The Roatan Story

One of the big reasons for the delay in posting this chapter is I have been waiting for Lori to write her part.  Each time I would ask her she had a different excuse.  First she was too busy with the holidays.  Then she quit smoking cigarettes and claimed without nicotine she could no longer write creatively.  Finally the other day she said she was just too busy working on the house to contribute to this chapter and asked if I could do it myself.  I think all her excuses are lame but agreed that things have been hectic for us both.  For her, November was primarily spent taking care of Maggie and the seven puppies.  Then, the first week of December, Lori and her friend, Kelly, flew to Tampa with six puppies.  The airline limits the number of puppies per passenger to carry-on in the cabin to two.  Lori and Kelly gambled and each stowed three pups in their carry-on kennels.  The trip was long and stressful but went smoothly.  No one ever noticed the extra "smuggled" pups.  Last we heard, all the pups but one had found homes.  When Lori returned, she was busy baking banana bread and cookies, decorating and stringing Christmas lights, and wrapping a bunch of toys to be given to some of the island children at a party on Christmas Eve.  There were also several other holiday parties and a wedding we were invited to.  We made it to a few of these before Lori hurt her back and was unable to get out of bed for several days. I won't go into the gory details of how I had to help her with a bedpan!  She has since recuperated and now joins me almost daily up at the house to work.  She painted the spiral stairs, has the loft floor sanded and varnished, and is now sanding the lower floor.  

Pretty Spiral Stairs

Yes dear it is hard work :)

We rented a huge floor sander the other day and my friend, Mike, helped haul the HEAVY thing all the way up to the house only to find we didn't have enough power to run it.  We even plugged it into a 3000 watt generator and the sander would run for 5 seconds and then cut off.  So, I had to haul the damn thing back down the hill and into the boat to be returned (and almost injured my back as badly as Lori had).  So she is using a little palm sander and the larger belt sander for really bad spots.  It is taking awhile but it should be ready for varnish by the end of January.  Lori looks forward to finishing the floor so we can unload her container.  We haven't seen the contents of it in almost two years.  Anyway, hopefully Lori will find a way to be creative without nicotine and will take some time and contribute to the next chapter.

As I said, we have both been very busy but I still feel slightly guilty because instead spending my early mornings writing this chapter (which is the only time of day I am really able to write), I have been talking with friends all over the globe on the HF radio.  As I sit at my desk, another new distraction is a toe biting, jumpy little squirt known as Lamb Chop.  

She is the one puppy from Maggie’s litter that we decided to keep.  I am not complaining but at times she can be a real handful! I do value the dogs for not only watching out for us but also as great companions that without I would be lost.  Lori has been an immense help in all of this and I cannot express to her how much I appreciate it!  I had finished the back wall of the house while Lori traveled to Florida with the pups to hand over to our friend Jodi.   Lori and I decided they would find better homes in the States than in Bizarro world.  It would have broken our hearts seeing one of the pups mistreated as might happen here.

While Lori was getting ready to leave we had a visit from friends on a cruise ship, Bob and Lois from Tampa.  They seemed to enjoy their visit and it was great to see them!  I suspect that when they retire they will make it down this way and stay for a while on their CSY 44 and enjoy this area.  We certainly hope so and look forward to seeing them here.  I just realized that there are three CSY 44 sailboats here on the island including ours. For a sailboat that is thirty years old or older, they hold up extremely well and are worth refitting since the basic structure is one of the strongest fiberglass boats in the world and very seaworthy.

I now have the east wall siding on except for a small portion at the bottom.  Since the house sits up so high on the concrete pilings, I have to build a 2x4 scaffold of sorts and plank it with 2x8 to walk on.  Most times it doesn’t bother me but when I get down to the bottom rows of the siding there isn’t much to hang onto anymore and it gets kind of stressful walking twenty-six feet, one end to the other, without handholds! Of course this is only twenty feet in the air at the front but it feels and looks like fifty!  While Lori was away there was a cold front that swept through here and I had winds in excess of 30 knots. You should have seen my first attempt at carrying a piece of siding out to the scaffold.  I almost became the “Flying Monk” (instead of the Flying Nunn) as the wind caught the piece and almost lifted me up off my feet!  Not being thrilled with that sensation, I found other work to do for a couple of those windy days.  But, I was able to put the window in yesterday and will finish the east side today and start on the west exterior wall which will then leave only the front wall. The front wall will be much easier even with all the doors and windows because I can work on the porch with no scaffolding to worry about.

When I am not practicing my tight rope act on the scaffolding, I have been involved in some other interesting work.  One bit of business came my way through our “Roatan Story”.  A gentleman named Tibyasa purchased property in Old Port Royal and contacted me through our website to request my help with lining him up with a construction superintendent, which I was able to do.  He also asked if I would check his site and determine the best location for solar and wind power generation.  After much communication via email, I was happy to finally meet Tibyasa when he came to Roatan a few weeks ago.   Also, a couple we met last year on a sailboat that came into Calabash, Bill & Susie, are in the process of buying a house in Old Port Royal close to Tibyasa’s property. (Small world isn’t it?)  I am keeping a Heart Interface inverter going for their watch/handy man while they are away.  Out in Old Port Royal area there is no RECO electric power, no water supply and no Hondutel phone service so it is up to the residents to provide what services and utilities they require. This is where I come in and depending on the situation I can repair existing equipment, determine proper size of new systems, and also upgrade systems. I must admit it does eat up a lot of time traveling out that way and back so I usually plan on spending the entire day doing this.  Lori definitely prefers that I stay home and work on the house but she also understands that I enjoy some diversity in my work.

This morning I realized that sometimes we forget what we are doing or why. I was begged awake by Maggie, Ziggy, and Lamb Chop to get up and get moving at the usual time of four am. We all left the boat as quietly as possible, allowing Lori to sleep, and headed to the shack.  After giving them food and water, I decided to take a short rest in the hammock.  I turned out the lights and was lying there looking up at the stars and thinking back on a hike I took a few days earlier. Lately, I have taken some time off from working on the house.  I needed a break from the monotonous chore of hanging siding and also because I needed to purchase some supplies to continue the job.  Most businesses are closed during the holiday season and I don’t mean just a couple of days but for a solid two weeks or more.  So I decided that maybe I ought to take my friends Mike and Gail up and go on a hike across the high ridge behind us here in Calabash to look at a proposed WiFi site.  I found the Roatan of old on this trip.  Looking around from the top of the hill, I realized that this end of the island is pristine and unchanged except for a few things here and there.  The view was of a beautiful island with the reef and the sea surrounding it, an emerald jewel in the sapphire blue ocean.  

Gail & I in the bush

Somewhere recently I think I lost sight of the real reason why I am here. But now, remembering what I felt on that hike, I am elated that I can still find the old island and the old Mark.   So now once again we are on the road to continuing on the house construction and also at the same time taking some time to enjoy the very reason that brought us here.  Like most Americans, I have spent much time indoors.  I think air-conditioning and TV and everything else related to indoor living had begun to dull my senses.  Life here is very different and I realized I have already begun taking it for granted.  Being outdoors most of the time is the reality of island living.  When it rains you know it, when the wind pipes up or changes direction you know it.  Here I feel so much more in tune with nature and loving every minute of it.  No longer am I cooped up in a house with all the windows shut.  No longer am I working most of my life away in a cubicle or office environment.  We are outside, living with nature and loving it.  Sometimes it is easy to forget how wonderful it is and I am so happy to have realized it and corrected this forgetfulness.  Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all!

I thought we would have posted this chapter by the end of the year, but again, I was waiting for Lori to write something. So, here we are half way into January already!  I had better close for now as I have to get this uploaded so everyone can read the latest news.  Oh yes, before I forget, the house is now dried in!  All of the walls and doors as well as windows are in.  I have been working on the back porch and just today finished the decking part, now on to the stairs….  

Inspector Lori

Ever-present Construction Helpers Maggie & Ziggy

East side

North Side (back of house)

Rest of North Side

West Side

Front 

Front