Jonna, I went through a long period of having UTIs in the past and, in addition to drinking lots of water I found that taking vitamin C would really knock them out before they could take hold. As soon as I started feeling that burning pain I'd start taking vitamin C tablets -- like 1500 mg/day as I recall. Can't say if this would work for everyone, and my doctor was a bit skeptical, but it definitely did work for me. Vitamin C is water soluble so not a danger as far as overdosing. At any rate, I feel for you -- a UTI can be extremely miserable!

Cranberry juice is supposed to be very good for UTI, also if taken daily helps prevent them.

Vitamin C works for me, too! It knocks out colds for me, as well, if I take C when I first start noticing I am coming down with something. I'd read somewhere that too much vit. C can cause kidney stones. I've been taking pretty significant dosages for years & years (since I work with children who are always getting sick). I've yet to develop a kidney stone, so not sure how true that info is.

So glad to hear that your construction work is pretty much done! I can't wait to see photos of everything once you have it all set up! I want to see a night photo with the low lights, pond lights, and plants! I envy you having such a wonderful place to chill in the evenings! And with such a terrific night view of the community, too! It is marvelous!!!!

Yes, I'm using most of those things. Cranberry pills and juice, vitamin C, estrogen cream, they all help for awhile but then I get another one. This has been going on for about 5 years and I'm pretty sick of it. Now, I am ordered to go at least every 2 hours whether I think I need to or not and to drink all this water. All the water takes care of the first one for sure.

This last week nothing much has happened on the roof. We are waiting for the fiberglass earthboxes and the light fixtures. Instead, they installed a candelabra that I designed. I found 6 old glass light globes in antique stores and had the iron work made to hold them. When we first put it up we decided it was too high to be effective so they had some more chain cut and painted and last week they lowered it. This old house has all kinds of weird hardware and luckily there was an old iron hook for a pulley on the beam in the hallway. Where my pond is used to be an open courtyard when the house was connected to the house next door. My guess is that they used a hook and pulley to lower feed and stuff for the animals. I thought I'd put some pics of that process in here to keep you entertained

Here one of the guys is measuring where it is to see how much chain they need to add.


It's lowered on the hook with a rope.


and an after pic of the new height. I like it a lot, I'm kind of proud that I came up with the idea.


I have started 'seasoning' the new pond, adding a couple liters of muriatic acid every few days to leech and cure the concrete and get the PH down a little.

Mimi spent Sunday putting together the composter we got 3 or 4 months ago. We left it in the box since the roof work was about to start. It's pretty cool, hopefully it will work better than the old plastic garbage cans I was using. The main problem is where to put it that it won't be in the way and yet will still be easily available.

Wow, it is just so dadgum beautiful, Jonna!

Do those containers tumble?

That really looks pretty.

Very nice!

Karen

I love that light fixture, Jonna!

Jonna, that is a really nice light fixture, you did good!

Unique light fixture!

Thanks all, it was fun to search for the globes and I'm happy with how it turned out. Yes, the composter turns, each side separately. I spotted it last spring at Costco and bought it and it has been sitting in the box in our garage since then. I'm glad all the parts were there as it has of course disappeared from Costco now.

Of course.

Jonna - I love your own design for a candelabra. That sure turned out lovely!

I also like that composter.... Never seen a double one like that. That's pretty cool!

Boy! You've really got it going on there with so many unusual and innovative ideas throughout your home! So unique and beautiful! Looks like such an interesting home.

Oh, I thought they were loudspeakers for the hifi.

Gleni said:Oh, I thought they were loudspeakers for the hifi.

Love your new avatar photo, Glen!

LOL Gleni! Wouldn't that just try the patience of my neighbors. I tend to keep my music in my earphones rather than over speakers.

This house is probably the most interesting and satisfying house I've had in my life. Very old, all stone and concrete, with 20'+ ceilings and large rooms. It was a ruin when we bought it 7 years ago and it took a year to renovate. The modern stuff (plumbing, electric, water) is all new and pretty well hidden and we were lucky to find an old ruin that still had its original cedar doors and a lot of original tiles. It was made for this climate and stays routinely 20° cooler inside than out. Sound doesn't penetrate the walls well (neither does wifi though) and so it is cool and quiet in the middle of a hot, tropical city.

Regardless of the issues you faced, Jonna, I'll take the charm (and high ceilings) of an older home over something new, anytime!

Do you know when it was built?

At least parts of it were probably built in the late 1800's, it was once part of a really huge house that may have covered most of this block. My big hallway, most probably was once a covered porch with columns (still there) and open to a courtyard. Behind my house, including my small garden, was the central courtyard where most of the cooking was done and where animals were kept. The houses behind me were part of the stables. There is a 1950's house on one side of ours that was no doubt open and either the stable entrance or a garden. On the other side are several houses of the same period that were additional rooms in the house. As people died with multiple heirs the house was split and split again, etc. Down the street is a very old section that appears to have been a grand entrance to the property. There are many, many houses like this here in the old center of the city. More and more of them are being refurbished and renovated, in fact the city will supply the workers to renovate the facades of these old houses to keep them from falling apart. It is said that this city is the oldest, continuously occupied city in North America; it was a thriving Mayan city when the Spanish arrived and had existed for many hundreds of years before that.

How very cool, Jonna! What fun to be part of a long, rich history.