Carport Roof ~ Part 2 ~ Dry Underneath ~ We finish building the carport roof.

Slow News Day ~ Being Tourist ~ Here are some photos that our house guest D and I took around and about El Valle. We visit the frog sanctuary, go birding, ride the zip line at the Canopy Adventure, drive through El Valle, and drive out of the crater to Cerro la Cruz (Hill with the Cross).

My Shop ~ Part 9 ~ The Workbench ~ This is how I built a rolling workbench for my shop.

Carport Roof ~ Part 1 ~ We build a column to support the carport roof and weld some framing members in place.

In No Particular Order ~ The Past Few Weeks ~ A bunch of odds and ends including some big projects including pouring an on-grade slab and a slab on the roof of container four.

I Was Rattled ~ Septic Redo ~ We have to redo the septic tank because pressures in the ground crushed the plastic tank.

Shipping Container Door Frames ~ I build three door frames and install them in the container siding.

On Vacation ~ I take a two week break that includes video of a drive in the country, a Catholic non-service, and Cedelinda’s parrots.

Lunch, A Cemetery, And To Grandmother’s House I Go ~ Cynthia and I have lunch at the new Mamma Mia Tuscan restaurant, we visit a cemetery, and I tell about taking Cedelinda’s grandmother to a doctor appointment.

My Shop ~ Part 8 ~ The Floor ~ We pour the concrete floor in my new shop.

Against Doctor’s Orders ~ Cynthia Goes Horseback Riding ~ Cynthia takes a ride on the wild side.

My Shop ~ Part 7 ~ Electrical, Repello (Stucco) and Pizza ~ We install interior electrical, finish the repello, and have a pizza party.

My Shop ~ Part 6 ~ The Roof ~ We install the roof metal on my shop.

How Not To Work ~ Chicken Mom hatches five eggs this morning. This and the Christmas tree needs to be taken down.

My Shop ~ Part 5 ~ Rafters & Stucco ~ Just what is says.

Three Reasons Why I Like Panama ~ Road service, dolls by the side of the road, and a long load on the roof of my truck

Windows ~ Part 2 ~ Frames Welded ~ I have all the frames welded for the first set of windows.

My Shop ~ Part 4 ~ Walls And Beams ~ The concrete block walls are getting higher and we have a couple concrete beams poured.

Delicious Tempeh On Our First Attempt ~ We make Indonesian tempeh, a soybean mainstay.

My Shop ~ Part 3 ~ Walls Going Up ~ We are up about four feet with the concrete block walls on my shop.

Happy Birthday Jabo ~ Our dog turns four. Photos from four years.

Stove Talk ~ We go stove shopping.

My Shop ~ Part 2 ~ Columns & Footings ~ We build the columns and wall footings.

My Shop ~ Part 1 ~ We begin construction on my workshop.

Windows ~ Part 1 ~ I start the process of installing windows in the containers.

My New Oxy-Acetylent Tank Cart ~ I build a cart to hold tanks for gas cutting and welding.

My Latest Contraption ~ What Is It? ~ I post a photo of something I am building and ask you to guess.

Paint! ~ We Paint Some Interior Walls And Ceilings ~ Just what it says.

Pop Up Garden ~ In this post, we plant a flower garden.

Sunday Afternoon With A Good Book ~ To Catch A Thief ~ No, we neither read the book nor sat back and watched the movie; this post is about catching a thief in our neighborhood. Sorry, no photos this post.

Interior Walls, Wiring, & Plumbing ~ Projects in Progress ~ This post is mostly about building walls inside shipping containers.

A Big Floor And Some Small Stuff ~ In this post, I frame the floor between #3 and #4, build some interior walls, and do some minor stuff.

Hurricanes I Have Known ~ With Hurricane Irene disrupting the East Coast of the States and heading toward my brother’s house and my girl cousin’s house in New England, I’ve been thinking about my experiences with hurricanes.

Welding Frenzy ~ Welding On Shipping Containers ~ I have to make a forty-foot long weld on the roof of container four. I talk about welding rods and technique.

Alan Gets Blog Cred ~ Rethinking The Roof On Container Three ~ In this post I talk about the roof over container three. I planned to pour a concrete slab but this has changed.

Wallito ~ In Spanish the word ending -ito signifies affection or diminutive stature. In this post, I tell about the short wall I just built, hence the new English word I coined; wallito.

About Time ~ Clocks, time, and memories. This entry is a complete time waster. No real news, no house progress, only one photo.

Walls And Faucets And Street Signs ~ We make decisions about interior walls. We pull our faucets out of storage and drool over them. Plus a “caption this” whacky street sign contest.

Here’s The Plan ~ I show photos of a model of the house and talk about the layout of the rooms and the design of the big roof.

A Really Cool Experiment ~ We buy two chest style freezers and convert one into a refrigerator.

It Takes A Pueblo ~ A day in the life story about 500 bags of cement for a local pueblo and a trip to the health clinic.

To Varnish Or Not To Varnish ~ I take some time off from our house to refinish windows for friends. But is varnish the correct product to use?

Cats Earn Keep ~ Our house cats bring our attention to a poisonous snake in our kitchen.

Cutting Metal, Making A Wall ~ I cut a metal wall section from container #4 and use it to close in the space between #3 and #4.

Running Water ~ I finish connecting electrical and plumbing and get the well operating. I also put the heavy lid on the well enclosure.

Sliding Home: The Front Gate Ready To Roll ~ The front gate is done. Lots of photos.

Soap Box Slow News Day — Coconut Oil ~ I have been eating coconut oil for about a year. It has a lot of health benefits.

More Front Fence ~ I talk about whether to hinge or slide the front gate. We fabricate and install a track to slide the gate on.

The Front Fence ~ We start work on the front fence and columns for the main gate. I work on a design for the gate.

A Roof In Time ~ We get a roof built just before it rains. I talk about how I design stuff.

THE TRASH REPORT ~ I document the trash produced on this project so far.

Well… Done. Almost. ~ Victor finishes the well. I talk about what pump and equipment I have to buy.

Well… ~ Victor arrives with an antique well drilling rig and starts making our well.

We Have Containers ~ The containers arrive. The crane operator struggles and struggles.

Decision Time ~ We decide on where to get the containers. The price of containers has risen dramatically so we decide to make a one sory house instead of a two story.

Rest, Reconnoiter, Regroup ~ I take a vacation and ponder sourcing our shipping containers.

Everyone Knows It Can’t Be Done / Steel Plate Column Tops ~ Fabricating steel plates for the tops of the columns.

Septicly Speaking ~ We build the septic system.

A Valuable Exercise ~ Under the cover of darkness, I use the laser level to check the heights of all the columns. Some adjustment is necessary!

Which Way To The Pool? ~ Placing sand and gravel under where the containers will be located.

Curbed And Contained ~ Pouring concrete curbs to keep weeds from creeping under the containers and to keep the sand and gravel under the containers.

Like Grazing Sheep / Columns Are Poured ~ The footings and columns are completed and the forms are removed.

Just Another Pretty Face: Pouring Footings And Columns ~ Bailing water and pouring concrete footings and columns.

Close: Digging Footing and Column Holes ~ I set up the batter boards to locate footings and columns for the containers. We begin digging holes for the footings and columns. I make forms for the concrete columns.

Good Fences Make Good Neighbors ~ More fence work, fence poetry.

Rain Doubt ~ Working on the fence.

Back At It ~ We work on the property line fence.

My Little Red Wagon ~ I paint my wagon yellow. Dog Jabo takes a ride.

Pocket Knife ~ I spin stories about the pocket knives I have owned. How to sharpen a knife.

Paint Your Wagon ~ We work on the electric service entrance wall. I use the wagon I built to haul cement.

Ditched ~ We dig a drainage ditch at the rear property line.

Music ~ About Panamanian Folkloric music.

Ramblings Eureka ~ The surveyor completes the job. We get ready to dig a drainage ditch and build the fence.

Ramblings I ~ Stories from our experience living in Panama. Photos of a huge rainstorm.

1,536 ~ Chain link fence talk, making the electric service entrance wall, talking about footings and columns to support the containers, fabricating rebar assemblies for the footings and columns.

Road Service ~ Choosing a surface for our driveway, plus a story about driving in the mountains.

Style ~ I talk about the decorating style of the house.

Stamped ~ Our building plans have been approved by the numerous government agencies.

Rock ‘N Roll ~ We build a driveway.

Connections ~ How we plan to obtain the shipping containers.

Stumped ~ The guys pull lots of stumps out of the ground.

Neighborhood ~ Photos of our immediate neighborhood in the mountains of Panama.

Slowly ~ We burn the brush and build a driveway entrance concrete slab over the drainage ditch. The surveyor arrives.

Burning Desire ~ The lot is cleared. Now we can burn the brush. Now we can walk the lot and decide where the house will go.

Clearing ~ We start clearing our property to see what we bought.

Plan ~ An overview of our house design.

Architect ~ We hire an architect to draw plans for our shipping container house.