BoAtabey2

Picture above: (left) Wood and reinforcing steel ready for the footing pour. (middle) Aluminum forms being secured for pool area pour, hoping alot more secure than that ladder! (right) Jungle view of Bo Atabey.
May 10, 2006- The footings are poured. April and May pass and no loan closing.
June 6, 2006- The site passes inspection, on to the next step, which will be the concrete pour for the cistern and the lower level wall.
June 16, 2006- The pour gets cancelled until Monday the 19th. We get the invoice for this pour and it adds up to a total of 22.4 hours, for a fifty yard pour! something is not right!! Bob calls Majestic Concrete about his concerns, someone will get back to him. June passes and still no loan closing.
July 5, 2006- The next pour is scheduled today! This pour is for the floor of the upper level and the pool area. We know for a fact nobody will show up because of the long holiday weekend! It gets cancelled and is scheduled for the 21st. This also gets cancelled until the 28th...you got it......this gets cancelled until the 31st..no joke!... at this point, there is no surprise, when it too, gets cancelled. The excuses are, no concrete or they are out of bags for the concrete! However, we are on for tuesday, August 1st. This pour we hope gets cancelled because of "Tropical Depression Chris."
We are told that the concrete needs to cure at lease four hours, so it should be fine!
July 31, 2006- We received via e-mail today a new "Power of Attorney" to be signed and notarized, again, for our construction loan. I'm not sure why, but the rate that was quoted nine month ago, has changed, if we sign the new POA that mean we except the rate change. This infuriates me no end, this is a $34.00 (thirty four dollars) more per month and over the term of the loan it adds up to $12,000.00 (TWELVE THOUSAND DOLLARS!!!) more! Why? We get penalized because First Bank hasn't closed this loan in a timely fashion? Phone calls, letters faxed and e-mails sent back and forth, if we don't get this loan at the original quote, I quit, I give up, I throw in the "Tropical" towel. I refuse to sign my name!
August 3, 2006- Due to Tropical Storm Chris, there was a fair amount of erosion on the job site, our driveway is not accessible and a lot of rocks washes down behind the house!!......now what?!!......... Our next pour is scheduled for September 11th.
August 22, 2006- Kobe, the concrete foreman has come down with dengue fever and has to rest for a week or so, the job site will shut down until he gets better!
August 31, 2006- Michael our Architect offered to be the Power of Attorney, way back in January for our construction loan closing. Today is the lucky day, maybe?... Hopefully!.. Finally!!!!
(oh yes, and at the original rate quote, I just had to persevere, Thank You First Bank!)
UPDATE: Our next concrete pour has been changed to September 20th, good news Kobe is back to work!

Inner Visions Reggae

Picture above: (middle and right) INNER VISIONS!!
September 6, 2006- Picture above left: Our electrician Chris e-mails us, this picture of our property, He thought it would be appropriate, since we are in the water gardening business.....This is what you would call a "pondless waterfall".....it almost appears to be icing over.......... I didn't think it got below 68 degrees (in the shade) on St John!!
September 9, 2006- I know that this entry has absolutely zippo about us building on St John, however, it is sort of related.... and it is my blog so.........today I purchased tickets to see Inner Visions, a Reggae band from St John for this coming Wednesday night, at The Iron Horse Music Hall in Northampton, Ma. If the Island of St. John seduces you, so will this Bands music!
They have a certain "je ne sais quoi" when you see them perform, you will understand!
I actually purchased their new C.D. "FRONTLINE" this past January while we were on St John, I was so upset that I never got to see them play (while we were there) I never opened the C.D. childish right?.... not I can rip it open, play it and make up for lost time!
September 13, 2006- We receive word today, all is not well at Bo Atabeys work site, the lower level door openings are not square, the ceiling has a dip, windows are in the wrong place, now what, Whose neck can I choke ?!
I will try to focus on tonight.........Inner Visions.......Inner Visions......Inner Visions...
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It is almost a two hour drive to Northhampton, well worth the drive! This Band IS awsome!!
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September 19, 2006- We hire Michael to do a job site inspection, today is the day he will head over to Bo Atabey.
September 20, 2006- Michael e-mails pictures and the inspection report........"job site found in deplorable condition.....grounds in unsafe state.....aluminum forms were spread all over the site..... poured concrete walls in two areas were poured into improperly reinforced forms resulting in blowouts..... these areas will have to be jack-hammered to straighten the surfaces.....wood bucks installed for window and door frames are out of plumb and out of square in most locations.....bucks were not installed with anchor bolts into the concrete and there is no visible evidence of any attachment method..... floor slab in the great room has a very bad slope.....Kitchen window and master bath window bucks were installed in the wrong location...........no means of attachment was visible for the windows and door bucks....... inspecting the rebar for the walls, many areas had not been wired together"....
Now the bad news............
"The pool walls were poured but not the pool slab.....no steel was set into three walls
for the slab..... by not pouring the pool floor with the pool walls, the chances of leaking are very strong.....no opening for pool jets were visible and the pool skimmer was not properly encased"..... everything that was done wrong has to be corrected and done right.....he orders the job site to be shut down.
Needless to say, We are both devastated by this report.
We try to get a hold of Rick, owner of Caribbean Custom Concrete,(his company is in charge and responsible for doing our concrete pours) for days, leaving him both phone messages and e-mails, he finally calls back, he is in Montana fishing!
September 28, 2006- After many e-mails and phone calls, today is the day Bo Atabey gets her site visit by Michael, an engineer and our newly hired lawyer. After the bu!! S&!^ we went through with John, builder #1, we decide that it would be prudent to get a lawyer involved this time. We don't know the extent of the flaws or what has to be done to correct the problems, but nothing else is to be done on the job site, until all the "wrongs" are "right" if we are to continue with the upper level walls. It is horrible being so far away not knowing what exactly is going on, we will soon find out!

October 1, 2006- We finished taping, packing, strapping and shrink-wrapping the pallet that will get picked up today and trucked over to Tropical Shipping in New Jersey and then take a four day ocean voyage, its final destination will be St John. We are hoping that this is plenty of time for it to reach the island before we get there the end of the month! We are participating in the Flower and Garden Show at The Marketplace October 27th and 28th. I remember reading about this Flower Show two years ago and thought how awsome it would be to
be on St John for a flower show....It has to be a lot better than doing a flower show, in Boston, in January,in two feet of snow, with howling winds, slipping and sliding in the slushy snow, been there, done that.... burrrr......I still can't believe that Bob and I, from Connecticut are actually going to participate in this flower show!!
....I wonder if Tropical shipping provides a service of critiquing packing skills, We can see how well we did by the condition of the pallet when it arrives on St John! During this trip we will also be heading over to Bo Atabey to see the disastrous mess.............We are not looking forward to this dark side of our journey!
October 25, 2006- Travel day... up at 4:00 a.m. It is an hour drive to Bradley Airport, 3 1/2 hours to San Juan, 20 minute flight to St. Thomas, We wait 30 minutes for a jeep, load it and we are off to Marina Market for provisions, then to the NEW Red Hook Dock, it is coming along very nicely!! Now, My favorite part of the journey.. being on the ferry, my first time arriving at Enighed Pond it is very different than Cruz Bay, however it also seems very organized!! No one cutting in line!
For dinner we head up hill to Pastory Gardens for a quick bite...it has been a long day...but a good one!!
We are staying at Gallows Point (ocean side) and YES we can still hear the diesel engines of the ferries, (5:00 A.M. wake up call) and the roosters they must start crowing at what 4:00 A.M? whatever, I still love it!!!! I'm not sure if it is tree frogs we hear during the nigh, but it is absolutely awsome, soothing and comforting, all the sounds that say "Welcome" to our Little Tropical Island Farm! All Gods Creatures, great and small!!
Thursday: October 26- I've been waiting since February to have breakfast at Deli Grotto, In Mongoose Junction. They make excellent vegetable omelettes and homemade multi-grain bread, this will be my staple every morning for the week.
After breakfast we head over to Coral Bay to check the house. The bottom of the driveway is impassable, next to the driveway at the top of the pile of dirt and rocks is the Seagrape (coccoloba) as green, as green could be, Bob had purchased and planted when he was on island in April, it had washed down from where it originally was planted... determined to persevere!.... The house is worse than we originally thought, imagine an abandoned bomb shelter and thats what Bo Atabey looks like! The window and door openings are not square, nor plumb, the bucks were not braced nor installed properly, there is trash everywhere, trash cans filled with trash and water, five gallon drums, boots and a hard hat all filled with water,water bottles some empty some full everywhere, wood and rebar are helter skelter all over the property and we were told that this site was cleaned up!! This is so bad, We are totally numb!!
Early in the afternoon we head over to Tropical Shipping, to Customs and make arrangements with Penn Trucking to deliver to The Marketplace later today. It starts to rain, heavy at times, we call up Penn and ask "When can they deliver?" their answer is "Maybe when it stops raining!" say what? Time is-a-tickin, Tropical closes at 4:00 p.m. closes tomorrow and TOMORROW is the Flower and Garden Show. We decide to load the jeep with the help from Egbert(?) who works at Tropical, with his help it only takes two trips and we thank him, he was great!!
Am I right in guessing, heavy rain on the island is like a blizzard in New England?
We set up a small trough 4'x 6' fill it with water, under water lights, A Brass Statue, water lilies, umbrella palms, papyrus and Copper Tiki Torches. It takes awhile but it comes together.
Back to Pastory Gardens for a quick bite, easy, simple.
Friday: October, 27- Breakfast at Deli Grotto and we are off to The Marketplace to finish setting up our little display. The day is fantastic, the weather was warm, a little humid, very sunny and tropical flowers are everywhere! The people are wonderful, life is great even when the sky opens up!! We didn't think to ask for a tent, Next year! Back to Pastory Gardens for a quick bite.......
Saturday: October, 28- Up early, breakfast at Deli Grotto and off to The Marketplace for day two of fun in the sun and yes another perfect day in Paradise! One of the other exhibitors takes pity on us and lets us borrow his tent for the day!! Back to Pastory for dinner, oh well!
Sunday: October, 29- Breakfast at Deli Grotto. We meet Hilroy Francis, owner of Triple H Construction at the property today, he seems very nice, he was on our builder's list way back when, but we just couldn't afford to hire him, he was way over our budget.
Dinner again at Pastory!
Monday: October, 30- Breakfast at Deli Grotto. We have an appointment this afternoon with Winston from W.A.P.A. They need to know where the boundaries are on Seagrape Hill to install the telephone poles (all the surveyor markers are on the road) easy enough!
I had this great idea back in January.... When Bob and I are on St John we can stand in front of the webcam by the Cruz Bay dock and wave to our son, Ryan, while he watches from the computer at home, it was like pulling teeth, but this was our last chance before we head back to Connecticut, he says, "I only see two idiots waving!" that must be US!
Tonight we eat at The Beach Bar, everyone is dressed up for Halloween!
Tuesday: October, 31- Breakfast at Deli Grotto and we are off to Bo Atabey to take pictures of our "Ruins" and make notes on the blueprint for any discrepancies, of the window and door openings. When we get to the property the driveway has been completely cleared, all the soil and rock is dumped on the neighbors property and the Seagrape is completely gone!! We didn't hire anyone to clear the driveway....obviously Rick is calling the shots!
Tonight we have dinner at Zo Zo's. Boo-Hoo it is our last night here!! We drove by Fred's Bar every day and went on the computer at Gallows to Inner Vision's web site not once did we get to hear them play, maybe in January!!
Wednesday: November, 1- Our last day on St. John and last breakfast at Deli Grotto until January, how sad! "Can we please have two loaves of Multi-grain bread to-go?"..... "no problem!" We also head back to Coral Bay and say one last good-bye to Bo Atabey until January! I can't believe the mess here. I also look around where the soil and rocks are dumped, but see no Seagrape...........how, so very sad, it lasted eight months with the help from Mother Earth and with the swipe of a backhoe, gone!
I am beginning to think that maybe we are building on haunted land, hire a exorcist! I'm glad we didn't drive over to that side of the island Halloween night!