Dinata Misovec

I was anxious and excited to get to the house this morning to see the wall tiles in the shower stall and around the bathtubs.  The tile man’s truck was not in front of the house when we got there.

The stucco crew was there though. They were working in the lanai.  They had taped plastic over all the windows so the picture is a bit hazy.

We walked around to the back of the house for a clearer picture of what was going on. Two men were spreading stucco cement inside the lanai. The rest of the back of the house was already done.

A man came around the house with a wheelbarrow full of mud but was having trouble pushing it in the soft sand.  Another took it and pushed it up the board ramp.

The shirtless one had been working on the corner.  He was using a paintbrush.

The two men on the scaffolding were applying the stucco.  Stucco Man One was using a small trowel and, I noticed later, had a paintbrush in his other hand.

Stucco Man Two was most impressive.  He held a palette full of mud in one hand and applied mud to the wall with a large trowel with the other hand.  His arms were huge.  He must be as strong as an ox and he’s not a young man either.

There were six men in the stucco crew.  The one behind the bucket, below, was putting shovels full of mud on a high platform when Stucco Man Two asked for more.  I was surprised to hear him ask for a shovel full of the “other kind”.  I had no idea they had two different mixes.

Cement mixer man was looking pretty weary out front.

It was tough to see what was going on and take pictures up close so we headed back to the motorhome. I was anxious to get back in the afternoon (had to wait for Andy to wake up from his long nap).  We could see the Russian tile man’s van parked in front of the house.  He walked to his van and got inside as I parked our car.  He waved and drove away.

I was beside myself with excitement when we went into the garage and saw all these boxes.

Cabinets!!  We went inside to discover that tile man had not done any more work on our house today. That was a bit of a disappointment.

Out the sliding glass doors, the stucco men had left a big mess.  They had laid some of the roof-shingle underlayment on the floor so cleanup should not be too hard.

I went out through the bedroom door to have a look from the outside. I’m a bit surprised that I could still see the seams from the concrete blocks beneath the stucco.

A new arrangement of wheelbarrow sculpture was in the yard. This time, a shovel was added to the display. It reminds me of students listening to a teacher or army recruits listening to the drill sergeant.  It was dramatic against the storm brewing in the background.

The cement mixer had also been cleaned out and had a pile of cement rubble beneath it.  I imagined the man beating the drum with a shovel to break loose the dried chunks.

Going back through the garage, I had a strong urge to tear into those cabinet boxes like a kid on Christmas morning.  However, it was heavy cardboard with plenty of tape and packing material.  It wasn’t going to be easy so I decided I can wait a day or two. If they don’t have them out by then, I’ll have to take a big knife over there.