The roof is starting to look sweet!

We'll see about the shade. The roof faces north and the side against the house is shaded from late morning on and completely in the shade in the winter for about 8 feet out from the wall. My back garden downstairs has become mostly shade now due to an enormous banyan on a neighbor's wall. So, I use this roof garden for anything that really needs full sun. I also spend some time in the sun up there in the mornings, I am happier if I have a tan and so I let myself just lay in the sun for a bit every day. I'm not adverse to heat and I'm pretty comfortable up into the 90'sF. I will see how I use it as I have considered adding some shade particularly in the summer. I want to put the sun sail back up for part of the year and they say that I will have the poles available to do that. While winters are warm here, I don't think for me that shade will be necessary then. Also, the breeze up there is really nice almost all the time. We are about 20 miles from the Gulf and that keeps the onshore breezes cooler. I anticipate using that roof garden mostly in the mornings and the evenings, not so much in the heat of the afternoons.

I like warm to hot weather. It's the humidity that we get here that gets to me.

Karen

There is good news and bad news. The good news is that the roof tiles were delivered and they have started to lay them. I didn't get a picture of the ones they had put down, there were only about 6 when they left for the day, but here they are in the box. The really good news is that I still like them since I couldn't remember what they looked like. They are ceramic not stone and the surface is actually level without any rock-like nooks and crannies. That's good since the dogs use the roof and I had some real stone removed from the downstairs garden because removing dog poop from it was... well, think cream cheese and an english muffin. Sorry. Anyway, these tiles look like stone but they aren't and they have a slightly sandpaperish feel to them so they aren't slippery when wet.



The bad news is that today was the day when they had warned us that there would be no gas and no water from 7am to 7pm. Hah! That part was true but they didn't finish so there is no gas and no water tonight either and we will see about tomorrow night.

Down here we do not have piped in gas, it is delivered by a tanker truck (which is only allowed at night into the central part of the city where we live) and put into our large 500 liter tank on the roof. We usually fill it around this time every year so that it is full for hurricane season, thus heavier. We haven't filled it though and it has about a 40% load. They brought in a guy who somehow freezes the gas so he can remove the valves and change them out without losing all of it. We need a new fill connection that has an extension for the tanks new location. They said that we would only lose 10% to 15%. We will see. Today I learned that it is good to change all the fittings every 5 years anyway to avoid them failing from the heat. It's been 6+ years so we opted to have them all changed while the tank was already frozen and disconnected. The whole thing, parts and freezing, cost a little less than $200us, refilling the tank will probably cost about the same. We already have the tank sanded and painted if there is any corrosion every year. Just another maintenance item that didn't exist for me up north.

I showered last night and we have a big bottle of water for coffee (boil water in microwave) and drinking. If we need to we can use the house next door as it is one of the ones I take care of when the owners are not in residence. So really, we are not badly inconvenienced. We went out to dinner tonight, I may go out for coffee and breakfast tomorrow and we'll just hope that all is completed by tomorrow night. We carried a couple buckets of water from the swimming pool to the upstairs bathroom so we can flush during the night. I'm thinking of it as practice if a hurricane hits us. Although, in that case we would probably not have electricity and that would make everything a lot harder.

Think of it as "camping," Jonna!

Good thinking, Sandy.

They are moving along at putting down the tiles. I am really happy with the way they look.

in sun:


and shade:


The other thing they are doing is putting mirrors inside the skylights and covering them with glass blocks. These are small, block sized skylights but they are the only natural light in the office and they add to the light in the hallway. The sun tubes that are made to channel light down are really expensive and since we do not need to "bend" the light but just augment it straight down, the architect came up with this. I think it will work, I can tell there is more light coming through already.

I have spent the whole day today with workers at another house, installing cabinets and closet doors. It's one of the houses I take care of and I thought they were only bringing 2 kitchen cabinet doors. No, it's been an all day thing. Luckily I have my computer and there is internet so I'm just hanging out.

Looking right snazzy, there, Jonna.

Oh! Jonna .... that roof top garden area is going to be truly marvelous! It will probably become one of your favorite places in your home! I can't wait to see the pond. I love it!!!!

It will be fabulous.

Really looking great, Jonna.

Karen

It is really going to be a lovely spot indeed.

I think you are right Becky, it will be one of my favorite spots. Even when it was uneven and hard to get to, I was out there every morning for hours, poking around with my fish and plants and just laying in the sun. It's my favorite way to wake up. I may have to put a microwave in the laundry so I can boil water for coffee, then I probably wouldn't come downstairs until afternoon.

I'm really enjoying Sundays these days as it is the only day that there are no workers here. I can really poke around and look at stuff without them thinking I am criticizing something. Of course, I always do find something that I think should be different so I'm sure they don't look forward to Mondays.

It rained most of the night and morning today which meant I didn't have to water and could just hang out. It is interesting how being just a foot higher gives a different view. I couldn't look down on the street before, at least not without jumping up and hanging on the wall. I did that once and bruised a rib so that was the last time I tried it. Now I can just lean over and see the street although I still cannot see the sidewalk in front of our house. I may put a basket on a rope there so I can lower the key for friends when I'm on the roof. It is a long way down and back up to open the front door.

We still do not have gas hooked up and I'm getting tired of microwave food and no clothes dryer. I can't put clothes on the line as that is on this roof as well. I am going to bundle all the dirty clothes up tomorrow morning and go and find a laundry. Technically I could just take them next door and use theirs but I think I want to find a good laundry anyway since sometimes I need things ironed and none of the girls who work here will admit to knowing how to iron. It seems like the perfect time to test out a few laundries.

The gas tank looks to be in place and with all its dials and parts so hopefully they will hook it up this coming week. I missed watching the guy who freezes tanks so I'm not sure how he does it but my guess is with dry ice.



The pond is now being chipped away for the wiring and pipes. It is a puzzle to me but this is the way things are done here. They build the wall or whatever and then they break a channel to put in the lines. I watched them do it on the walls of the house too. If it were me, I'd build it in or put them in and then build the wall but - I know nothing about how to do these things so instead I just watch and wonder.



I've been watering my plumeria on Sundays if it hasn't rained enough but today they are soaked from the long rain. I'm happy that they seem to be surviving all the dust and debris pretty well, I was really clear to the workers that I didn't want to see concrete water dumped in my plants. I learned that I have to be explicit about that or they will not think of it as a problem.

The old pond is there and the mollies and guppies seem to be doing ok. I don't think I would know if a few had died since it is now full of algae. I hope that the algae helps to keep the water good and I seem to have the workers trained that the waterfall/filter has to stay on. They now come down and get us if it goes off for any reason. Usually it goes off because the extension cord comes unplugged from the pump, I've got the 2 plugs inside a cord protector and they don't want to mess with it. A few of the lilies are even blooming although the lotus has disappeared.



I am really happy with the tile. It looks great, the colors are a good mix for the house and yet it is light enough that I don't think it will absorb too much heat. Even so, there are layers of foam and concrete underneath which should be good insulation.

Oh, it's going to be nice!

Karen

kqcrna said:Oh, it's going to be nice!

Karen

Looking good.

Jonna - I really love the tile, too! It looks so nice.

I was wondering what they were doing to the concrete pond. That's very interesting how they do the wiring. I am with you, it would seem more sensible to just install the wiring within pvc pipes (or something) and then pour the concrete. But who are we to question? So far, they have done a great job. Are you going to tile the outside of the pond or paint it or what?

It's looking very nice.