26 March 2010

Koki arrived early this morning. He met with the maestro on the job and laid out some of the electrical lines. Some of the plug ins in the kitchen were planned to be situated behind the cabinets and so had to move those up. We walked through the house and placed plug-ins. All the electrical conduit and gas lines have to be in place before they can pour the floor.

We spent much of the day with Koki. We went over the solar system and talked about what we wanted in place. Doug has done quite a lot of research and now has a good sense for what we will need. We also talked about some of the details on his proposal for the second phase; 2 outdoor showers, tile countertops for the bungalows, kitchen tile, etc. All in all, a productive day.

Late this afternoon the workers poured the upper cement beams for the master suite. It seemed like it took forever for them to tie in all the rebar and build the forms, so finally seeing them pour was another big step forward.

I am constantly amazed at how well these guys work together. All of their movements were choreographed for maximum efficiency and they were in constant motion. Notice in these pictures that ladders are situated over boards across a trench. Once out over the studio, buckets of cement were being carried up two stories, again on a ladder. On the right side, workers carried buckets across a plank suspended over the first floor and then up a ladder to the top. Workers on the top had less than four inches on either side of the forms to stand on. No harnesses, no one is tied off and only two in the bunch bother to wear hardhats. OSHA would have a few things to say on this job site!

Once they were done, and the mixer was shut down, I gave the workers a standing ovation and shouted "Bravo!" They probably thought I was crazy or drunk, but the smiled and gave me thumbs up.

Afterwards, we took Koki into Los Organos for Pollo a la Brasa, otherwise known as rotisserie chicken. This one restaurant along the square makes great chicken and has outdoor seating so you can watch the square.

The town square is the meeting place for young and is especially lively on

Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings. It seems everyone in town comes out to promenade through the square, greet friends, and enjoy the evening coolness. Children run and play, the teens flirt and giggle and shift from one local to another, while the elders sit and gossip. It all has a very festive feel to it.

We had just a tiny bit of rain during dinner. It was less than a mist but sure felt good after the heat of the day. I still think the weather is breaking and we are getting into more fall weather, but the wind needs to come up to really make it comfortable.

We did get word tonight that our home in Oregon had been broken into. The house was pretty much empty, but someone kicked in the back door and stole the washer and dryer and the pellet stove. Bummer!