Walls Going Up, Tasha

Days of rain were a bit of a let down in showing the progress. Besides, after explaining all that went up from the mamposteo, the castillos, the next was the building of the cadena. The cadena serves to anchor the castillos well into the mamposteo with a horizontal armature, as explained in a previous post. Now, when finished, here’s what it looks like.














However, before erecting the walls, the cadena is covered with a water repellent and black tar paper at the bottom of the photo above. This to prevent the humidity from penetrating the walls above the cadena.
All that began with the excavation, the building of the mamposteo, erecting of the castillos, the cadena, was very time consuming, which gave the impression that things were going slowly. At least in my unpracticed eye. But at the same time, it reassured me as to the solidity of the foundation!
So finally, I can see progress beyond the ground level! The walls consist of bricks in three layers followed with cement blocks also in three layers. The bricks prevent any cracking in the larger blocks.

The spaces between parts of the walls, where the castillos are, will be filled with concrete poured between forms. The erection is done first half-way up the walls, then the joints filled with concrete as can be seen in the photo above in the center and the corner. Once the walls are erected half-way, the second above phase will begin. The center opening in the photo above will be the living room window.
Demetrio and Ruben have been here two weeks and will return to their other construction site for the next two weeks. Needless to point out that nothing will be worth reporting for the next two weeks and some days. Every time I look though, I can SEE that my little house is becoming a fact, which is quite exciting. To think that on a minimal retiree’s budget, I can still dream of one day having my own house without a mortgage is beyond explaining. I have had houses before, larger because I was raising a family, but with a mortgage to pay, how can I really claim that they were MY houses?  This one though, will be really mine, without a single peso of debt. So yes, it is a bit hard right now, but the outcome is really worth the sacrifices.
Now as to Tasha. Although she’s been with us only six months, and has had only six months of training, her growth belies her age. She’s outgrown Tina as can be seen in the photo below.
 
The only downside is that in her body of about 10 months, she’s acting like a 6 month old puppy. A handful at times. Plus she’s REALLY a shepherd. She goes nuts at the smell, the sound of sheep and cows passing by. She runs around all over in an attempt, I suppose, to round them up, yet never finding them... She’s made a trench around the RV and the bodega from her industrious efforts. And she’s followed by Tina who does it just for the heck of it, as it is clear that she hasn’t the faintest idea what’s going on. Queenie will follow for a while, then shrug it all out and go rest. Every day after the workers are gone, I let them run all over the lot. They take pleasure in jumping over whatever obstacle presents itself. It makes for a day’s exercise well spent and a peaceful sleep at night.
To my blessed relief.

LiveJournal Tags: Construction in Mexico,Tasha