Since a half day on Saturday is part of the normal work week here, Sunday is the only day no one is here. I went out on the roof today and poked around, checked on my fish and added some water to the pond and to some of the trees that were too sheltered to get much from the rains.
The fish seem to be fine, the lilies are blooming. I am kind of glad that my favorite molly, Big Mim, died a week before this all started. She was at least 5 years old and is probably the grandmother of all the black and white mollies in the pond. I was really attached to her and I still catch myself looking for her when I go out to feed. I would have felt that I somehow hurried her death if it had happened after all this construction began, so, it is good she went in her calm and normal pond.
The process of raising the level is pretty interesting to me. This is the area that was the lowest and is the area that will still be open under the new level. It has the drains, and will serve as a place for the water to back up if it can't drain fast enough. That happens in some of our monsoons, the water just comes down faster than it can run off. It definitely happens in a hurricane so it is good to plan for that kind of deluge. The foam is fitted over the concrete beams, rebar mesh is over that and then a concrete base for the tile. The section at the front will be covered by a light aluminum grate that we can lift to clean out the drains and check on them.
They have also used the foam and concrete to raise the street side, it was not as big an increase in height but it is about a foot higher. Once the tile is on it will be even a little higher. I spent some time getting the feel of the new level with less distance to the top of the wall and a better view. My worry about raising the level has been that it will be high enough for the younger dogs, the dobie and the new rescue Molly, to jump onto the wall. Feral cats run along the wall at times and they get really excited about getting up there. It's kind of a scary thought, I may have to make some kind of barrier on the street side.
The view back towards the door to the bedroom. What a difference it will be to be able to just walk out and not slide along the wall. I'm really thrilled about that.
