Well, after two delays, David is finally home. He arrived late Monday night. The diamond mine project, which he was working on, in northern Ontario is still being built. However, David requested a transfer so that we could be together. This living apart thing is difficult. He would go in for three weeks and then come out for one week. I would be in my little routine and then, boom….it was like I was on a week vacation, each time he came out. So, we are going on his next project together and the next project is in South America….wooohoooo!!!!
We will initially go to Santiago, Chile for two to four months and then we will move to Lima, Peru for a year in a half or so. We don’t have a definite departure date, but it will be sometime in July. David has meetings to attend in Peru the first week in June. It is still unclear if I will be able to go down for that trip or not…I certainly hope so, just to get an feel for the area. This project is a zinc refinery….I think!
We had our first rounds of vacinations this week. Six in all…Hepititis A & B, Tetanus, Thypoid, Rabies and Yellow Fever. We will get our second Rabie shot (there are three shots in all for rabies) and a couple more vaccines next Wed.
Our home, here in Cape Elizabeth, ME, will be occupied by a friend, Wes. He loves redoing homes, so he is going to go through and paint, refinish the hardwood floors, put down tile floors, etc. What fun it will be to come home to a whole new home!
Speaking of home improvements, I am enclosing a picture of our “When Pigs Fly” chandelier that I recently purchased. The goal for our home is to have you smile when you walk in and feel comfortable. So, this chandelier is just the beginning!
Other home improvements that we are hoping to get finished before we leave for South America are a new fiberglass fence around our yard. It is on order. They are taking down the old fence next week. That won’t be much of a chore as one could probably blow on it and it would fall down.
On May 22, we go before the Cape Elizabeth zoning board to get a variance so that we can build a garage to store our cars in while we are gone. I organized the proposal and submitted the required 10 copies last month. Then, I went before the board on April 24th to make our request for a variance. We thought it was a go, but at the last minute it was discovered that I didn’t have the 6 comparisons in the neighborhood for the sideline setback of 11′. I had 5 and although they discussed it for two hours, they just couldn’t justify granting our request. Had I been willing to agree to build a 25′ x 28′ garage, instead of a 28′ x 28′, then they would have granted the variance.
I opted to table my request until the May meeting. I went back to the house in question and had the homeowner show me exactly where the property line is. Initially, when I went to measure the sideline setback, the homeowner wasn’t home. So, I estimated…what is the saying, haste makes waste? My estimate was wrong. The property line is 9’10” from the house….I needed 11′ or under. So, it appears that we will get our variance at the May 22nd meeting.
We have met with the contractor and are currently getting everything in order so once we get the building permit, we can break ground. The contractor estimates that it will take about 3 weeks to build.
Life is busy, but a good busy!