Hi all,
Well, Phyllis left on Thursday and forgot to take her cold with her. I found it. The acid wash guys showed up after lunch. They spent the entire afternoon on the rooftop deck and back porch. They came back on Friday and re-did it all again. We spent the weekend just messing around the house. Monday brought the acid wash guys back and the contractors guys to redo the vent for the water heater. All left before lunch never to return. We went to El Centro on Tuesday to re-supply. Emailed the contractor to complain about things stopping. Wednesday was spent running to town to get everything done as the San Felipe 250 is this weekend. You do not want to be going to town for milk for the next few days. We have spent the last few days using the "ditch road" as they are putting the final layer of asphalt on the southbound lanes of Mexico 5. Looks like they will be done with the road construction well before the house blessing.
Most everything got finished on Friday. As you can expect, there is still things on the punch list. It has gotten very windy and we can hear the racers practicing the course in the background. We got in touch with the "Blind guy" and he came over. We ordered blinds for most of the windows. About 1/2 the cost of up North. As luck would have it, they will be installed the day after the house blessing. Well, after dinner we go to do the dishes. No hot water. Pilot light is out. So I re-light it. Then again, again, again. It will not stay lit. Sent an email to the contractor and we washed the dishes with some stovetop hot water.
Saturday brings the race and the wait for the plumber. Who will come first? Well, the race wins and we try to watch it from the rooftop with binoculars. Best view of the dust cloud and the chase helicopters that I have ever seen. They were at least 3-4 miles away to the west. We could hear them clearly. The drone lasted way past when the plumber finally arrived. He takes one look at the new vent pipe and throws his hands in the air. Now I stare at it. Something does not look right. Jorge gets on his cell phone and calls someone. After a minute he hands the phone to me and it is Lupe. Lupe tells me that there is a problem with the vent and they will have to come back on Monday to fix it. Jorge will try something on the roof to fix it temporarily. Jorge runs up top and I hear some banging. He then tries to get the pilot light lit. Success! we have a big flame. He leaves and we miss the race. I go back and look at the water heater again. Then I see it. The vent pipe attaches directly to the top of the water heater. There is no "air gap". In plumbing terms, that means that all of the air rushing (or being sucked) up the vent has to come from the bottom of the water heater, passing thru the pilot light and burner flame. That is why it is going out. It is real windy here today. Think it is going to be a cold water weekend if the wind does not stop blowing. I was correct.
Sunday was another lazy day. We hung the curtains for French doors. We will do another round of pictures when we get back.
Monday is the wait for the plumber. He does not show up but the Propane guy does! We have invited friends over for a traditional American St. Patty's day feast. Wind finally dies down 1/2 way thru the evening and I get the water heater working. We will have hot water for a while.
Tuesday brings a call from the contractor assuring us that the will fix everything by 5:00 on Wednesday. Well, at 1:00 here they are again. This time it is Luis' crew. He is Jorge's older brother and the best worker we have seen down here! He does the same thing as his brother did after looking at the hot water heater. He speeds away and 15 minutes later he is back with the right part. He called it a "sombrero." As he fixed the water heater, his crew acid washed the front porch and my office. They now are the best looking floors in the house! Wish we could have had them the whole time. Funny thing. Both Jorge and Luis do not speak any English. I have a better success communicating with them with hand signs and noises than with the other works that speak a little English.
Well. It is Wednesday now and we had Luis and Jorge back here today to install the water filter and weather-strip the French doors. The punch list is now down to less than 5 things and it is time to get out of here!!! The rest can wait till late April.
We are off to the Bay Area for a week and will resume our Mexican saga then. Everybody have a great Semana Santa and we will be back on March 28th.
Larry gets on Soap Box:
It is a shame that some of you have listened to the press and equate the problems in Tijuana with all of Mexico. We have never felt uncomfortable down here and I feel safer here than in San Francisco. There is a lot of trouble near the border relating to the "drug" issues. It does not spill to down were. The only "crime" that we hear of is petty theft. Common sense would protect you from that. Mexico is a cash economy where both the Dollar and Peso are readily accepted. That means that very few places accept credit cards. The Mexicans carry cash with them too and we have not heard of them being robbed. Of course there are ATMs in town if you need to get more Pesos. Problem is they sometimes run out of cash on the weekends and they have to come down from Mexicali to fill them. Not a good thing if you need the Pesos that day. So, if you plan it right and understand the environment, you can have a GREAT time down here without feeling uncomfortable. We would not have moved down here if we had believed the press coverage of Baja.
Larry gets off Soap Box.
Till later......
Larry and Regina
