California 2 Puerto Rico

I know, I know! We haven’t been posting our progress on the blog as much as we used to. Summer and I have both been super busy and have been trying to make an effort to keep everyone updated…so here’s an update.

Yesterday, one of the American plumbers that has lived down here since 1987 came to the house and started installing our reverse osmosis water filtration system, faucet and garbage disposal. It should be done today which will give us a fully functioning kitchen. Way better than our old one on the back porch.

Jamie and Brian both brought down some fresh tastykakes for us to stock our kitchen with. I don’t think they are going to last too long

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Brian got down a couple of days ago. It’s been great having a buddy around that really knows what he is doing. He has been installing hardwood floors for years and rolled in with all the right tools and brain power to get it done right.

As you can see, it is factory pre-finished tongue and groove hardwood floors.

After lining up how the floor is going to be installed, it is time to take wood out of the boxes and line them up so that the cracks do not overlap each other for at leas two boards. This is called ‘racking’. Once the racking is done for about 6 rows (30-60ft accross) brian cruises on in there with his pneumatic nail gun and throws in some staples. Don’t get me wrong, these aren’t the kind of staples you would use to send stapled receipts to the tax guy. These staples are Bostich 2 inch by half a doo-hickey strong staples that are put in to each board with 120 pounds of air. Strong stuff….

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I can officially stop complaining about our flat spell. We have had weeks of consistent surf…ranging from waist high to triple overhead.

Today, Tres Palmes was breaking. There were about a dozen guys paddling in, a few paddle boarders and a couple tow-in surfers on their ski’s. I surfed by Maria’s with Brian. It was a couple feet overhead with double-overhead sets.

I have one thing to say, so pay attention. HA HA!

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We spent at least a week prepping and planning for pouring the concrete slab in the backyard. We jackhammered, scheduled the concrete truck, hired some guys that have poured concrete before and…at the last minute, shit hit the fan. Our guy that orchestrated this project (who will remain nameless) completely lost his mind and half of our help quit on the spot (after they got a few rakes and shovels thrown at them). So we were stuck with a truck full of concrete and only 2 guys to make this happen. Luckly, they magically pulled it off!

(please excuse the mess. We’re not tweakers, I swear. You try living in a construction zone, damn it!!)
Pouring concrete is not as simple as it sounds. If you don’t have enough help to spread and finish the concrete before it sets, you are screwed. Especially with this project, because this slab leads into our backdoor, so it had to be very slightly angled away from the house to avoid rain from pooling and flowing into the house. Pretty important stuff when you live in a hurricane zone and it rains nearly every day in Puerto Rico.

Anyhow, the slab is done. Yay!

It measures 21′ x 31′, cost about $1500 ($1000 in concrete and $500 in labor) and took about 8 hours to complete.

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Stefan and I bought a truck yesterday! This is Stefans new Toyota Tacoma:

It’s a 2001 Toyota Tacoma with 4×4, automatic transmission, power everything, 8-cyl, 106,000 miles, etc. It also has dual exhaust, tinted windows, a bed liner and some other bells and whistles. Not exactly the beater truck we were planning on getting, but the price was right and Stefan really really really likes it. We bought it from Ideal Auto Sales in Aguada for $12000 out the door. They were asking $14K for it and we only wanted to spend $10, so we split the difference. Since it was already more then we had planned to spend, we also told them that we didn’t want to pay tax, or any other fees on top of the $12K. They agreed and they were very nice and easy to work with.

The process was very simple and took less then 30 minutes to complete. When buying a car in Puerto Rico (at least from a dealership), you need your license and social security card or birth certificate. That’s pretty much it. They even let us pay with a personal check. Ideal Auto Sales will file all the transfer of ownership paperwork and will call us when our plates come in (approximately 30 days).

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I think Stefan and I are both in agreement on this one. We need a new car (or two). The Bronco that we bought is a hoopty. The radiator blew up, the windows no longer roll up (and we busted one out trying to force it up), the rear window only rolls up if you press on the sweet spot on the tailgate, the AC doesn’t work, the transmission is days away from dropping out, the driver side seat doesn’t lock into place so it slides back and forth when you are trying to drive, the brakes are fucked (for lack of a better description), the smokey exhaust fills the cab with carbon monoxide, it burns through gas/oil/transmission fluid like it’s going out of style, the windshield wipers work great, until it actually rains, the seats are so soggy/mildewed that we have to sit on big black trashbags, etc. Seriously. I could go on about the Bronco…

Stefan and I don’t mind roughing it. We actually enjoy it (to a certain extent). But, now that I’m down here fulltime(ish), we really do need two cars and I think it’s time to start looking.

Summer’s Puerto Rican car wishlist: Jeep Wrangler or Toyota 4Runner. White. Standard transmission, 4-wheel drive, 6-cylinders, under $10K.

Stefan’s Puerto Rican car wishlist: Toyota truck. 4-wheel drive, 6-cylinders, under $10K.

We were trying to hold out until after taxes, but I think it’s time to start shopping…

FYI. I’ve found Clasidicados Online quite helpful for car shopping in Puerto Rico :).

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Yeah, I know, we have been talking up Ipe hard wood floors for months now. The problem is, we couldn’t find anyone to mill it for us and none of the distributors on the island had it in stock. As a matter of a fact, the only supplier I could find that even had hard wood flooring in the past two months only had Mahogany and was charging $14 per square foot. Let’s see, that’s $14 X 1,750 square feet = $24,500 for floors! Holy Cow! Aaaaack!

Tray (built our steps) and I drove out to Cabo Rojo to one of his wood suppliers and got a catalog from them…they had Ipe, Walnut, Brazilian Cherry, Teak. What a relief, we are going to be able to get our floors (I already booked the tickets for Jamie and Brian to fly down and install them) because this company seems legitimate with a big glossy catalog. BZZZZZZZZZT! Wrong Answer! I called the supplier to order our IPE and they didn’t have any type of flooring in large quantities. They could offer us a couple hundred square feet, but not what we needed.

So now, it was the mad rush again calling every one (in spanish) I could track down that may have hardwood floors. After a stressful couple of days I found a place called Ferreteria Tesero Evenista in San Jaun that stocks hard wood flooring. Their pricing was good ($6.50sq ft) and they had Ipe in stock. The day before delivery (a week before the arrival of Brian…the wood needs to sit in the house for a week to get acclimated) they called me and said they didn’t have enough Ipe. The only thing they had 1,800 square feet of was Brazilian Teak. It is still a very hard wood, it is naturally resistant to rot and termites, but it isn’t Ipe.

Lacking other options, I pulled the trigger on the Brazilian Teak. They delivered the Patagonia Brazilian Teak yesterday. One hundred boxes on a flatbed. Yesterday was a Saturday so there wasn’t anyone here working that could drop what they were doing and help so I unloaded all of it in a little under two hours. I have bruises all over my shoulders and arms from HEAVE HOEING them up onto my shoulder.

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Summer and I play Texas Hold ‘Em Poker a couple times a week. Our buddy has a home game on Monday and Saturdays and Summer and I host a home game every Wednesday night. The way the game goes at our buddies house, everybody pays $10 to buy in and an extra buck towards the “Royal Flush Fund.”

They have been playing poker for almost 3 years..averaging between 5 & 18 people. That’s between $5 and $18 a night towards the Royal Flush Fund, three nights a week for the past 2 or three years! That fund money is used to buy fans, re-surface the felt on the tables, buy cards and if anyone ever gets a Royal Flush, half of the Flush Fund goes to the person who gets the flush and the other half of the fund is split evenly between everyone else that is playing the game.

The odds of getting a Royal Flush are 1 in 649,740. Guess what happened at Poker last Wednesday night.

UPDATE:
If any of you play poker, you probably won’t believe this. If you don’t play poker, read what the odds of getting a Royal Flush are…then don’t believe what I am about to say. This guy who got the Royal Flush on Monday (Spades) got ANOTHER ROYAL FLUSH last night…but this time it was diamonds. Two poker nights in a row. Last night the Flush Fund was only back up to $27 so he didn’t really clean up…but that wasn’t the point.

Royal Flush Home Game | Spades

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Today was a huge day. Not only did we pour the cement slab in the back and mow the lawn, we also had the granite countertops in the kitchen installed:

After riding the decision merry-go-round, Stefan and I purchased our granite counter tops for the Home Depot in Mayaguez (cost was $4500). Home Depot told us that it would take 5 - 6 weeks to have the counters installed, but it only took 2 weeks!

I really, really, really like the way they came out too. The kitchen counters are now a tan/brown/black tiger stripe looking granite. I think it pulls together the stainless/black appliances and mahogony cabinets perfectly.

Now we just have to get that ugly green off the walls.

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A mere 3 weeks after planting grass seed, our lawn got its 1st mow today. I can’t believe how fast the grass grew in. Awesome!!

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