Monthly Archives: May 2015

Wilderness and Faro La Ponderosa

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Palms galore
Fields upon fields of huge coconut palms

This week our niece Summer came to visit us. It is always great when we have guests because it gives us a good reason to do some exploring that we otherwise put off due to our projects at the property. Our friends Dan and Theresa spontaneously changed their plans and we all went together to Aguadilla and Wilderness. The day was gorgeous and every picture we took looked like a postcard. We explored the Ponderosa Lighthouse ruins for a while and then we found a great little beach cove where we set up for some snorkeling, paddleboarding, swimming and sandwiches. It was an awesome day!

Road taken
The dirt road we took. Good thing Dan had a 4×4 truck!

Ponderosa Lighthouse ruins
The ruins of Faro La Ponderosa. What a cool place! The style reminded me of the Nunn Schoolhouse

Group
Group photo!

Group2
Ok, another!

Dan and Theresa up
Dan getting vertical with Theresa and Bandit down below (Bandit had a blast!)

Cassie wilderness
Ahoy! I have landed

Palms and garza bird
Garza and palms -there is a reason it is called “Wilderness”

 

Britton and Summer
We found this beautiful spot  with Flamboyans in bloom and the snorkeling was awesome!

Hidden Cove
Fantasy island with lots of hidden coves

Paddleboarding plus Dan
There was a strong current and wind that took Theresa and I a while to paddle against on the boards. It was gorgeous to look at the shoreline from just a ways off though

Cassie and Theresa Paddleboarding
Even Bandit got in on the paddleboarding action!

Solitary palm
Solitary palm tree blowing in the breeze

It was a great day trip and I would highly recommend it!

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Beginning the Deck

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This last week we began the process of building a deck. This first entailed taking down the scaffolding from inside the house and using the materials to build more batter boards.

Inside of house without scaffolding
Inside the house without scaffolding

Batter boards for deck
Building the deck batterboards

Next was to mark and dig the footers and then to pour them.

Down below waldemar and jorgeHello down below! Getting ready to dig the footers for the posts

And then they worked to fill the footers and then the mini-columns that will hold the deck posts.

Deck footers
Footers/mini columns

Next up will be to put up the actual posts, headers and ledgers and then the supports.

In the meantime, the gardens are growing really good. Check out these pitangas we have been gathering!

Pitanga
Pitanga aka Surinam cherry

And these interesting ornamental ginger flowers on curving spiral stalks.

Ginger flower
Unique ginger flower

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The Cabin Roof is Finished!

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The roof was one of the largest (and most expensive thus far) tasks of the cabin. First we had to deal with those beams which turned out to be a huge headache and frame the roof…twice. Then we had to paint 32 panels of siding for the underside in the hot sun and then haul them over to the site. Next was to tar paper the whole roof and put up the purlins.

Tar paper
Tar paper on

It was finally at this point that we could order and get started on the actual metal galvalume roofing. We chose a red color and I think it turned out beautifully.

roof panels going up
The roof is pretty steep, but Waldemar (unlike the rest of us) had no fear

Roof half done

Lifting the roofing

Roof

There is still a little gutter work that needs to be done, but overall the roof is finished. We finally have a dry, shady place for all the tools and materials (and people). And just in time too. We had gone about 3 weeks with no rain while we were in the process of the roof and then, the rains came. Britton happened to be in the cabin alone after the roof was finished as a major rainstorm started and he said it was wonderful! Secluded, rainy, jungle green outside but nice and dry inside. Just how you would want a roof to be!

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A (Silly) Video Tour of the Finca

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We often have people visit who are curious about what we’ve been up to, so we thought it would be fun to do a little silly video tour for those of you who can’t visit in real life. We had fun making it, and we hope you like it. We should probably do a video like this every year to see all the progress we make. We’ll see about that.

IMG_2911

 

 

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