February 4, 2008

This has been a very hectic month. Let me try to catch up. I have been to San Jose twice for materials. Once we took Mike and his pickup to bring back the kitchen countertop, which was ready for sure, but it wasn’t ready. The guy said he would send it on his friend’s pickup on Saturday. I had already paid half, but was ready to cancel the order and get that money back if I could. I agreed to this plan, and on Monday, when it still hadn’t come, started looking for a truck to go and get it. I paid $130 for that, but got the countertop here, and it was installed before our Sunday deadline, with guests arriving on Tuesday. Now the guy who made the countertop is in a hurry for the rest of the money, and the second “half” is $100 more than the first “half”, and no mention of the second truck trip. I will send him an amount equal to the first half, and let him fight with Carlos after that. Especially since this is the second time paying for the countertop. Carlos brother, Victor, stole the first half, and Carlos ran out of money before we got to the second half.
The house is basically finished at this point. When our guests arrived Tuesday, we were still running the new house off the hydro from the old house, and did not have the capacity for air conditioners. We were waiting for ICE, the electric company, to change their mind on their decision that I needed to buy a transformer because it is a “high load” house. Carlos says we ran a welder and air conditioners as well as the old house, no problem. Well, I lost touch with Carlos for a couple of days, so I had Jose phone ICE. It seems Carlos was supposed to set up a meeting in San Jose. Jose and I went up to the office in Judas the next day to try to understand the situation better. The engineer from ICE read the plans, and decided the load for the house would be 38kva. Kva not important. 10 kva is considered normal. If your house load is less than that, you don’t need to buy a transformer. I roughly calculated that, with three air conditioners, a pool pump, and hot water heater, it will be at least 12kva. Therefore, the minimum size transformer is 25 kva., but they are recommending a 50 kva transformer. The price would increase from about $4000 to about $5000, to go from a 25 to a 50 kva transformer. I decided to go with the 50 kva, in case they are right about the load. Engieers came Friday to see if it could be mounted on the pole, it can, and I have to phone today to find out the best place to buy my transformer. Then ICE will install it, part of the $5000, and if I sign ownership over to them, they will maintain it. Then I will get the meter, and service to the new house.
Another problem we had was the pool. When we added chlorine, the water turned brown because of minerals. We expected that. Run the pump through the filter for three days, vacuum three times a day, and it will clear up. Well, the pump didn’t work very well, and when I hooked up the vacuum, I either lost my prime, or got very little flow, not enough to work the vacuum. Mike came down from Laguna, and we worked on it all day, finally digging up the line from the skimmer to the pump. One elbow had no glue on one side, and the line was creased enough to let air, and a bit of mud in. I went to the store and bought a union, we cut out the bad part, put in a new piece, and now everything is working well, knock on wood.
I was having trouble with the new engine I put in my car. The mechanic, Siviani, said the fan was weak, and put the old one back on. Carlos met me there on his way ba,ck from Heredia, and we went to Esparza to buy the “very last” stuff for the house. The car used 3 liters of water to get there. After we had the materials, I went to Luis’ mechanic, who had offered to look at it for me. He took 30 seconds to determine that I should take the engine back, because there was a serious problem in the bottom end, and a leak in the head gasket. We stopped in at Siviani’s on the way home, and he argued with Carlos, and said the engine was good, except for the head gasket, which I had probably blown by letting it get hot. I insisted I added water in the high white of the temperature guage, it had never reached the red, or been hot enough to blow a gasket, and it shouldn’t have overheated at all. He decided he will fix whatever is needed free, but insists it is a good motor. Luis volunteered to call the motor shop, and they said they would take the motor apart, and if it is not good, they will replace it, no problem. So, I decided, Valin, Luis’ mechanic is probably right, and he and I are going with the car on a tilt and load, to San Jose, to the shop, on Wednesday. I sure hope the motor’s bad.
Our guests left after two nights because they couldn’t sleep without air. They were very understanding about the pool, as all three couples have pools. They were a big help with the constant priming, and figuring out the pool problem. It was fun to have them here, and they insist they will be back when we get things running right.
On February 1st, Linda’s friend, Kris arrived to live in the old house for two months. She is an old friend, and is enjoying herself. She would like to get some postcards, of volcanoes and wildlife and stuff, but mostly she wants to sit around the pool. Not too hard to entertain.