Water and Electricity
This morning was that particular frustration that a lot of ladies get to feel. When you are talking to men, you know what the problem is and how to fix it only to be patted on the head and told to go cook or whatever it is you do.
Jim and Alejandro our contractor guy, were discussing what to do to stop the recent flooding from happening again. I point out I want a French drain around the lanai leading to the back wall. Jim says he thinks just putting more white rocks out will solve the problem. Alejandro said no, no, building a concrete block mini wall around the lanai and digging out a crude drainage route on the back wall was enough.
Pointed out that more rocks will merely raise the water levels, that putting the Berlin Wall reproduction around the patio is unacceptably ugly and how the water isn't necessarily pooling in the back. I was pretty much dismissed as they continued on with cheap schemes to fix this.
But I had the last laugh when Jim started digging and piling rocks and it started raining. HARD! Jim got to see that a) the rocks aren't doing jack shit but raising the water, b) the water is not even pooling anywhere near that back wall, and c) digging up the back wall is doing nothing to mitigate the water pooling around the lanai and under the bitter orange trees. The best laid plans of men foiled by reality.
Why men dismiss the thoughts of women so freely when they are clearly right I will never know.
I do know that the Tico way, particularly with workers, is to do it in the cheapest jankiest way possible and declare it a success even if it immediately fails.
Tonight we had heavy rains. None came up on the lanai, just to the edge. I was watching, and it was interesting because our electric went out about 6 pm, and as I sat reading my Kindle on the lanai, catching a cool breeze while the house was lit with candles I got to see the electric flickering on and off in strange ways. First the houses on the other side of the street and the street lamps turned back on. Then the houses behind us. It all flickered back off, and eventually just our side of the street came back on a full half hour before everything else. I have to wonder why it came on in slow bits like that. You'd think we're all on the same circuit. Must be Tico electrical engineering on the grid.
Jim and Alejandro our contractor guy, were discussing what to do to stop the recent flooding from happening again. I point out I want a French drain around the lanai leading to the back wall. Jim says he thinks just putting more white rocks out will solve the problem. Alejandro said no, no, building a concrete block mini wall around the lanai and digging out a crude drainage route on the back wall was enough.
Pointed out that more rocks will merely raise the water levels, that putting the Berlin Wall reproduction around the patio is unacceptably ugly and how the water isn't necessarily pooling in the back. I was pretty much dismissed as they continued on with cheap schemes to fix this.
But I had the last laugh when Jim started digging and piling rocks and it started raining. HARD! Jim got to see that a) the rocks aren't doing jack shit but raising the water, b) the water is not even pooling anywhere near that back wall, and c) digging up the back wall is doing nothing to mitigate the water pooling around the lanai and under the bitter orange trees. The best laid plans of men foiled by reality.
Why men dismiss the thoughts of women so freely when they are clearly right I will never know.
I do know that the Tico way, particularly with workers, is to do it in the cheapest jankiest way possible and declare it a success even if it immediately fails.
Tonight we had heavy rains. None came up on the lanai, just to the edge. I was watching, and it was interesting because our electric went out about 6 pm, and as I sat reading my Kindle on the lanai, catching a cool breeze while the house was lit with candles I got to see the electric flickering on and off in strange ways. First the houses on the other side of the street and the street lamps turned back on. Then the houses behind us. It all flickered back off, and eventually just our side of the street came back on a full half hour before everything else. I have to wonder why it came on in slow bits like that. You'd think we're all on the same circuit. Must be Tico electrical engineering on the grid.
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