Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Day three, four and five....

OK...I wanted to update this sooner, but didn't get around to doing it.  Here is a compressed version of the rest of the trip.
 
Day three of the build was slated to be a full day where we rounded out everything else at this place, but the roof wasn't going to be done until Thursday, so it didn't make sense to complete the wiring on Wednesday.  This meant we were going to complete out the work on the roof, interior work (walls, shelves, etc.).
View from the roof :-)
Getting the last two rafters on the roof was quite a task!  Thanks to Mark, who bailed me out with my "angled nail" issues.  Glad we didn't need a replacement piece for one of the rafters.
End of Day Three...
When we left the site on day three, we wanted to be almost ALL done, so that we could take Thursday off, but since we had to come back to complete wiring, shelving and some work in the kitchen, we let some things slide into Thursday!
Dinner options - have exhausted Half Moon Bay, Chicken Place, Bananarama....Tom suggested we try Blue Bahia!  We said "why not??"
Blue Bahia - a short (10 min. drive) from Seagrape....a nice location by the waterfront, and quite an extensive menu.  Us vegetarians enquired about possible dishes the chef could prepare for us, and they gladly obliged.  The chef came out, and talked to us about possible options....and he won us over when he said he could make something spicy, something with a curry, etc. hmmmm....we couldn't wait to try it!
The dinner was delicious!  definitely worth going back.  The best part of the dinner....the half hour that our waiter spent on figuring our the check!  You had to be there to really understand it.
Thursday started out with our routine...Coco Lobo by 7 am and out by 7:30 am.  We had to finish everything today....
Chitra hard at work wiring the lights
When we got to the site, we were greeted by the crew installing the roof (be prepared for loud banging noises!).  Chitra and I were tasked with the electrical wiring, while Harish, Tracy and Tharika were finishing up the store shelves. 
Electrical wiring - as simple as it might sound, is something you don't want to screw up...a simple short could ruin everything...which of course, we DON'T want. 
Pig tails, parallel vs. series, grounding....wow, now we are certified electricians!  Just kidding.
We were done right after lunch, and screwed in all the bulbs...and here came the true test of our wiring!  Let there be light....phew, thankfully, we did a GOOD job! YAY!
It was soon time for clean up..this was our last day at the site (working), so we picked up all the tools, extra items, and cleaned out the space.  The next door neighbor was going to come in and install doors, which would complete the build!
We packed up for one last time, and loaded up the truck.  Dropped off the equipment and tools at the storage space, and planned for dinner at the Chicken place (again!). 
Before we headed out for dinner, we were chatting with Tom about possible sight seeing options for tomorrow (Friday) - we had the whole day off!  Tom came up with a fantastic idea - a van ride over to Oak Ridge and hire a boat and wander out to the Pigeon Keys!  Sounded like a great idea...but we didn't have anything finalized, but Tom reached out to a couple of his friends and as we wandered out to drinks and dinner, Tom was going to fix things and call me back...

We got a call from Tom right before dinner, and he confirmed that we had a boat for tomorrow...approx. $50 per person, and we had a whole day's worth of adventure ahead of us.  Only downside....early morning start!  Guess we could take a nap in the van :-)