Chapter 10

Sandi’s efforts now with knowing that she was pregnant turned toward to finding a suitable location to build a house. She contacted the builder’s association for information on the builders that were building houses which she hoped would suit her needs. Nothing that she saw in what was currently being built interested her for various reasons.

She contacted the relator that sold her house and asked her for a listing of individual lots that were for sale. There were a few remaining lots in a gated community and some of these lots bordered the fairways of a private golf course. There were two lots next to each other that bordered a golf fairway and were a total of an acre and a half in size that caught her attention.

In viewing these lots she noted two large trees which would need to be removed for a house to be built. Across this bordered fairway was a large pond which meant it would afford some privacy to the back of a house. She also saw one house in this sub-division which because of how it looked that attracted her. She was not embarrassed to knock on the door of this house. In doing so she learned who the builder was and at the same time discussed the quality of the home along with the pros and cons of living here with the lady who opened the door. The owner spoke favorably as to living here and said there were no construction problems with their home.

She asked the realtor to make an offer on these two lots of ten percent less than the asking price. A counter demand was made but Sandi held firm on her offer which was re-offered and it was accepted.

Sandi visited the builder and secured a copy of the blue prints for building this house that attracted her attention.

Scott was shown the lots she had purchased along with a brochure and the blue prints of the house she wanted to have built. He agreed that the house was attractive but wanted it to be slightly elevated and the landscape graded to encourage rain runoff water to go to the back of these lots.

In reviewing the house construction plans he did make a number of suggestions as to certain things he thought should be done. Some of them were that the lower level should have a few long specially made steel I-beams made to support the first floor which would eliminate support posts being needed to do that. He also suggested features as double sump pumps with battery backups, a finished walkout lower level with two built-in Murphy beds, composite wood to be used in the decking, along with increased insulation in the ceilings and walls of this two story house. He said if we are going to build a house we are going to build it right.

Sandi had initially surprise him when she told him she was pregnant. She surprised him even more later when she told him it was twins she was expecting. She said her mother was a twin. His only comment to her was that the large five bedroom house they were building along with the Murphy beds being backups should be big enough to accommodate all of them and some guests.

At work Scott was asked to go down and see how the airport and dock expansion projects were going. Ray said the reports he had seen along with some conversations would indicate both projects were on plan but it didn’t hurt to check every so often. He said he would phone Carley and Chuck Morris the head project managers and let them know Scott was coming.

Scott was somewhat reluctant to go but Sandi who was six months pregnant encourage him to go as it was anticipated he would be there less than a week. She said that selecting the many furnishings for the interior of the house was going to keep her busy. The contractor was getting ready to start on building their house. Besides doing that she would also be doing something else which was going to keep her days fully occupied.

“Doctor Rando contacted me and said there were now problems in doing physical therapy at the country club with uncertified personnel. He said that the Medical Board found out about this going on at the club and frowned on this therapy being done there this way. The General couldn’t even ask the Board to grant an exception since his sister is the Board Chairperson and told him not to waste his time.”

“The Doctor however said that based on his knowledge of the expansion of the physician assistant’s program in the States he asked the Board if they would approve Skype supervision of the assistants by a certified physical therapist even if the certified therapist was located in the States. The Board said they would approve this type of supervision and with Skype it doesn’t matter if the certified therapist is two miles or two thousand miles away. Doctor Rando somewhat pleaded with me to do this supervising.”

“Since this was a program I started it was something I wanted to see continue. I told the Doctor I would do this supervision initially but I would also inquire among physical therapists I know living here if they would also be interested in doing this because it is basically a part-time half a day job they could do from their home. We also agreed on an hourly wage in doing this supervision. The Doctor thanked me profusely for doing this.”

The flight down to Central America was relatively smooth and this time when Scott was walking out of the customs area he saw a man holding a sign that had his name on it. The man said Carley had sent him to meet Scott. It was a quick stop at the hotel to check in and then back to the other side of the airport to where Carley was located as this was the project she had been assigned to manage.

This time when Carley greeted him he could see that she didn’t have the resentment that she had the first time she met him. After Scott asked her how her parents were doing she brought him up to date on the project.

“We have two things going on here at the same time. You can see we presently are building the new expanded portion of the terminal which will connect with the present terminal. After they are connected we will work on modernizing the original terminal. At the same time we are now putting in the second runway. Extending the present runway will be done when this additional runway is operational. There haven’t been any major problems and Juan the union chief has been very cooperative. I think he worries that if he causes problems we will tell the General on him.”

After Carley spent some time explaining the details of the construction Scott excused himself to make a phone call. When the call was answered he heard a pleasant voice say, “Scott, it’s so nice to hear from you. Where are you if I may ask?”

“I am at your airport and will be down here for about four or five days before I go back north. I was hoping I could get a temporary membership at the country club. I do like dining there but if that is a problem it’s no big thing.”

“Scott that is no problem at all and I will see that it is done. I should also like to congratulate you on Sandi’s pregnancy. Having twins shows me that when you want to do something you jump in with both feet and do it.”

“Isabel it is not my feet that caused Sandi to become pregnant.”

She laughed for a while and then quietly said, “Don’t I know it. Perhaps you can give Al a few tips.”

Ending the conversation she said that he would have the membership and commented that Sandi who the club members had come to know and adore agreeing to do the Skype supervision initially solved a big problem.

After doing a little checking of the paperwork at the airport project Scott went to the club and had dinner. He hoped Isabel would be there but she did not make an appearance.

The following morning Scott went to the club for breakfast. Afterwards he walked down to the exercise room and seeing one of the video cameras he stood in front of it and giving a wave said, “Hi Sandi.”

He heard, “I miss you already and I wish I was there.”

Scott didn’t want to get involved now with a personal Skype call. Since he could do it with his PC he told her he would Skype with her tonight.

Back at the airport Scott walked around to see what was happening. He saw that they were getting ready to pour the concrete for the second runway. He checked the thickness of the gravel base and found it to be two inches short of the specifications. Scott made two more random samples of the base and came up with the same results. He took out his phone and called Carley saying she needed to come out to him ASAP.

While Scott could take some action Carley was the project manager and he wanted to see what she would do. She was there three minutes later and he pointed out to her what he found. Carley took her own measurements and had the same results. She said this was something she should have found and was embarrassed that she didn’t. Two inches of gravel didn’t sound like much but on a long airport runway it amounted to a considerable amount of money that was going into the contractor’s pocket.