Oranges & warm feet

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Eventually we settled on a ramada-type structure and set about scrounging materials. We purchased a bolt of salvaged yellow canvas for $15.00, a roll of 4' X 100' aluminum screening for $26.00, a roll of tar paper and a bucket of tar for about $10.00, a box of staples for $2.00 and about $10.00 worth ,of rope and cord. A friendly neighbor let us cut as much bamboo as we needed, and the surrounding jungle provided ample palm fronds. The tipi dwellers had left the remnants of their oval plywood floor, to which we added an extension.

With our housing materials in hand, we dug 12 holes and sunk bamboo posts four inches in diameter in a somewhat evenly spaced oval, 12' X 18' at its widest and longest points. Then came the elevating (to prevent flooding) and placement of the floor, using a multitude of board ends, 2 X 4's and occasionally pieces of brick to produce a patchwork semblance of a level platform.

The roof proved more complicated, but finally came together. We notched the tops of the bamboo posts, ran boards or more bamboo between them and then crisscrossed the whole with bamboo rafters, leaving an overhang of about two feet. We then wove hundreds of palm fronds together to form a covering which deterred the first rain for at least 30 seconds. Later we realized that we had failed to provide enough pitch to the roof and added a layer of scavenged plastic sheeting and one of tar paper held together with tar . . . all of it covered with more palm fronds. This effort was lashed down with rope straps to keep it from blowing away in strong winds.

The rest was easy . . . a matter of stapling up the screening and hanging lengths of canvas which could be raised or lowered according to the weather. Since the screen was only four feet high, we had to use a double width and handstitch the overlap together.

We lived in this ramada for over five months and found it comfortable in all but freezing weather. The openness and the overhanging palm frond roof kept our house cool and airy on extremely warm days . . . a welcome relief when we were feeling dragged out from working in the sun. When we moved out we were able to salvage all the canvas and screening and most of the rope, leaving behind only a pile of palm fronds and bamboo to compost into soil.

The screen kept most of the mosquitoes and "no-see-ums" outside our shelter. Another hazard was fire ants: fierce-biting critters which clean up dropped fruit and garbage and live in cavernous, sandhill abodes near practically every tree. To prevent them from carrying away our food, we elevated one storage box on bricks placed in aluminum pie tins that were kept filled with water. We also suspended a couple of boxes from the bamboo rafters, and one of these—which hung outside the walls—became a very effective sprouting container. The garbage can which held our pets' dog food was placed on bricks in a shallow dug-out area lined with plastic and moated with water. The dog/cat feeding bowl rested in an old hubcap, also waterfilled and effective unless the animals drank the liquid. After these precautions, fire ants were an indoor problem only when we didn't pay enough attention to cleaning up after meals. Outdoors, they were a menace whenever we innocently walked across one of their hidden havens.

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