workers came to deliver 2 rocks and a bench. The rocks were to be steps in the pool. First one guy came and said to drain the pool. Mimi was dubious but we did drain it about half way down. Then the truck came with these enormous rocks. They are the local stone and incredibly heavy. We weren’t really expecting something this size.

What we need you see, are a couple extra steps in the pool. I can get out but it is two really high steps and I thought they might not be that easy someday. I think we were expecting a couple small chunks of stone. The idea is that if they don’t have to break into the concrete of the pool it will be a lot better, cheaper and avoid any potential leaks. So, heavy stones that just sit on the existing ledges and give you a couple extra steps to get out. Simple right?

So, the truck gets here and I go out to open the front doors. I notice that there are a lot of people standing around looking at the truck from the doctor’s office a couple doors down, so I walk down there. Turns out the big guy, there is always a ‘big guy’ whenever anything heavy has to be hauled around, had dropped one of the rocks on his finger. He was standing there holding his hand up, blood dripping down his arm, the end of a finger looking much too short and like it had a gob of hamburger on the end.

I told him to go around the corner to the Red Cross but he said no. I went and got some peroxide and gauze and when I got back the job boss was there. Again I suggested the Red Cross, it is only a few doors around the corner and they have a small emergency clinic. This time I heard the big guy say he didn’t want to go because he didn’t have his papers. Alan insisted and they went off around the corner.

OK, now the big guy is gone and the head guy and two remaining little guys have to get the rocks in. The head guy is big, but he is the head guy and they don’t usually haul stuff. It was clear the two little guys were not going to be able to do it so he had to help. Major drama over that but it all got settled and the 3 of them start the process of getting a huge rock on a dolly, getting the dolly over the several drops in height on the way to the back yard. It took quite a while, I was rattled. If they dropped one of those rocks I’d have a crater in the floor.

By this time it was almost dark. Mimi and I are looking at these friggin huge boulders in the yard and these guys are considering dropping them into our now empty pool. No way, we’d have a leak for sure. Mimi is telling me we don’t want them at all and I’m trying to figure out what to do. Finally we tell them to just leave them in the yard until tomorrow, it’s too dark to do anything.

Next morning, we still think the rocks are too big.

Now the guys reappear with a new big guy and a couple more small guys too. I tell them that I want to talk to Henry about it before they put them in the pool. Henry is in Canada. I can’t imagine these rocks ever coming back out of my pool once they are in there and I am not at all sure they will fit. Finally they agree to wait until next week when Henry returns. Whew! another decision averted.

the bench

Now they have the bench to bring in and take upstairs to the guest bathroom. It is a stone bench of the local marble and it too is massive and heavy. It’s gorgeous though and I have no hesitation about pointing out the stairs. It was crazy watching them haul that thing up and around our switchback stairs. The strain was evident but they got it up there. Then we had to decide how to secure it. The floor in the shower slopes and so it rocked a little just sitting there. It was finally decided to use mortar on the bottom to keep it in place.

Of course, stone guys don’t do concrete so the albanil had to be summoned and he did a good job. I had been concerned that the mortar would show but it is not really noticeable and the bench is stable now. It looks great, I don’t have a pic of it in place yet. This is all the result of changing the shower in there to fix the drainage problems. The dry well that was supposed to drain everything from the front of the house doesn’t drain very well. So, we made the shower larger, got rid of the plant space and the whole thing now drains into the septic. That meant a huge space for the shower and it seemed to call for a place to sit down. This is how these things all start, a simple idea and a complicated solution.