November 13, 2012

Well finally sitting down to post again, seems like it just takes 2 weeks to get it done. So here is the X spot photo:

 and going to the right around the house we have photos of the Bread oven (pan orno) under construction on the corner of the house just outside the kitchen/ dining room.

 another view showing the darker mortar in the oven portion. This is made with raw sugar (like molasses dried out) and then mixed with water and sand to bind the bricks. This is an old method of construction and 90% or so of the buildings in old town Quito are made with this system and they are 100's of years old.

Since it has taken me a while to update the blog here is a shot of the outside coating going on today after waiting for the sugar mortar to cure for a week.

We also added another fragrance to our environment in the form of three new potted Jasmine plants on our patio. 

We had a heavy rain about a month back and the whole back yard flooded and drained over towards the back corner of the orchard. We have installed a concrete tube under the perimeter wall with rock up to the surface, hoping that this will solve the problem. Here is a shot of the opening.

We are in process of building 5 raised beds for root vegetables at the back of the orchard area. Here's a shot of them we still have to line them up, the guys should be back this afternoon to do that then we fill up with dirt and plant!!

Around the the left front of the house, we finally got rid of the dirt piles (the dirt is now spread out in the back and seeded with grass; we pray for small amounts of rain each night to get it to grow. You can see where we have landscaped to the side of the drive and planted three new trees and part of the lavender that will be in between them to form a border to the property.

Here is a closeup of that area

and a shot from the upstairs balcony shows the workers putting the finishing touches on the perimeter wall, it is now complete!!! you may have to double click the photo to enlarge it to really see it.

 the foundation for the gate has been poured and should be installed this week...so that's it for today.

October 28, 2012

Well this week was very busy outside first we have the X Spot Photo showing some of the construction materials waiting to be used and also the bamboo planting  has been completed here and on the other wire fence that encloses the orchard.

All inside perimeter walls are now planted with red bougainvillea and honeysuckle which we hope will cover the walls entirely, eventually.

The back yard is taking shape as the gardeners smoothed out the dirt piles and prepared the soil with organic fertilizer making it ready for grass seed. They also mowed the existing grass for the first time.

And around the corner the Magnolia is happily blooming!!

As I mentioned the bamboo is all planted here is the back corner fence area that closed off the orchard.

In the orchard we have placed stakes around the apricots and next to the other trees to try and protect them from the rambunctious play of the dogs.

Out front Ane was watering the grass and flowers as we have been dry now for about a week.

To the right of the previous photo we see the turnaround at the end of the street has been graded.

And as we turn around we see the rest of the street has been graded and is now ready for the cobble stone pavers and sidewalks which will be installed soon.

We took the boys for a walk down to the entrance and the front wall is now half done and should be completed on the other side next week.

And here the boys are playing by the wall, 

See ya next time...

October 20, 2012

Well less than 3 weeks this time, today the Boys are 6 months old and we took them out to see their brothers and Mom and also we weighed all four brothers.

Odin and Manny both came in at 69 lbs. and Tony and Tor both weigh 73 lbs.

Here is Sean weighing Manny (I think) while Tor in red collar looks on.

Around the house we have been busy....Went to Nayon a little town on edge of Quito Wed and picked up trees and shrubs, here are a bunch of plants on the front lawn waiting to be planted next week.

In the back over in the corner we now have three young bottle brush trees soon to catch the eye of many a humming bird.

and outside the yoga room window we planted the real "find" our new magnolia!!

Meanwhile on Monday we started three new walkways, first out to the Dog House this will cut down on a lot of mud and dirt into the house.

Around to the right we have the walk going past the future bread oven area, out the gate and past the wood and storage sheds.

Over in the Orchard the path is done and will allow us to meander thru the trees and pick their fruit quite easily.

We also installed wire fencing at both interior gates closing off the area behind the garage and the orchard from the main back yard. the orchard fence awaits its bamboo wall to shield it.

As the perimeter walls near completion the front entrance awaits its motorized gate with a flimsy barbed wire horse and cow barrier.

The front walls are going up next week and will curve away from the interior side of the gate and over to the side walls. here we see the footing for the wall on the eastern side of the entrance looking mostly east from the inside of the gate.

More next time.

October 3, 2012 (about three weeks since last post)

Well the traditional X Spot photo shows the bamboo before final planting

and here is a shot after yesterdays planting, still need 2 or two more to finish the bamboo wall but progress is being made.

also from the X spot shooting across the newly painted yard walls

Around to the left front corner of the house we see the two piles of Paramo dirt waiting to go into the interior yard around the perimeter wall and overview of the new walls.

Inside across the back they are putting the finishing touch on the cement cap for the wall and have gotten the base protection panel finished. Just need a resin sealer and the work is done on the inside of the perimeter wall!!

We had to sink another well to try and get enough water to grow the garden and lawn. The new well does the job at 11 meters deep, we have an abundant flow (never stops coming out of the hose). We are hoping the silt will clear up after a couple of months of usage and we can use it for the house too.

The orchard now has 4 new additions of our from the "pit sprouted" apricot trees, here is one, happy in its new home.

And the rest of the orchard now sheltered inside the new yard wall.

The avocado lost all its leaves only to come back looking fresh and vibrant. I was worried we were going to loose it.

And here is an update on our 5 month 2 week old boys giving Ane their full attention.

Stay happy;)

Week September 8, 2012

Well the last two weeks have been a flurry of activity, we had all 4 chimneys extended up above their surrounding roofs and that solved our smoking fireplace problems. Then we had two walls build one around the orchard and one from the corner of the garage out to the future sidewalk and over to the perimeter wall. Each wall also has its gate entrance. And finally we had Casa Perro built for the boys. So here we go.

First the X spot photo (as close as i can get to it) showing the dog house and on the left the gate to the front yard.

The changes really show up with a wide view from the front with both new walls and their gates visible. (double click photo to enlarge)

Last week we highlighted the orchard wall and here is a closeup of the Garage yard wall.

And a shot of the enclosure, still some wall rubble and rocks to be cleaned up but we are making progress.

Around the other side here is the interior of the orchard wall.

Also in the orchard enclosure we now have a temporary solution to our water problem with the City water works. We are in drought conditions they tell us and there are no pumping stations. They depend on gravity flow from their treated water tanks and they do not have enough water in those tanks to reach our houses. The developer is working on this and should have it taken care of in next two weeks but we now have a new 2500 L black tank that feeds into our 1500 L cistern and both were filled this morning by the fire dept. we have been out of water for 4 days. Very dry and windy here right now.

On a lighter note here is the unpainted (it will be white like the house) new Casa Perro complete with tiles and post and beam construction to match the house.

Fortunately the boys seem to like their new front porch.

See ya next time.

Week ending August 29, 2012

Well just to show you we are settled in here is the living room kitchen view from the entryway.

This was a busy week so lots to show you, here is a photo from back yard showing perimeter wall construction and Master Bedroom chimney extension work.

And around front you see the extended Office chimney and work on the Living room chimney. 

Three of the 4 finished chimneys (now we can burn a fire and not get smoked out) turns out the reason they made them so short was they could not reach any higher without building a scaffolding to stand on. 

Around to the left a shot of the ditch for the Orchard wall foundation.

And here is the almost finished (in just 4 days) orchard/front wall.

From the X spot, as close as I can get to it shooting down the new perimeter wall.

Shot from the corner of that wall showing the backyard. Now we just need to get the gardener back to start finishing the topsoil installation, grass and plantings around the inside of the walls.

Continuing down the wall will be the rest of the perimeter wall on our side of the development as you can see from the next photo that work also continues.

 and last but not least a shot of the Boys who now both weigh over 55 pounds at 4 months plus 2 weeks.