MAY 1st- It's still raining in Paradise today, so the guys have to put the perlins up, for the roof, in between the rain drops. I guess the whole island is shut down because of rain...kinda like a blizzard in New England!!!?
MAY 2nd- We now have a surplus of soil on the site from last weeks dig, it can be put at the end of the driveway where soil originally washed away during tropical depression Chris, last August. With ALL the rain St John got (three days worth) two days last week and yesterday we are VERY lucky there has been no, notta, zippo wash out at Bo Atabey......however the house above us (Roy is also building) has not been as lucky. I just hope THAT washout didn't come down our way and if it did, I hope the homeowners are insured!!
MAY 4th- Sondra from Tropical Shipping (St John) calls to inform us that the excise tax for our "RED" metal roof has been paid and cleared. We'll have our check postmarked today (Friday) and send to Tropical, they should receive it next week and soon we will have our "RED" metal roof.
We have been waiting all week for Roy to send the excavation pictures over. We need a retaining wall in the back of the house so..... Why not incorporate a pond along the wall?? When the excavator was on site last week, Bob sent specks over for Roy to have a 45' trench dug (the wall is actually going to be 85'long) 5' wide, 4' deep this will be a perfect spot for a Koi pond! It will be less painful having a 6' eyesore monster retaining wall. I understand they serve a purpose (holding back Mother Earth) but are so God-awful-ugly!!




Picture below: (left) Nondescript, uninspiring retaining wall,....but VERY functional see it retaining ALL the run-off, compliments of Tropical Depression Chris. (middle) Wall water feature, with plumbed cannons no less, picture taken from: French Island Elegance by Michael Connors. (right) Another wall turned water feature, picture taken from: Designing Water Gardens by Anthony Archer-Willis.



MAY 7th- Sondra from Tropical Shipping calls today, they received our check today, we can make arrangements to come get our "RED" roof and St John is CLOUDY and COLD today, it's 84, yea, right, just like New England CLOUDY & COLD! Roy was suppose to send us pictures this past week, we haven't received them and we haven't heard from him, we are worried! Roy are you O.K.?? Roy where are our pictures!!!.......
Mr. Roy finally calls Bob, he and his crew are busy, busy, busy, Bo Atabey had a 20 yard concrete pour this morning!!!! We didn't even know we were that close for the next pour! The footing for the 85' wall, the footings for the outside showers and a new beam (the original beam C.C.C. poured in the wrong place) Roy will send more pictures.. I didn't even get my pictures from last week!!! I'm getting behind!!I guess he couldn't YAHOO my pictures over!





Picture above: (left) Back of house where the 85' retaining wall and 45'water feature will go. (middle & right) More excavating... The driveway being excavated (tweaked) again!!! NOTE: The chip taken out of the corner of the pool deck, wonder if the operator of the excavator will take it off his bill? The only one good thing about excavating... it eliminates the freakin weeds that grow...I have a plastic bag in the utility room, filled with flower seeds, that I brought to St John in January, I was going to sprinkle them on the grounds of Bo Atabey, but the weeds had already taken over, Roy, what will you charge to sprinke them around for me now????



Picture Below: (left) Rebar for retaining wall, not a very pretty picture, never-the-less part of the process. (middle) Notice the 3x12 placed on the saw horse with pieces of strategically placed rebar, protruding through, now you might be thinking someone has WAY too much time on their hands, right?..... Well actually, no this is a utilitarian, serviceable, funtional piece of equipment, the sense of purpose is to "bend" rebar, depending on the specks.... Interior wall going up, looking from the greatroom over to the east bedroom/bathroom, We are not shocked nor surprise when Roy says that the concrete walls of Bo Atabey are neither plumb nor square, good ole C.C.C. still hitting us where it hurts! (right) The 4' wide footing for the retaining wall, there is suppose to be enough room for a 5'wide pond and a walkway to the kithchen double door. See the trench for the pond isn't that the width of the excavator's bucket?? I don't know Roy, it kinda looks iffy.....



MAY 9th- We receive the bill for April's excavating (9k) H-O-L-Y S-@-*-! We only needed two days of excavating, it ended up being (45 hours) six days of excavating, if you happen to be a Excavating Guru could you please answer me this?? if say, an excavator estimates two days worth of work and it ends up taking more time than the original days quoted shouldn't "HE" eat the difference?? We also received a quote for our 12' greatroom door, that too 9K... on to the next door company, we simply CAN'T afford that! The pictures Roy sent over looked VERY similar to the pictures builder #1 sent over in November 2005..... It seems soil get moved from point "A" to point "B", sits, firms up and packs down, then is moves once again, from point "B" back to point "A" !!!!! I simply don't get it!!!! We could have purchased water front property for the cost of this excavating thing!!The hammer was used again, I forgot to mention earlier (2005) the reason why dynamite isn't used, is because we are in "EARTHQUAKE" country and We don't want to be responsible for any NEW Islands being formed!! Roy calls to let us know W.A.P.A. is in the area with utility poles & Larry is to pick up our "RED" metal roof from Tropical and deliver it to
BO Atabey today!!!



MAY 10th- It's 12:36 P.M. Bob just got off the phone with Roy, our "RED" metal roof just got delivered by Larry. Roy says our "RED" metal roof is really "RED" not the color red everyone uses .......
Picture above: (left) It better be "Mitsubishi Evo Rally RED"......
(middle) It better be "Christmas RED"....... (right) How about "Carnivale 2007 RED"....



Picture above: (left) Larry delivering our metal roof. (middle) redroof (right) Got Red?
MAY 11th- Today is the 26th anniversary of the passing of Robert Nesta Marley, at age 36 in a Miami hospital......."He came from humble beginnings, with his talent and religious belief his only weapon. His departure from this world came at a point when his vision of "One World-One Love" inspired by his belief in Rastafarianism was the beginning in some quarter to be heard and felt." It has been said that Bob Marley has 'NEVER' written a bad song..... All his songs are powerful, however, with the crisis that "Our World" is in today, WE the people need a "World Anthem" Bob Marley's song "War" should be it, YES, The People(s) of the World should have a "World Anthem"....
Think of all the GREAT songs that he left unwritten.....
"Bob Marley was truly a musical prophet."
Play your favorite Marley tunes today and have a "Red Stripe" at happy hour.......
Its 5:00 p.m...... Happy Hour.... here at Gooseneck....we got our Red Stripe.....To Bob!!
.



MAY 14th- Today we receive two significant e-mails today (neither from Mr Roy) one from The United States Virgin Islands D.L.C.A. (Department of Licensing & Consumer Affairs) for our "Retail Shop & Importer of Goods" business license. Finally WE are officially Business People of St John U.S.V.I....now the only thing the business needs is electricity and running water ......
The second e-mail is from Grasshopper (Phillip Pickering) of Inner Visions letting fans know of their upcoming Summer European Tour. They should do great...Europeans are big-time Reggae fans. They just better be back in time to tour New England this fall!!! I will e-mail back Grasshopper and tell him that one of my Mother's Day present was a clean Black Landrover which means I finally get to put my Inner Visions sticker on it and by-the-way we would love to have your new D.V.D. video with our hands in it.......PLEASE!!!!!




MAY 16th- Monday night Mr Roy e-mails us our precious pictures...
I was just talking to a Gooseneck customer, Kevin, he sees my screen saver and says, "Hey that house looks like the houses on St Thomas." and I reply "Actually, that is our house being built on St John." he and a friend just got back, from St John/St Thomas. He is looking at land down by Miss Vie's.... he says, when Bo Atabey is finished being built he has a new place to stay. I have to shut down the computer, we are in a tornado warning/watch until 6:00 p.m. tonight... sh@* I have clothes hanging on the line.... the clouds are rolling in, it's getting darker outside....pictures tomorrow!
Picture below: (left) West bedroom looking toward that bedroom's bathroom outdoor shower opening. (middle) Greatroom facing the kitchen double door you can also see the rebar in place where the 6' retaining wall will be going. (right) East bedroom looking toward that bedroom's bathroom.



Our new screen saver below: This picture of Bo Atabey was taken May 14th. You can see the forms and rebar for the 85' retaining wall going up behind Bo Atabey. You can also see, to the right of the house, the forms for the pool deck being built ......



MAY 18th- One of our Gooseneck customers, Ted, was in the store today and wanted to know when I am going to update Bo Atabey...He is on page ONE!!! O.M.G...... Soooo... my mission today is to make the page numbers larger..I told him that I am actually working on page six and moving on to page seven! I would LOVE to have had him on my side on St John, He is a building inspector for the next town over, here in Connecticut.....



MAY 22nd- Today our fax machine was ringing off the wall, first a bill from the "pump" guy!!?? We didn't know we were scheduled for a pour!! Then we get a bill from Majestic Concrete for a 32 yard pour....Hey...Mr Roy why didn't you tell us about this.... We don't even get to anticipate Yes?/No? Will we get our pour today? Will they run out of concrete? Will the truck make it up the hill?? We could have had our Red Stripe and celebrate here, while you guys celebrate and have your Red Stripe there!!!!
MAY 23rd- Our first e-mail of the day is from "Grasshopper" Phillip Pickering of Inner Visions letting us know that there is more of us in the Inner Visions video than just our hands!!! He will send us a D.V.D as soon as he gets them from the studio...he was glad we contacted him... how VERY exciting...............
We are WAY past due for pictures, from Mr Roy I'm wondering where they are!
I went on the computer durning the night...and still no pictures.....
MAY 26th-Pictures e-mailed at 11:33p.m. Thank you Mr Roy! (pictures below taken 5/17 & 5/18)
Picture Below: F.Y.I. see ALL the 2x4's holding up the forms?? yep... they are the same 2x4's Roy's crew used earlier for the scaffolding...eventually they WILL be used as the roof perlins.....I love people who recycle and actually SAVE their clients $$$$$$$$$.oo



Picture above: (left) Forms in place for the 85' retaining wall, west looking east. The rebar is for the outside stone shower wall. The opening on the concrete footing floor? sorry I am completely clueless, as to what that is for, maybe an outside safe? (right) Forms in place at the other end of the 85' retaining wall, east looking west. The door opening, will be for the east bathroom outdoor shower. You can see the pool (left of picture) area and a nice size patio area.
Picture below: (left) rebar tied and ready for the pour. (middle) The patio is divided into 10' squares that will be edged with Chicago brick. There are also three 30" wooden circle voids, that will be for planting Foxtail palms. (right) A magnificent specimen "Bismarkia nobilis" commom name Bismarck Palm. This one is planted at the at the Myrah Keating Smith Clinic on St John. I told Bob this specimen would be the perfect Palm planted at the end of the pool area and it passes all the criterias, slow growing 30-60', massive specimen, moderate salt tolerance, HIGH drought tolerance, widely adaptable to any soil, grows in zones 10-11 I do believe St John is zone 13-14, its origin is Madagascar, also endangered in its native habitat.





MAY 30th- New pictures below e-mailed 12:31 a.m. this morning.
Picture below: (left) The dreaded wall with the forms off. Now, Bo Atabey has her own "uninspiring" retaining wall. We still wonder what the void in the ground is for, my male cat, Tuffy is sitting on the counter looking at the pictures with me, he thinks maybe Uncle Roy built an island-style-hi-tec kitty litter box..... complete with shovel! (right) See the 2x4's leaning against the house and on the roof?... they will be going to their final resting place...as perlins under the "RED" metal roof!
(pictures below taken 5/29/07)



MAY 31st- We receive an e-mail from Chris our electrician, he and his partner Lance, noticed the perlins up on Bo Atabey's roof and wondered if Roy was ready for the roof runs.Lance had stopped by the site yesterday and discovered that the pool deck and the rear retaining wall had been poured before they had the chance to run the feed for the lights, speakers, switches, etc........OOPS.....Does this mean chipping at the wall to install the feed?.......OOPS...again......We will also need feed for the stair lights and pool lights!! I know that we are going to use low-voltage lighting and now 45' of the 85' retaining wall will be a water feature....sooooo..... a light above the pond WON'T work.... We'll figure it out....CHIP......CHIP......Ka-ching.....Ka-ching.....Nobody really dropped-the-ball, so to speak, Bob just forgot to inform Chris about the changes.....double OOPS...OOPS....sorry Chris!



BO ATABEY
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