Construction is done!

Looking out to the new metal stairs going up to the roof.View down to the backyard from the top of the stairway on the roof.

Hummers and Bananaquits share the birdfeeder


Part of the backyard taken from the roof.

Well, we should re-phrase the title - "No Mas Polvo" which means "No More Dust! We are not waking in the morning thinking that we should get downstairs and open our gate for our contractor friends, Pulpo and Alvaro. Instead, these days we are thinking about sunrise, orange juice and coffee on the roof!

The last few days with our friends were spent getting to know them better. Pulpo grew up on a farm in the Yucatan. After three years of school, he joined his family in the "Milpa". Literally translated, milpa is cornfield in English. It is so much more though. The milpa is a rotation crop method that has been used by the Mayans for centuries. They burn a swath of land by their house in the jungle. The potash from the burn fertilizes the ground. They plant corn first and once it is knee high, then they plant beans that wind themselves around the corn. The next year, they burn an adjacent swath of land and repeat the process. After seven years, they are back to the first piece of ground. Pulpo said the women grind the corn and make thick tortillas in the field while the men are tending the crops. Pulpo wanted to make sure that we understood that this is all done without chemicals and that their diet consists of absolutely fresh ingredients. This knowledge and wisdom in both building and farming from a man with three years of schooling!

The last project that Pulpo and Alvaro did before they left was leveling and smoothing the roof of our bodega (store room). You may remember that this was done for us last year. Pulpo pretty much insisted on doing this work. Ed and I kept trying to say that the existing roof was just fine by us. Pulpo, though, said that it was important to do this for both his reputation and also for our satisfaction. We were just amazed by the transformation when they were done. You'd think after 5 weeks of watching him work, we should have known that it would have been perfect.