HOUSE UPDATE

REAL BUILDING BEGINS

 

Actual construction on the new house has commenced.  More about that below.  First a bit of a digression for a weather report.

 

It has been HOT.  A heat wave of two weeks with temperatures in the 90s (mid 30s C).  And this is not 'dry' heat, the humidity puts the heat index several degrees higher.  Record temperatures have been set in some cities. Our friends in Manitoba may have sent their heat wave our direction.  We are even hotter than Bucerias.  Our friends in Taiwan would feel right at home.  And of course weather affects construction.

 

In our last installment the rain delayed work.  Since then, rain has been almost unknown and the weather, despite the heat, has cooperated.  More land has been cleared.  More importantly, the footers have been poured.  Probably as you read this the block is up.  Because we will not have a basement, construction will be a bit easier.  We did not want a basement – one of the purposes of our one-floor ranch design is to eliminate stairs.  In any case, a basement may have required blasting as the land is essentially bedrock.

 

The new pictures really should provide you a good idea of the area.  We mentioned the highwall behind the house previously.  We will have an enclosed patio, with hot tub, that will look that direction.  In the future Mrs. T hopes to have a soothing water fall coming over that wall.  In the pictures you will note a peak over another highwall as well.  Our house will be situated on a flat space between the two, much like being on a middle step.

 

We anticipate the frame will be up in the next couple of weeks and then building can proceed in earnest.  Because our builder/contractor does not have any other significant projects, we hope construction can continue without interruption, although probably not at warp speed.  Keep your fingers crossed.

 

Check out the pictures from time to time; we sometimes add more before email updates.

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/9151458@N07/sets/72157601277094372/

 

Best wishes to all.  Let us know how you are doing.

 

 

Dan and Rebecca

http://casa-de-terrible.blogspot.com/

 

 

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SOME HISTORY

 

INITIAL WORK IS UNDERWAY

 

Some tree clearing has begun for our house project.  The biggest bit is for the leachbed.  Unfortunately work has been delayed slightly because we received some much needed rain.  Looks like another dry spell is coming, so work should resume this week – some more clearing and digging, including the removal of some major sized boulders.  A few additional pictures are on Flickr at the New House1 set.

 

 http://www.flickr.com/photos/9151458@N07/sets/72157600418511906/

 

(Note on Flickr:  You may have already discovered that if you move your mouse over the pictures in a slideshow an "I" appears like a watermark.  If you click on the I, the description of the pictures will show.)

 

The picture of the giant mantis is from Inniswoods Gardens in Westerville.  Those of you in the area should visit there.  http://www.metroparks.net/  Perhaps we will install some large sculptures in the future.

 

And now a bit of history.  Rebecca has written this short account about our land.

 

 

My grandfather was John William Sellers.  He came from England when he was a boy.  But already he had been a miner. In the mine they started as pit boys when boys were only seven.  The lads were small enough to crawl through low tunnels where men could not, and drag out coal.  Of course John Willie's father was a miner, and his uncles.  There was no hope for them in the dark mines of England.  The tunnels flooded, the tunnels collapsed.  And men died, for very little pay.  The Sellers family was among the organizers.  They tried to start a union in the mines.  But someone gave the owners names.  The family was blacklisted and there was no work at all if your name was Sellers.   How they found the price of passage I do not know.  The men came first and when they had saved sent back for the wives and children.  They came to a land of hope for a better life, America.

 

But here again they did what they knew how.  They worked in mines.  The mines of Southern Ohio were not much better than the mines of England.  But the country was different.  Here it was possible if you saved to buy your own land.  John Willie did.  In Brush Creek Township in Muskingum County, Ohio, he bought land.  There was a little good land that was river bottoms by the Muskingum River.  On the edge of Brush Creek there was about ten acres of flat land good enough for farming, the rest about a hundred acres was hilly rocky land.  You could pasture cattle on it and they did.

 

John Willie married Fanny Peach who also came from England.  They had three children and the farm could not support them.  Still John Willie worked the mines.  In bad times after strikes or when mines closed there was no work.  The good river land was sold.  And later he sold to a coal company the coal that lay under the hill land.

 

The coal was near the surface.  This was not deep mining.  They dug and blasted until they got down to the seam.  They carried the coal away until the seam played out. And then they left.  No reclamation in those days.

 

The hills were barren piles of discarded stone.  Strip sinks were pools of acid water leached from the remains.  The steams bled red from iron in rock dug up and pushed aside.  Time passed.

 

My grandfather died and my grandmother died.  My father owned the land.  He sold the land on Brush Creek and the house but kept the hill land.  No one wanted that.  Slowly the land recovered.  The plants came first sown by the wind from nearby fields and forests.  Animals followed them.  The water year by year washed away the minerals.  The streams do not run red any longer.

 

There are still scars on the land.  Walls of stone (highwalls) cross the hills where the coal seams ended and the strip mines stopped.  But the years and the growth of the forests have renewed the land.  My father had timber cut on the land once.  Not a clearcut but a careful selective harvest.  Then when my mother was quite old they came to her to ask to cut it again.  This was not a careful harvest.  They raped the land a forester told me.  They took more than they should and left invasives free to grow.  After we bought the land someone came in and cut the trees again without our knowledge.  Stealing timber is like rustling cattle, hard to prove unless you are caught in the act.

 

So now we own this land.  We have cleared a little space to build a house.  The timber man who lives next door is clearing out the forests.  He cuts down the invasive Tree of Heaven (good only for pulpwood) to allow the oaks and maples room to grow.  The timber paths he leaves we will spread with wood chips (plenty of them around, God knows).  I have found lots of wild flowers: spring beauty, corydalis, wild geraniums, violets blue and white, bluets, wintergreen, club moss, and mayapples.  The sawyer showed me one ginseng plant.  I hope to plant more native plants.  In time I want a waterfall over the highwall that will be behind our house.  Here we will live and tend the forest, as best we know how.

 

http://casa-de-terrible.blogspot.com/

 

dan and rebecca

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BIG PROJECT

LET THE CONSTRUCTION BEGIN

 

Some of you may have thought that we disappeared since we returned from our Mexican condo.  Quite to the contrary, we have been involved in a major project that has consumed much of our time, particularly Mrs. T's.

 

As many of you know, Mrs. T and I have owned about 160 acres (about 65 hectares) just south of Zanesville, Ohio, for several years.  The property had been in Rebecca's family for about 100 years.  It had been strip mined for coal many, many years ago and Mother Nature has since reclaimed it – this was well before reclamation laws were on the books.  We have been intending to build a smaller house there since we acquired the property.  Well, we ran into difficulties from the people then living on the next-door property.  They would not allow us access through their property which would be necessary to get to ours.  Their position was illogical but we had no choice but to pursue legal remedies.  We spent several years going through two cases of litigation and additional actions by the Muskingum County Commissioners.  Finally we reached a settlement, but one that although it provided an easement to our property on paper was in actuality impractical geographically and financially.  And then these folks sold their property.  The new neighbors-to-be are quite a bit friendlier and much more sensible.  We were able to reach an agreement quickly, albeit at a cost of about 30 acres (12 hectares), and are now able to access our property.  (We have since concluded that the people who caused our difficulties probably were stealing lumber from our land.)

 

Next came the protracted process of obtaining a construction loan.  Our credit is superior, the builder's credit is fine (he is the brother of new neighbor), but the bank's procedures lumbered along agonizingly.  Each week they required some new information.  Rebecca handled the process adroitly and with great patience; she knew I would not be nearly as understanding.  Finally, the loan was approved and we signed the papers about 10 days ago.  Construction probably will have commenced by the time you receive this. 

 

We hope to continue with more blog as the building progresses.  Here are just a few preliminary pictures to give you a hint of the forest to which we will be moving.

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/9151458@N07/sets/72157600418511906/

 

 

Note on the pictures

You may notice that the pictures are now at Flickr rather than Yahoo.  Some of you might know that Flickr is a Yahoo division and Yahoo has decided to end maintaining two photo sites that essentially provide duplicate services.  We have transferred the old pictures to the new site and will make them accessible in the near future.  We have not quite mastered the ins and outs of Flickr, but it should not take too long to provide the same material.  The pictures look better as a 'slide show' and clicking 'details' will provide descriptions.  The pictures are a bit random at the moment. 

 

In case you did not know:  Strip mining quite literally tears out the coal and all the land (overburden) above the coal seams down to bedrock.  This process leaves the land hilly if it was not already so.  A highwall is like a giant step between levels of strip mining.  The highwalls in the pictures are about 40 feet (12 m) high.

 

Enjoy.

Dan and Rebecca

 

http://casa-de-terrible.blogspot.com/

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FINAL DIVE

TALE OF PINKY

The last dive day of the season and it was great! No inexperienced divers getting lost. Good visibility and lots of interesting things to see, especially eels.

It actually started a couple of days ago when I was wandering along the edge of the beach, just minding my own business and beachcombing. I like to wade just on the edge to keep my toes cool. You can imagine my surprise when I looked down and saw swimming toward me a pink eel with large black polka dots.

I am used to skepticism of my reports. In fact after Ron and Diane posted that picture of me drinking lemonadas some of you might wonder how many Margaritas I had before I started seeing pink eels. But in fact they were lemonadas, not Margaritas - that's my story and I am sticking with it!

Fortunately I had my camera with me and so I was able to get photographic evidence to back up my tale. I am not very good at photographing moving animals so when he was close I mostly got a picture of the southern end of a northbound eel but I got other pictures of him as he swam away. I did not know what kind of eel this was as I had never seen a pink eel before. I decided to call him Pinky.

When I went diving yesterday the first thing I asked Paul, the divemaster, was did he know of any pink eels with black spots. "Oh yes," he replied, "that is a tiger eel." Paul got out his book of Pacific marine life, turned to the appropriate page, and sure enough there was a picture of Pinky.

I was confused. It seemed to me that if I were going to call something a tiger eel it would be an orange eel with black stripes. But on reflection I realized this was not the case because I knew that an orange eel with black stripes is called a zebra eel. (This does, once and for all, answer that age old question "What's black and white and red all over?" the answer being a zebra eel!)

We went on to have two great dives and saw lots of really neat sea life including a brilliant yellow sea snail. The highlight of the first dive was (Have you guessed?) the biggest, fattest, most Rubenesque eel in the entire world. This eel was a porker!! It was not that long, perhaps about four feet, but the thing was about one foot in diameter. As I do not have an underwater camera, I cannot substantiate this but you all know I would never exaggerate. This eel was called an Argus eel I suppose because it also had big spots. I did not inquire into what exactly an Argus eel might have for dinner, Oh Best Beloved, ignorance being bliss and all that.

We also saw a very large anemone that slurped itself back into its tube as we swam by. There were lots of fish of all different colors and sizes. On the way back we ran into a pod of dolphins that were playing in our wake. There was one baby dolphin that was only about a foot or so long. He was jumping around with the big boys. The whales calve in the bay here, but I do not know if the dolphins do.

At this time of year the humpback whales are beginning their northern migration and next week we make ours.

Rebecca and Dan

http://www.flickr.com/photos/9151458@N07/sets/72157600448629812/

http://casa-de-terrible.blogspot.com/

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Hummingbirds

TIME TO MIGRATE

A few days ago we noticed that nearly all the hummingbirds have disappeared, apparently migrating north. On this first day of spring the calendar tells us that we too will be departing our southern residence in two weeks to head back north. We hope you have enjoyed our essays and photos via email or blog. Quite possibly we will continue them from our northern residence. Looking forward to seeing many of you upon our return.

Dan and Rebecca

http://casa-de-terrible.blogspot.com/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/9151458@N07/collections/72157600498535966/

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Sea Muse

SEA CALLED

I am one of the sea-called ones. Why I do not know.
I grew up in landlocked Ohio and I can not remember
ever being taught to love the sea but always it was
there, this fascination, this longing, this need.

So we come each winter to this little town on the
Pacific Ocean. Bucerias is the town's name which
translates as place of the divers. Fifty years ago
this was a fishing village. And still you can see
them sometimes in the evening and morning on the
beach. Men lean against their small boats mending
their nets with a huge needle. The beach in Bucerias
slopes very gently. You still see the divers who gave
the village its name. They anchor an inner tube to
the bottom with a rock and dive down to harvest
shellfish from the ocean floor. Often people fish
from the shore using weighted lines wrapped around a
can or occasionally with butterfly nets. (No I do not
mean someone was wading around trying to scoop up fish
out of the Pacific.) Butterfly nets have two large
wings looking something like a sideways eight. These
nets are weighted. The fishers cast the nets. The
fishers haul in the nets to see what gifts the sea
will share.

Tradition is, the earth is our mother. This may be
so. But if the earth is our mother, teaching us,
supporting us, giving us what we need to live then the
sea is our grandmother. The sea gives to us without
our asking or deserving. The sea plays with us and
sings to us, this wonderful grandmother the beautiful,
beautiful sea.

The gifts from the sea are all around us here. The
streets are cobblestone. The stones that were
smoothed and rounded by the sea are set in sea sand.
On occasion people who are building go to the sea even
yet. Take a cart or wheel barrow to the edge of the
surf and load up with rounded smooth stones for your
wall. A screen will do to sift the shells out of the
sand so you can use the sand to make your concrete.
The shells will decorate your wall.

The waves are gentle in Bucerias, long rolling
breakers one after another, not too high or too
strong, except when the moon is full or a Pacific
storm rages outside the bay. When the surf is high
the golden sand is streaked with black. Black
volcanic sand picked up from the bottom of the bay
paints pictures at the waters edge. If you look
closely you see tiny bits of gold gleaming in the
black sand. When the tide is high the sea casts up
many of its treasures. There are shells of every
shape and size, bits of sea glass frosted by the
movement of the sand, coral, driftwood, and living
creatures who took a wrong turning swimming onto the
beach instead of away from it. To these I give a
little aid, scooping them up and tossing them gently
back, "Go back, little sister" I whisper (I have been
known to take a wrong turning myself.)

Some pictures at:

http://new.photos.yahoo.com/dxterrible/album/576460762393285292

Dan and Rebecca

http://casa-de-terrible.blogspot.com/

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FUN TRIPS

PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION

As we have mentioned several times, Bucerias is a pedestrian town – a village almost - we go everywhere by foot. This mode of transportation is not too strenuous and undoubtedly healthier for us. It can be a bit of a hike from one end of town to the other, comparable to walking from Broad and High to Wexner Center (probably not even that far), especially with a load of groceries. But to go to the big city, Puerto Vallarta, we generally take the bus. And that is entertaining.

Those of you in foreign countries probably live in cities with well-developed mass transit systems. Your city is probably more densely packed than Columbus. By that I mean that you likely live very close to your neighbors in a more vertical environment with little green space that you personally own. Many of you also live where the government – either municipal, national, or an in-between level - subsidizes the transportation system, often rather heavily. Your city has busses, rail, and subways, and maybe special paths for bicycles. You may avoid driving because mass transit is quicker much of the time, especially during the rush periods. And gasoline is a precious commodity.

As most of you know, Columbus is sprawled out with mostly individual homes on sizeable plots of ground. The attitude in the US is geared towards individual private modes of transportation – cars and trucks rule. With the exception of roads, government subsidies are minimal. Hence, COTA - not renowned as a premier urban transit system. But it probably is no worse than transit systems in similar-sized cities.

Well, that is a bit of background to give perspective on the bus systems that we use. And they certainly aren't COTA or probably any of the operations with which you are familiar. But they are fun to ride.

First, there are two major bus lines which service the route from Bucerias to Puerto Vallarta and in the opposite direction a bit beyond Bucerias as well. Compostela seems to be the more modern company – we are speaking in relative terms – and ATM, Autotransportes Medina de Puerto Vallarta, the lesser but perhaps more frequent service. Busses from one or the other company come by every few minutes headed towards PV. Both lines charge 10 pesos, about $1, for the trip. Trips to places in between, Mezcales and Nuevo Vallarta, cost proportionally less. And journeys in the other direction up the coast to LaCuz, Punta Mita, and Sayulita, are also priced according to distance from one's embarkation point. (For longer trips one needs to take Pacifico, Vallarta Plus, or another Greyhound-like line.)

The bus companies have a very smart arrangement. The busses to PV do not go to the inner, older, more interesting section of the city. They come in just beyond the outskirts (They do go to the Wal-Mart.) and then one needs to change to another bus system (We call it the blue bus system even though the busses are in several colors.) for the trip to Centro for an additional 5 pesos. The same process operates in reverse to come back home.

COTA would find the busses unacceptable. No air-conditioning – just open windows and often open doors. (Sometimes there is a second person standing shotgun in the open door to assist with tickets and other items.) Some busses are rather nice, at least adequate with better seats. Many were built by companies you would recognize, such as, Mercedes. Generally they all run well enough and get from point A to point B. Most are decorated, apparently by the drivers. Many have extensive customization of the interior décor. A rosary is almost a requirement. Often they have curtains to shade the sunny side. Busses in the blue system are the worst and are indeed rather poor. Seats are generally hard plastic or metal. Many blue busses have broken seats and other states of disrepair. Decorative additions are minimal. Many appear to be hand-be-downs after hard use in some Ohio school system.

But we like to ride the busses for the entertainment. First, it is often amusing to see what freight other than human passengers will be aboard. Household supplies and other purchases are normal; that is how most of us transport things back home from Wal-Mart, Mega, or one of the other big stores. We have seen buckets of clams, lumber, bundles of blankets for the market, and many other items. A couple had their surfboard with them. We have heard that livestock might even occasionally make an appearance. If you can get it on the bus, it probably can be on the bus.

And there is live entertainment. Virtually all the busses are equipped with a CD player and radio which drivers do not hesitate to play. Busking, which we usually reward with a few pesos, is quite normal. Many buskers do not have bus money and request permission of the bus driver, which they do not always receive, to come aboard and perform for their fare. Guitar players are probably the most common musicians; some are rather good. We have had simple guitar players, couples, a blind man with his guide person, and several other variations. One of the more notable was a gentleman who gave quite a Lenten sermon regarding our duty to give alms to the poor of whom he with an empty stomach was a bonafide member. His entreaties were worthy of many pulpits, but one of the parishioners on the bus requested an end to the preaching and a return to the guitar playing: 'Shut up and play' is a rough translation. We had a couple accompanying their singing with drums. We were joined by a clown who made balloon poodles for which he requested one peso. But perhaps the best singer we encountered was an older gent under the influence of too many cervezas; he just liked to sing a cappella and did not request any compensation. There is usually some kind of show to lighten the trip.

We have posted a few pictures at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/9151458@N07/sets/72157600448508273/

and may add some more latter.

Time for March Madness. GO BUCKS!

Dan and Rebecca

http://casa-de-terrible.blogspot.com/index.html

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