Holidays, Cats, Fireworks, and a Blood Moon

Christmas passed quietly, but then things picked up as we approached New Year's Eve. Bill and Lisa Turner arrived on the island for Bill to do a fireworks show at the Tryall golf resort. Then a couple of days later Jesse and Hannah - the Passfire production team - moved into our guest room for a week-long stay while they shot footage for a Passfire Season 3 episode. We all got together at The Horizon West for our friend Jeane Pearce's annual pre-New Year's Eve seafood festival.

Bootsie - one of our stray cats - has decided to become domesticated!

Our other stray - Stripey - is shyer but is very pregnant. We're expecting her to have the kittens soon and we're watching closely to make sure she does not sneak in to have them on our bed! Bootsie really wants to become a house cat - not going to happen - and has been exploring possible ways to sneak into the house. She has managed several times to find her way to between the window grates and the screen.

Watching the flat cat try to get out again can be pretty amusing!

Binghi and Tom have been on a tiling binge, adding more sections to the porch floor.

And then it was New Year's Eve and we were all off to our shows - Bill and Lisa to Tryall, Bob to Round Hill, and Tom, Barbara, and the Passfire crew off to Grand Palladium.

The shows all went very well, and we returned to the hill for some badly needed rest. We got out the 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle that Janet Mara had sent down with us, and our neighbor Oliver dropped by to help out.

Towards the end of the puzzle, everybody had to get in the act!

Barbara's girls - no longer so little - came by and experimented with tye dyeing T-shirts.

As the time approached for the lunar eclipse we were a little concerned, as the sky was totally overcast. But at the last minute, the skies cleared and we had great viewing conditions.

Well, that brings us up to date, so I'll close with the requisite sunset...

Bob and Nicelee have a house!

Back in the spring when Bob and Nicelee bought the Elliott share in Valley View the house needed some imagination.

The inside would need some work too...

But Bob and Nicelee had the necessary imagination and were happy with their purchase.

Bob arrived in Jamaica on November 27, 2018, and dove right into the project. The first step was to finish the deck for the eventual main house. Before the concrete could be cast lots of plumbing lines and conduit had to be installed, and marl fill put in place and leveled.

Once that was done attention moved down to the lower level, roughcasting the outside walls and getting the inside cleaned out and ready to cast the floor.

With the floor in work really got into high gear. The bathroom floor was largely torn up to change the plumbing layout and then was re-cast. Concrete counters were formed up and cast in the bathroom and kitchen area.

Bob painted the ceiling which made the room much brighter. And somehow the room kept feeling larger with every change.

Utility lines were dug in and the electrician started wiring the place. Getting power in required pulling wire down from the tower.

Binghi joined the crew and started working on tiling the bathroom floor while Tom went to work on tiling the kitchen counter.

The windows arrived and were installed. The bathroom floor tiling was finished but needed a day to set up before we could install the toilet. Callie came and installed the outside door. Binghi moved on to the kitchen floor. Things are looking good but we aren't done and Nicelee arrives tomorrow!

Nicelee's flight from Ithaca was canceled! Bad for her but it gave the crew the one last day to fix the leaks, finish the kitchen floor tile, and most important install a working toilet!

Nicelee arrived and she and Bob promptly made their house a home.

But work is never done! Bob decided their front porch needed tile.

And the kitchen really works!

That finishes up the project for now. Truly an amazing transformation in less than two months. They are now  looking forward to the fall, when work will begin on the main floor.