Hola Amigos,
Wow! Have we had a busy week, home improvement-wise! Yes, the granite guys came Friday and installed our countertop....well... they installed 1/2 of it! They got the first piece in (it takes three of them to haul and maneuver, the granite is so heavy). When they tried to put in the second piece, which meets in the middle of the sink area with the other piece, they found they were about 1 foot short! How that happened, they have no idea, because one of them spent a good 6 hours here fitting a paper pattern and putting in concrete board on top of the cabinets so that the final granite counter top would be the same height as our old one (1 1/2 inch). I guess having our sink on an angle like it is messed them up. Anyhow, they managed to cut another one correctly, and came and installed it on Saturday. It took most of the day! Haul it in. Place it. See if it fits. Measure. Take it out. Cut a little bit off on the corner. Haul it in. Place it. See if it fits. You get the idea! They must have done that at least 3 times. The end result is beautiful! This is the first attempt. That angle piece was a challenge! (That is the back side you see, by the way).
They even cut out the sink hole and set the sink in place, and grouted the edge between our tile and the granite, and put a sealer on it. Here you can see them cutting the sink hole. One guy cutting, one guy vacuuming the dust away (believe me, there was PLENTY of dust!) and one guy underneath catching the pieces they were cutting!
AND....the solar guys came twice this week. Once to deliver the solar panel, and once to deliver and place the water tank and mount the solar panel, which is now on top of our upstairs bathroom. It only took 6 guys to get it up there, including Ben and Ryan and a fellow who was visiting Ryan! With that many, it was a piece of cake (and I missed it with my camera, somehow.) Here you can see two of them lugging it up the stairs.
Hauling the water tank up the stairs was a trick, too, especially turning that corner! But they got it up there, and it fits in the niche in the bathroom like a glove! Just like we planned for it when we built 10 years ago!!
So, the solar panel is in place, the tank is in place, and we're waiting with bated breath for our plumber Carlos to come today. He will do the plumbing to supply cold water to the solar heater, and add the hot water to our existing recirculating hot water line. We have left our propane tank in place so that we'll have hot water on the cloudy winter days, but the rest of the time, the solar heater should take care of it.
And not only that... we're hoping he'll have time to plumb our kitchen sink so we can start using it again! It's just a bit inconvenient to have to run out to our courtyard sink every time we need to get water or wash a dish! But I'm glad it's there...much nicer than doing the dishes in the laundry tub or a bathroom sink! (And we just thought it would be a fish sink!) I imagine we'll be without water for a while today while he's working on those lines.
Oh! And Ben managed to get the crown molding rebuilt and re-installed. And believe me, it is well treated for termites! Ben slathered the bug-stuff on all the wood, so it should be untasty for years to come!
In the midst of all this excitement at home, it was our 45th wedding anniversary on Sunday! Ben was a sweetheart, and (with only a few hints) brought home a beautiful bouquet of cut flowers to celebrate the event!
They even cut out the sink hole and set the sink in place, and grouted the edge between our tile and the granite, and put a sealer on it. Here you can see them cutting the sink hole. One guy cutting, one guy vacuuming the dust away (believe me, there was PLENTY of dust!) and one guy underneath catching the pieces they were cutting!
AND....the solar guys came twice this week. Once to deliver the solar panel, and once to deliver and place the water tank and mount the solar panel, which is now on top of our upstairs bathroom. It only took 6 guys to get it up there, including Ben and Ryan and a fellow who was visiting Ryan! With that many, it was a piece of cake (and I missed it with my camera, somehow.) Here you can see two of them lugging it up the stairs.
Hauling the water tank up the stairs was a trick, too, especially turning that corner! But they got it up there, and it fits in the niche in the bathroom like a glove! Just like we planned for it when we built 10 years ago!!
So, the solar panel is in place, the tank is in place, and we're waiting with bated breath for our plumber Carlos to come today. He will do the plumbing to supply cold water to the solar heater, and add the hot water to our existing recirculating hot water line. We have left our propane tank in place so that we'll have hot water on the cloudy winter days, but the rest of the time, the solar heater should take care of it.
And not only that... we're hoping he'll have time to plumb our kitchen sink so we can start using it again! It's just a bit inconvenient to have to run out to our courtyard sink every time we need to get water or wash a dish! But I'm glad it's there...much nicer than doing the dishes in the laundry tub or a bathroom sink! (And we just thought it would be a fish sink!) I imagine we'll be without water for a while today while he's working on those lines.
Oh! And Ben managed to get the crown molding rebuilt and re-installed. And believe me, it is well treated for termites! Ben slathered the bug-stuff on all the wood, so it should be untasty for years to come!
In the midst of all this excitement at home, it was our 45th wedding anniversary on Sunday! Ben was a sweetheart, and (with only a few hints) brought home a beautiful bouquet of cut flowers to celebrate the event!
Of course we went out for dinner (multiple times last week, in fact!).
The red truck is still being worked on in La Paz. The mechanic did get the parts he needed, but when Ben drove in to La Paz on Saturday for some more errand-running, he stopped there, only to discover that the head mechanic and the diesel mechanic were hundreds of miles away working on one of their company's milk delivery trucks that had broken down. Oh well....manana!!
There are a bunch more photos of the granite, a carnita fiesta at our church, and scenes around the area in our January 2013 Picasa Album
Hasta la proxima semana,
Tus amigos de Baja,
Harriet, Ben, Ryan, Sam & Zoey
PS. Carlos the plumber just arrived!!! Hooray!
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