Day of Disappointments

This day actually started out very well. Rick climbed into the attic and successfully added braces to the superstructure of the house so we have something to nail into when we move the wall for the master bathroom next year.  Still no hard hat, Bug, but his hard head came out in one piece and the 2 x 6 is firmly screwed into place.

Then the day went downhill for a while.  I did not sleep well at all last night; worries about dipping into our reserve savings had me tossing and turning at 2:00 a.m. and out on the couch in the living room by 3:30 so as not to wake Rick.  (He missed me by 4:30 and could not get back to sleep himself after that time.)  Therefore, part of the reason that the day may have turned sour probably can be contributed to a lack of sleep.

We waited this morning for my kitchen sink to be delivered and for Steve, the pest control guy, to show up.  We made a hurried trip to the store this morning so we would be home by the time he was scheduled to come at 9:00 a.m.  When we returned home (at approximately 8:30) the Bay Area Termite and Pest Control car was parked in front of our house, and the technician they sent out was just about to depart.  We had some bug issues, so we invited him in and he sprayed to eliminate the spiders, silverfish, and cockroaches (that, thankfully, we have only spied in the garage so far).  When we asked if Steve was still coming at 9:00 to discuss termites, he claimed he did not know.  I'll spare you the details and suspense by telling you that he once again never showed up, and on Rick's threat of taking our business elsewhere, he promised to show up tomorrow.  While Little Orphan Annie believed that the sun will come up tomorrow, I am not sure I have the same faith that Steve will show up any time soon.

My sink was supposed to be delivered any time between 9 - 1.  At 1:00 p.m., Rick went to the glass store to return the wrongly-cut glass while I awaited the promised wash basin.  At 1:30 a van drove into the driveway and a man came to the door, telling me he had my sink.  He carefully took the heavy sink out of the van, placed it on a dolly, and wheeled it into the house.  He gently eased it flat onto the floor.  He said, "Please sign here and print your last name on the line below."  Stupid me thought that I was just signing an acknowledgement that I had received the sink.  He then left a copy of the receipt for me and drove away.  I carefully opened the box only to discover that the beautiful Kohler sink had a huge crack and chipped porcelain on the ridge between the two basins. (Ha!  So much for the box's claim that Kohler was guaranteed not to chip! They even had the audacity to lie in two different languages!)  I picked up the receipt looking for a number to call and then read that I had signed a form that said I had inspected and received an undamaged product in good working condition.

I lost it.  I was so upset that by the time Rick came home, he found me in hysterics.   He walked in with less than a smile on his face since the woman at the glass place tried to tell him that he was getting a bargain for the glass even though we paid full price and were not at fault that the glass was cut incorrectly. When he saw me, I burst into tears, telling him that it was all my fault and that I did not understand what I signed, and that I was really stupid.  He took time to calm me down and then let me kill things.  (When I am angry, it helps if I kill things.  Don't panic, family, Rick is still taking in oxygen because usually what I kill is weeds in the garden. )  I grabbed a shovel and started to dig out the buried patio stones in the back yard, ripping up grass and weeds as I discovered that the patio is much bigger than we originally thought it was.

I ended the day on a better note.  When I came into the house, I found that Beth at Cengage had contacted me, and I can now begin my freelance work on PowerPoints for two of their textbooks.  I also found, in the mail, the first notice of what I will get in July as a retirement check.  While it is half of what I used to make, it certainly at least gives me a sense of worth again to be bringing in income from two sources... all in one day.  I am excited to get going on the Cengage work, and I am happy that my 28 years of teaching will bring in some very desperately needed income at this time.

We capped off the day by getting away from the house and going to dinner at a downtown restaurant.  OK, the day was not quite done with us yet.  As we dined, the skies opened up into a deluge that the world has not witnessed since Noah built the ark.  We took a chance after dinner by waiting for the rain to abate a little, and then made a run for the truck.  Unfortunately, streets in downtown Dunedin flood easily, so we were both drenched by the time we reached the truck.  We piled in, started the engine, and the rain suddenly stopped as quickly as it had started.  Within minutes, the sun was peeking out just long enough to set. 

Annie was right.  The sun will come up...tomorrow, and we both really hope that it will bring with it a better day.

And the work goes on...

Freesia flowers! I suppose I should get a better vase.

First of all, a big thank you to my sister-in-law Chris for identifying my mystery flowers from the back yard as freesias.  I told Rick that they were not weeds, although I am not sure that they were intentionally planted either since they seem to randomly pop up in various places in the back yard.  I promised Chris that I would leave in her Florida house all of the non-perishable ingredients to make a fabulous key lime pie. 

Yesterday, because all of the insulation is gone from the attic right now, Rick was able to remove the water-damaged portion of the south kitchen wall and to remove the moldy (quite literally!) kitchen ceiling.  He chopped that plaster all down and then cut a new piece of drywall to fit in its place.  We can see by looking at the two-toned paint job in the ceiling where a huge area had already been repaired due to leaks in the roof, but the wall damage and moldy ceiling that Rick worked on yesterday were hidden under upper cupboards that we removed earlier. 

He also removed wires and patched in two previous electrical boxes -- one for what must have been a 1960's clock located above the cupboards, and the other for the thermostat that controlled the ceiling heat that originally kept this house cozy.  We have those same capped boxes in both bedrooms, the living room, and the Florida room in the house.  Contractors tell us that the wires are embedded in the plaster that makes up the ceilings in this house.

According to neighbors, this house originally had a traditional Florida tile roof.  While they are beautiful and quite durable, when they do start to leak, they apparently leak badly.  The roof on this house must have leaked for quite a while before someone stepped in and told the former owner, Jackie Scott, that she had to repair the roof.  We know from the inspector that roof boards were replaced at the time that the new shingled roof was put on approximately 8 years ago.  The neighbor, Monty, said that removing the tile roof cost Jackie over $20,000, so at least that was one expense we were spared.  Monty also said that as Jackie declined mentally she became paranoid and did not want to let anyone come into the house.  That may be another reason that the house was in such bad shape when we purchased it.

Last night we used some of our gift money from birthdays and Mothers/ Fathers Day to purchase a bed frame and box spring from Sam's Club.  While not terribly expensive, it certainly was appreciated when I was able to get out of bed this morning without having to literally crawl off the mattress before I could boost myself up.  My right knee certainly appreciates being able to just sit up and immediately stand as I left the bed. Osteoarthritis is a part of my heredity, and although it seems to be slightly better in the warmer weather, the knees, fingers, and hands are still pretty stiff when I first get up in the morning.  (Egad!  I'm not THAT old, am I?  Thanks Dad and Grandma Falk!)

Early this morning Rick again ascended the ladder into the crawl space that we call an attic.  He slithered over to above the master bathroom (headroom is less that 16") and literally pounded the old heater out of the ceiling into my waiting hands.  And Lindsay, no, daddy did NOT wear his hard hat, and he bumped into at least three nails up there with his hard head!!  While he was up there, he figured out more of our scary wiring and realized that we will have to add lumber between the studs to support the top of the wall we want to move. All of the attic work must be completed by tomorrow since we are getting 15 inches of insulation blown into the attic by Friday.  That means that we also must rebuild a drop-in door above the access space where the old whole-house fan once resided.  So much to do, and so little time!

Our one disenchantment with this whole remodeling adventure has been with the contractors we find in Florida.  Everyone is very friendly, and they all talk a good story, but we have found very few who are really reliable.  Perhaps this is just a cultural difference from people in "the North."  I have issues with the lawn person who apparently "sent us the wrong contract" that promised to cut the lawn weekly in the summer (it needs it) and bi-weekly in the winter.  Tim, who owns the lawn service, claims that we have the same agreement as Steve and Chris where he just comes bi-weekly.  After all, he said, their lawn only needs cutting every other week, and since we are related, our lawn must be the same. Rick and he get along just fine, but I do not care for the man at all.  I guess I will just have to get used to grass up to my #$$ in the backyard since Tim is only coming once every other week.  At least that gives the freesias time to grow.  

We currently are  waiting for the heating/ air conditioning grates that were supposed to be delivered on Tuesday and for the pest control man who was supposed to meet with us sometime yesterday.  We finally called the HVAC contractor who had lost all of our records and thus had to reschedule for Thursday.  As for the pest control man? He still has not shown up.

On a happy note, one thing -- my kitchen sink -- actually is going to arrive early.  The Internet tracking system says that the sink will not be delivered until July 6, but we got a call this morning that the sink will be delivered between 9 - 2 tomorrow.  Since we ripped out everything in the kitchen, including the kitchen sink, having a new one to install soon brings a big smile to my face.

Monday, Monday...

Today was another busy day (aren't they all?) with some positive steps forward.  We were both discouraged yesterday because we wanted to work on the kitchen and a million little jobs kept us from meeting our goals.

Rick working on Florida room receptacle.

Before we got to the kitchen, I asked Rick if he could change the electrical switches and receptacles in the Florida room to make working on our computers easier.  Well, one thing led to another, and not only did he complete the Florida room, but he also moved on to the living room.  That is when Gladys tried to kill him.

We have a three-panel switch next to the front door.  We know that the right-hand switch operates the motion-sensor light on the front porch, and we know that the left-hand switch operates the receptacle next to the door so that we can turn on a light when we come in the front door.  The middle switch, however, was a mystery.  (We actually had two other mysteries that we solved... more on that later.) Rick turned off the circuits in the electrical panel to work on the switches.  He started with the porch light switch and made the mistake of accidentally touching the box with the tip of his screwdriver.  The POP and spark that shot from the box sent him back about 6 feet and melted a part of the screwdriver.  OK, Gladys is not subtle when she does not like something.

Further investigation showed that the idiot who disconnected whatever was connected to the middle switch must have turned it off at the electrical panel, cut the wires and removed whatever was connected to it, and then turned the circuit back on.  Two live wires sitting in the middle of the box, buried under a jumble of other wires.  No wire nuts... no electrical tape... just live wires.  Nice, huh?  We thought that the scary electrical business was solved with the new panel, but the sparking kitchen light and now this killer switch have us saying an extra prayer before we approach anything electric.

We never did figure out what the middle switch once operated (although a poorly patched ceiling hints at an overhead light or fan from the past), but we did learn that a non-functioning plug works just fine once the breaker is not tripped, and the porch light (across the room and out the door) also works once that breaker is reset! One mystery remains that way, but the other two mysteries were solved.

Visitor in our yard.

In Florida, we have met all kinds of creatures.  The not-so-little bird on the right is just one example.  This guy wandered into our yard during a drizzly day yesterday, and I am always amazed at the size of these birds.  This one easily topped 3 1/2 feet tall!

Note size compared to the neighbor's truck.

Today started early so as not to get caught in the shower when the insulation contractor arrived. We had started pushing the plastic tubing needed for a central vacuum system through the attic yesterday, but the temps were too high by the time we threaded over 30 feet of tubing to the approximate location where we wanted the tube to come down the wall for Rick to bring it down from the attic.  Today, by 7:30 a.m., he overcame a little claustrophobia, a little rodent-phobia (what IS the technical term for that?), and his general repulsion of climbing into a smelly attic by going up and fishing the tubes to the correct place.  By 8:00 a.m., the tube was in place, the hole was cut in the ceiling of the closet, and the tubes were connected and coming down the wall for eventual hook-up (probably next summer when we may be able to afford it) for the rest of the vac system.

We were done before the two men came to suck all of the rodent- poop and urine-soaked inch of insulation out of the attic.  We would have liked to learn more about what they were doing, but they spoke only a little more English than we spoke Spanish, so communication was not a key component of our interaction with them.  They actually sucked out three and one half huge 4 x 6 foot bags of old insulation.  The new stuff -- 15 inches for R30 -- will go in on Friday.  That certainly will beat what was up there, so we are hoping that our next energy bill will not look like someone had major surgery in the family.  (Actually, perhaps Gladys HAS had major surgery with all that we have done to her!)

Out, out damned spot... of wallpaper glue!

The wallpaper above is gone, as is everything else in the kitchen!

While the contractors were in the attic, Rick and I tackled the kitchen.  I now have the easiest-to-clean kitchen in America since it has nothing in it and nothing on the walls.  The wallpaper that is around the top of the kitchen is now gone, and I made Rick take pictures of ME working for once since I usually am the photographer, thus making it seem like he is doing all of the work. I scrubbed wallpaper paste off the former eat-in kitchen/ dining area wall while Rick plastered the middle of the walls where we removed the ceramic tile.  While I admit that he does more skilled work than I do, I am tired enough at night to know that I DO occasionally contribute to the effort.

The palm tree Rick bought me for my birthday when we bought Gladys.

I end this today with the beauty of Florida.  Last night we took a break and sat outside.  The sky was so blue and the palm tree was gently swaying in the breeze, so I had to take a picture that I could print and stare at when we are up to our armpits with snow this winter.

Mystery flowers in my "fancy" vase.

Send me an email at saa1376@new.rr.com if you know what this is!

  The other pictures are of the flowers that keep popping up in the middle of our backyard when the landscapers neglect us for two weeks in a row.  Rick says that they are probably weeds, but that is OK.  When I was a kid I always thought that dandelions looked pretty too, and my mother would always put them in water when I picked them for her.  So does anyone know what these flowers are?  If so, please let me know.  I think they are pretty, even if they are weeds.  God does good work, so who am I to complain?

More Pictures

For some reason, this blog will only let me put in so many pictures before it fights me.

Master bedroom before.  Note the glue stain from old carpet.

Master bedroom after the floors were finished.

Master bedroom looking toward the master bath.  The wall markings are gone enough so that we can tear out the rest of the wall and enlarge the bathroom without worrying about the original footprint of the room.

Rick also did a beautiful job of finishing the cherry tables for the living room.  We have yet to figure out where to put everything.

Finished cherry table top.

We have two of these and one long sofa table.

The original tile in this house was built to last. Using all his might, Rick could barely chip it away in pieces.  Gladys fought back, cutting his hands, leg, and arms with flying tile chips.

Our main task today was getting rid of the tile in the kitchen.  We have lots of work to do yet before the kitchen is near being "livable" again.  After Rick finished with this, he scraped the walls and then plastered them.  Now it is my turn to go scrub the parts of the walls that I can get to in that room.


Cher used to sing, "And the beat goes on..."  This Sher now sings, "And the work goes on..."  Someday, Gladys will be a showplace, and she will always be a home to us.

Pictures of Progress

I am taking time out of a busy day to send the pictures that I promised yesterday.  We strongly suggest to Steve and Chris that they think about having their terrazzo floors redone.  Although their efforts have made their floors far cleaner than my brief scrubbing did on Gladys, I am amazed at the difference I feel in just sweeping and vacuuming the floors.  Not every stain came out, but the floors are far better and cleaner than they were before.  They both look and feel like glass, so overall we are happy with the results... and the floors now have a protective coating that will help to preserve them.  Take a look at the before and after pictures:

Living room/ Florida room before the refinishing.

 

 

 

 

 

Living room/ Florida room after.  Note the "traffic pattern" stain is gone from the entry way just to the left of the picture.

 

 

 

Florida Room after refinishing.  The glue stain from the removed track of the glass doors is the only thing that did not come out well.  We will have to live with it as a part of the "history" of Gladys.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Spare Bedroom before with rust stain in middle.

Spare Bedroom after.

Happy Birthday, Rick!

We often joke that for my 26th birthday, Rick bought me a toilet.  That is true.  We had just moved into our first house, were short on money, and needed to replace the "necessities" of life.  Today was Rick's 59th birthday, so for his birthday he got a present and so did I.

His "gift" was a new garage door and opener.  Hooray!  We can finally touch a button and actually have not only a garage door that opens, but also one that seals out the fruit rats.  The workmen came at a little after 9:00 this morning and finished at about 1:00 p.m.  We now have a new hurricane-proof garage door (you should see the steel behind this sucker!) and a new opener with two remotes and a key-less, coded touch pad.  It works better than our garage door in Wisconsin (and for the price, it should!).

My "gift" on his birthday was the delivery of our new oven.  It is similar to my stove at home, and for the first-ever edible that I made, I baked Rick a key-lime pie (his favorite) for his birthday. Lacking birthday candles, I lit a regular candle, sang off-key, and he celebrated another year.

The rains have finally come to Florida, and we learned yesterday that we have yet another challenge (and expense) to face.  The storms in Florida are usually brief, filled with thunder and lightening, and characterized by downpours.  During one deluge yesterday, Gladys peed!  We were just moving back into the house yesterday, having spent four days in a motel while the floors were refinished.  As we were moving items in, the rains started.  Rick was working in  one of the bedrooms and as I rounded the corner from the kitchen, I saw a two-foot puddle of water inside the Florida room by the back door.  Gladys wet herself then, and to a lesser degree later in another storm.  (This is sort of like an old lady who slightly pees her pants when she sneezes or laughs too hard!)  The problem is the configuration of the house roof meeting the Florida room roof and the waterfall that results during a storm.  We had been warned by the floor people not to let water "set" on the newly polished floors, and then Gladys goes and leaks all over.

Our resolution will be two-fold.  First, we have to replace the back doors in this house, which we knew.  We can get a new back door and install it ourselves for a couple of hundred dollars. We would rather not spend the money, but we knew we might have to do so before we left for the winter.  The greater "fix" is to have rain gutters installed.  We got a bid today from a company, and like everything else, this will set us back another $1000.  Replacing the door will not permanently solve the problem, so we have no choice.  We want to get this house secure before we leave in August, so this is just one more unexpected step we have to take.

To celebrate Rick's birthday (now that we can finally get in and out of the garage with the bikes) we decided this evening to take our first bike ride since we have been here.  Another "surprise": the one thing that did not make the trip well was our bicycle pump.  When Rick went to fill the tires, the pump did not work.  We will have to try to take it apart tomorrow to see if we can fix it or look for an inexpensive pump for now.  One of the main reasons we came to Dunedin was to use the bike trail, so this minor set-back will not stop us from our goal.

On a positive note, Rick put together the first of the three cherry tables that he made for the house, and it is beautiful.  I am took tired and the time is too late tonight to post pictures of our bright new floors and the table, but I will try to do that tomorrow.

Bruised, Bitten, and Beat

We arrived at approximately 8:00 a.m. to let Jason into the house to work on the floors.  We again dedicated ourselves to working outside, and at first the day was tolerable.  Rick worked on caulking the vents in the eaves, and I continued to wash down the drip edge on the roof.  I discovered that the person who put the first course of shingles on the Florida room did not know how to measure or to use a chalk line.  On the south side of the room, the shingles overlapped the drip edge by the requisite 1.5 inches, but by the time the shingle line reached the north side, the shingles were actually shy of the drip edge by .25 of an inch!  Either the room is terribly crooked, the chalk line was way off, or the person who put on that first row was an amateur who drank his lunch.

The sun soon caught up with Rick, so he had to leave the south side of the house before he fell off the ladder.  We took a break at about 10:30 by driving to McDonalds.  I desperately needed a restroom, and we both needed to get out of the 90+ heat by that time.  For $2.14 we each had a small yogurt/fruit parfait and a free glass of water.  We cooled off enough to continue our day without serious threat of heat stroke... at least for a while.

A funny side note: yesterday when we were in Home Depot a sales person came up to me and said, "M'am, may I ask you a question?  How much do you like your current kitchen cupboards?" 

I just laughed and said, "Hey, Rick, how much do we like our kitchen cupboards?" 

"We don't have any kitchen cupboards, " Rick said. I thought the salesman was going to fall over.

"None?" he asked.  Rick told him that we had just gutted the kitchen so we had no kitchen cupboards.

"Then you are in the market for some new ones, " the young man said.

"Not for another two or three years," Rick said.  Again, we got the "these two don't have both oars in
the water" look.  We explained that we were only here for a few more weeks and that the steel shelves, a make-shift sink supported by 2x4s, and a microwave on a small counter top will serve us quite well.

The poor sales person just said, "O-Kaaay," and walked onward, trying to get away from the two crazies from Wisconsin who where definitely short a few teacups in their mental cupboards.

After our yogurt break, we returned to the house and started to focus on the overgrown landscape of the back yard.  That is where the bruised (ran into and was hit by branches) and bitten (the bugs of Florida have feasted on me since I arrived) took place.  We worked until noon and barely made a noticeable difference in how the backyard looked.  We decided to go to Publix, a local grocery store, to get one of their delicious sandwiches for lunch.  As we walked into the market, we ran into Mike Paliquin, a man that Rick worked with during his days in the printing industry.  We knew that Mike lived in Dunedin, but we did not expect to see him so soon.  Turns out that we live only about .5 to .75 miles from where he lives, and his children all attended school in our neighborhood.  Rick and Mike would have talked forever if I had not finally mentioned that I was dying of starvation.

Mike said that he teaches international marketing part time at three different colleges in the area, and he urged me to apply at St. Petersburg College.  He also said that online opportunities were available at one of the colleges, so that may be something that I have to investigate further if I feel the need to do so later.

We worked until about 2:00 p.m. on the yard, and at the end of that time, we had cleared just a little area in one corner of the back yard.  We actually have about four trees we should take down.  I hate to think of doing so not only because of the expense but also because of the shade we will sacrifice.  However, the tree closest to the house is dangerous (brittle and leaning toward the house) and the others are called pepper trees which are nuisance trees.  The trees will be spared for at least one more year.  They can thank the lack of money for their reprieve.

One unsettling discovery was one rotting small tree that seemed to be crawling with termites.  It is far from the house, but we will have to use care in disposing of it so that we do not get the little critters anywhere near our currently termite-free house.

Other discoveries included a large brown bottle with some sort of syrupy brown liquid inside.  Rick would have smelled it, but I was not that curious.  I also found one squashed soda can, one half-buried cement bowl that might be an inverted small birdbath, one perfectly good paving block, and one really funky green plant that is bordered in deep purple.  I really need to get a book on Florida plants and animals. I have no idea if anything (other than the Mother-in-law's tongue) are poisonous or will give me a terminal rash. If any of the plants are illegal or could be sold for profit in a seedy part of town, I also do not have a clue about that.  I just know that the garden has been neglected but the overgrown state is a blessing in disguise.  The neighbor behind us had grass that is at least knee high in the back, so I am glad that I have vegetation to block our view of his own personal little yard of horrors.

Rick and I return to the hotel each evening so beat that we barely have time to check e-mail before we crawl into bed.  As I type this, I can hear the TV which almost -- but not quite -- drowns out the sound of Rick snoring. 

Gladys has undergone a tremendous change in the last three weeks, although from the outside not much seems to be changed.  We are bruised, bitten, and battered, but Gladys slowly but surely is beginning to respond to the pampering.

The Look will Floor You...

We were up early today to travel 1/2 an hour to get to the house by 7:00 a.m. so the floor crew could get an early start.  They spent a full day yesterday grinding the floors down with a slurry of who-knows-what and water.  Then they bleached the floor, especially the parts of the floor that had stains from water, old walls, aluminum tracks (from the doors) and rust stains. They use bleach that is normally used in beauty salons, so it cannot be too caustic.  (Of course, with all of the old ladies in Florida, maybe the strong stuff is needed...)

The floors today looked much cleaner and better than they probably have in years.  The crew have cleaned and bleached some of the cracks, took out all of the nailing strips from the bedrooms, and spent time today doing the detailed hand-grinding around the toilets and along the walls.  Another application of bleach went on today to further try to reduce the appearance of stains that remain.  Unfortunately, the worst stain is a glue stain that snakes across the house where the old glass doors separated the living and Florida rooms.  We probably will have to live with that stain, but polishing and the addition of furnishings will make it less noticeable than it does right now in a totally empty house.  This IS an old house, so occasionally Gladys will show a wrinkle or two.

Rick and I spent most of the day outside removing the wooden strips under the soffit vents and reinstalling them.  As we go closer to one corner of the Florida room, we began to smell the distinct odor of a rotting rat.  We have not caught a rat for two days, so we thought that we had gotten them all out of the attic.  We think now that we have trapped some of them in the attic especially since we came upon a tiny newborn rat that was quickly dispatched from the current world.  We will continue to clear the house of the vermin so that we feel we can leave the house secure. 

When we finished one section of the Florida room, I washed down the drip edge which was covered with dirt and debris from the roof.  The appearance of the house improved immensely.  We know a good coat of paint on the soffits would improve the appearance greatly, but at this point a good bath is the best that we can do for Gladys.

We will go back tomorrow to finish the soffit work.  In taking down the screening under the soffit vents, we discovered that the Florida room roof, which is fairly flat, has almost no insulation in it.  We will contact the insulation company that is coming in next week to see if we can get some insulation blown into that roof also.  We know that the real savings will not come until we can replace all of the Florida room windows, but for now we need to take this one step at a time.  More insulation certainly will not hurt our energy bills!

I talked to my friend Rose as she was my guardian angel today.  I applied online to work at NWTC in the fall as an adjunct instructor.  Rose went to campus and signed me up for the classes I would like to teach.  She went beyond the call of duty, and I owe her a huge thanks.  I promised her at least a home made key lime pie when we return home in August. 

Rick and I learned today that we can tolerate working outdoors as long as we quit by at least 11:30 a.m.  Going in and out of the air conditioning is more hard on us than just staying in the heat.  Dunedin usually has a beautiful tropical breeze, and we found that sitting in the backyard in the shade while enjoying the breeze was quite tolerable even though the temperatures were in the low 90s. 

No rain is in sight, and our hearts go out to all of the Florida residents who are losing their homes to the numerous wildfires around the state.  Most of the fires are either south of us or are in the northeast corner of the state near Georgia.  Pinellas County really is a peninsula that juts out into the Gulf of Mexico, so we are cut off from mainland fires.  However, if a fire starts on the peninsula, it would spread quickly since right the county is rain-starved and thus very dry. This is supposed to be Florida's rainy season; unfortunately, the rain that the people did get brought lots of lightening which just ignited other fires. Lots and lots of rain would certainly help fight the fires, though.

Father's Day Follies

We started today by searching out the nearest WELS church which happened to be Christ the Lord Lutheran Church in Clearwater.  The church is only about three miles from our house and they have a parking lot that easily accommodates big trucks.  As we approached the church, a man teasingly said, "You parked just about as far away as you possibly could!"  We told him that we were new to the church and that we did not know how crowded the parking lot would get.  We learned that their lot today could hold about four times the amount of cars that actually were parked in it for services.

When we got inside, we were immediately surrounded and everyone began to introduce themselves to us. Ii have never met so many friendly people all gathered in one place!  The pastor, Steven Nuss, told us that he chose the ministry as his second career, entering the seminary when he was in his 40s.  He has been preaching for about 20 years, so you can do the math and figure he fits in well with the geriatric set down here. I liked him very much.  His sermon was easy to follow, and he has a wonderful sense of humor.  He even mixed into the sermon that they had visitors that morning from Green Bay, Wisconsin.  He is a hoot.  With the exception of a few young families and people, Rick and I were some of the youngest people in the room!  We felt very welcome, and we will try to return to Christ the Lord again.

Strangely enough, a former vicar from Messiah now has a congregation about 10 miles from our house, so we may visit that church one of these Sundays also.  He is in Holiday, FL, in a much bigger congregation.

After church we came home to pack for our four days out of the house.  We moved the majority of items to the garage, and we will finish the rest tomorrow.

Condos on the shore.  They'll buffer hurricane winds to protect our house!

For Father's Day, Rick wanted pizza, so we had a lovely little dinner together with left-overs for lunch tomorrow.  After an early dinner, we treated ourselves to a visit to one of the gulf-side parks that are numerous in Dunedin.

One park has a long pier that we walked down so we could take pictures of Dunedin from the water.

We met a man who convinced us to go visit Honeymoon Island which is a state park located a few miles from Dunedin and accessible by the Dunedin Causeway.  He said we would only have to pay $2 because the fee was half-price due to Father's Day.  When we got the the Park, the ranger said, "Fees are half-price today, so that will be $4.00."  Turns out that the fee is PER PERSON, but we paid it anyway.

 The beach at Honeymoon Island.

 

Honeymoon Island is one of the barrier islands that protects Dunedin from hurricanes.  The entire island is a state park, and it claims one of the best beaches in all of the United States.  While the island itself is an interesting study of flowers, palm trees, and native Florida wildlife (including rattlesnakes!), most people go there for the beach, and the pictures show why they are smart to do so.

Another view of Honeymoon Island Beach.

From the island you can take a ferry over to Calidisi Island which has an even more spectacular beach, but since the sun was setting and the beach was about to close, we will save that adventure for another time. This is the first time since we came down here that we actually took time to go to a beach.  If we really wanted to spend time near the water, I would require three things: a beach umbrella, lots of sunscreen, and lots of water to drink while I read my Kindle.  Maybe later... much later.

"Before" picture of dirty, dull floors in Florida Room of Gladys

Both of the girls called to wish Rick a happy Father's Day, so we enjoyed talking to them.  Tomorrow Gladys gets her floors done; my friend Rose said she is getting ready to go to the prom.  I really pray that the floors turn out well.  The contractor assured us that when we saw them again, we would say, "Wow!"  I am attaching one final picture of the Florida room as a "before" picture.  Hopefully, the "after" picture will have sunlight glistening off of the mirror finish on the floor.

I might not be able to post for a few days because we have to stay at an extended stay hotel for three days.  Experience tells us that the Internet there is rotten, so unless we got to the Library, I may not be able to log in. 

Have a good week, everyone!

Saturday Successes

We started today not with work, but with a little fun by treating ourselves to the Green Market in a small park in downtown Dunedin.  A "green market" is what we know as a Farmer's Market, and this one was a tiny treat.  We found everything from a man selling cheese to a man selling gorgeous orchids.  A lady was weaving and selling baskets while others were hawking pickles on a stick, herbal medicines, matted photographs, and, of course, lots of fresh fruits and vegetables.  Our hands were soon carrying bags filled with just-picked peas, tomatoes, pickles, and a freshly-baked broccoli and cheese focaccia which we devoured for lunch today.

Then we were off to the grocery store for a few more staples.  We did not want to get too much since early Monday morning we will be heading out of the house for four days while we get the floors refinished.

Once we buckled down to work, we tore out the vanity and sink in the main bathroom.  We are down to one working sink in the master bath.  I fulfilled the obligatory wash-the-dishes-in-the-bathtub to become fully initiated into the Sisterhood of the Remodeling Wives Club. I have no kitchen cupboards, no vanity or sink in the bathroom, and only a bed on the floor. 

We also took a trip with our upholstered couch and chair cushions to Steve and Chris' house for safe keeping.  Our neighbors warned us not to leave anything in the garage that was upholstered because fruit rats love to nestle right in.  We continue to battle the little varmints, so the couch and chair went to the OTHER Anderson home in Dunedin.  (Thanks for letting us store our goods at your house, Steve and Chris!) While we were there, Rick refilled the toilets with water, and we swept the porch, sidewalks, and driveway to make the house look lived-in again.  We will continue to check the house every week or so while we are down here throughout the summer.

We have not had to check anyone's house for storm damage since we have only had rain twice since we arrived.  We had one day of rain, and the only other rain was a severe but brief storm after 11:00 p.m. on day.  Dunedin is experiencing a drought while the poor folks in Polk Country (two counties to the east) have been hit with bad storms for the last three days.

Before we got into the bathroom destruction, Rick installed our new, white, metal mailbox.  He took out an old blue and red plastic mailbox shaped like a barn.  Whoever thought that a barn fit the design of this house ought to get a subscription to Architectural Digest!  The plastic barn started by being disposed of into the dumpster that graces our driveway once again, but as we filled it with vanity parts, I took it out and put it next to the dumpster.  The cracked, germ-laden pink sink from the main bathroom also would not fit into the dumpster, so I told Rick to put it on the magic curb.  The neighbor lady (Missy from Dallas) across the street was having a rummage sale, so I figured that someone would take it away.  Sure enough, less than 10 minutes later a man with a pick-up truck was loading it into his truck bed.  Then he came to the door, knocked, and asked if he could have the plastic mailbox.  I told him to help himself.  The next thing we knew, he was peering into the dumpster!  Rick was taking more debris out, and the man said, "Do you mind if I look through the dumpster?"  Rick replied, "Yes, actually, we do mind.  There is no metal in there, so you do not need to get into it."  Imagine the nerve!  At least he asked our permission before he began to dumpster dive on our property!  People down here really are different... and I am not sure that is all good.

Since we are now down to two chairs, two end tables, and a TV, we have only that and the bedroom furniture to move tomorrow. I would like to go to church tomorrow.  We will have to see if we can roll out of bed in time to make the 9:00 service.

Being empty, Gladys looks really big.  I hope we find her equally as big and inviting when her floors are shiny and the furniture is all in place.

Rick the Wrecker

In order to be ready for the refinishing of the floors next week Monday - Thursday, we had to become serious about getting everything off of the floors-- including the rest of the kitchen and the bathrooms.   I wanted Rick to wait until Sunday to remove the kitchen sink, but he was hesitant to wait until the weekend in case Gladys gave us some real plumbing problems.

Dishwasher removal.  Note placement of electrical plug!

Since Lindsay calls him Chief Running Water, as I mentioned yesterday, his decision to tear out the kitchen today was probably a good thing.  The first to go was the dishwasher. When Rick pulled the dishwasher away from the wall, his only comment was, "Oh, my God!"  The receptacle that the dishwasher was plugged into was a fairly new plug located about 1" above the kitchen floor.  The plug was tied in to the 15 amp. receptacle that was also on that wall.  That plug was the one that I used to plug the toaster into, so I am glad that I did not try to make toast and run the dishwasher at the same time.  Since we know there was standing water more than once on the kitchen floor, we are both surprised that someone was not killed in the kitchen with the totally illegal wiring for the dishwasher.   As we carried the rusting, black dishwasher out to the magic curb, we watched the neighbor lady grab her phone and call her junk-collecting son to come to our house.  He was at the curb loading the dishwasher into the back of his truck within 10 minutes.

Leaks, anyone?

The next to go was the garbage disposer which also was not set up correctly.  At least that came out fairly easily, so Rick moved on to the kitchen sink.  We had some problems with the shut off valves, so I had to take a shot of Rick with the sand pail.  My former office mate, Heather, bought me a sand pail and shovel as a part of my retirement gift.  Little did she know that the pail would be put into service to help with our house renovation!

Kitchen, looking north.

After the garbage disposer and the kitchen sink were gone, Wrecker Rick had a good workout tearing out the rest of the cabinetry.  He also took apart the other little cabinet that the family had left, leaving only the counter top to be reused.  The pictures below show the results and the remains of my Florida dream kitchen!

Kitchen, looking south.

Minimalist microwaving.

As you can see, my kitchen now has very little clutter, a French "open shelving" decor, and a minimalist architectural feeling while using the microwave.


Rick promises that after the floors are completed, we will replace the missing kitchen sink with an 8 foot counter top supported by 2 x 4s and an inexpensive (but new and clean) kitchen sink.  Until that time, we will be living in an extended stay hotel with a small kitchenette.  Once we are back in the house, the kitchen will take on a temporary (think two years) but workable configuration.

While he was busy demolishing the kitchen, I was busy in the decidedly "open" master bathroom cleaning the sink (which is wall hung and thus not in the way of the floor restorers), the vanity cabinet, and the shower.  The result is chronicled in the pictures below.

Master Bedroom, looking north.

Master bath, looking south.

We will be able to move into the master bedroom once the floors are refinished.  We cannot move in now since the pad under the carpet was glued to the floor.  Although you cannot see it well in the pictures, there is a glue residue that snakes stickily over the floor.  We would like to move out the partially removed master bathroom wall at least a foot to give us a little more room inside the master bath.  The bottom part of the wall has to come out tomorrow so the whole floor will be accessible to the floor people on Monday.

Today was a tough day, but we saw real progress by the end of the day.  After dinner, we went for a walk to a neighborhood "grocery" store.  It is a tiny convenience store devoted mostly to soda, beer, and outrageously expensive limited grocery items.  In a pinch, I might venture in to buy some milk, but I would really have to be desperate.  Thank God dairy foods all have expiration dates! Eating any of the canned goods from that store may bring about a personal expiration date, however, so I will take the time to travel less than a mile to the well-stocked Publix just off of Main Street.

On the way home,from our walk we met the neighbors across the street.  Our sister-in-law Chris advised us to get to know the neighbors so we would have people to look out for the house.  So far everyone we have met seems very nice.  They all were curious enough to go to the estate sale, so everyone saw what a disaster this house was when we bought it.  They probably all think we are nuts, and they may be totally correct!  

The man across the street is Monty, his wife is Joan, his pregnant daughter is Melissa, and she has an older son whose name escapes me right now.  Monty is a carpenter from New York, so he has the strangest accent, sort of like a Brooklyn taxi-cab crashing into a southern Magnolia tree.  All of our neighbors come from other places.  In addition to Monty and Joan, garbage collector Dave comes from Ohio, Melissa next door comes from Pennsylvania and New York, and Missy just moved here from Dallas.  Since Monty is a carpenter,  he offered any tools that we may be missing and need in the course of our renovation. 

Steve said we are in a good neighborhood, and I believe he is correct.  The neighbors all work hard, maintain their property well, and are both friendly and generous.  Gladys is surrounded by good people, and that makes living in Dunedin even better. 

The Ways of Water

Water. A human being is over 60% percent water, and it is the one element that man cannot do without.  We all can survive for almost two weeks without food, but we cannot survive for more than three days without water.

We have learned, in our less-than-two weeks here in Dunedin, what a precious and destructive element water really is.  We learned within our first day as homeowners that the city of Dunedin relies on a well for its fresh water.  Ironically, although Florida is surrounded by water, fresh water is a precious commodity.  I have learned very quickly to not let the water run while I am brushing my teeth, to take quick showers, and to use only half a bucket of water to scrub the floors.  Neither Rick nor I particularly like the taste of the well water -- and this coming from a woman who grew up drinking Oshkosh water ! -- so we have spent way too much money on bottled drinking water.  I can see a water filter system in the near future. Since terrazzo floors should not be washed with soap, when I am done scrubbing a portion of the floor, the water is not just flushed down the toilet which would consume even more water.  Instead, since my bucket is half-filled with just dirty water, it becomes a refreshing liquid of life for the six small rose bushes that grow in a run-down garden next to the front door.

Yesterday and today dealt heavily with water.  When I was working outside all of yesterday morning, I found that I needed a drink of water about every 30 - 45 minutes. Those who know Rick know that when the man begins to work, especially in the heat, his body goes into super cool-down mode by pouring out sweat in buckets.  In one day's time, we have been known to consume over a gallon of water each.  We try to regulate our personal hygiene by showing either in the morning if we think the workload will be light, or to wait until the evening to shower if the workload we face will be difficult and heavy.

As we get ready for the floors to be redone next Monday, our tasks for today were to finish putting in the toilets.  Yesterday morning Rick plastered the wall behind the toilet area in the master bathroom. As soon as the plaster began to dry, we watched old water stains appear.  That area of the wall will take some Kills at a future date.  In the afternoon yesterday Rick put in the first toilet in the master bathroom.  We did not have any problem with that one.  World, take note: NOT everything that we try to do has a hidden disaster lurking in the shadows.

Today we tackled the second toilet.  The first hint of problems came when Rick went out to shut off the water to the house.  We have a shut-off valve for the house under the kitchen windows, right in the front yard.  Weird, huh?  However, this seems to be fairly typical in Florida since they do not have to worry about anything freezing and breaking off during the winter. When Rick came back in and shut off the valve for the pink toilet, the perpetual drip started.  No matter what we did, the shut-off valve for the pink toilet continued to drip.  We could almost feel the plumbers descending on our little house like a pack of voracious wolves.  But never fear: Chief Running Water ( Lindsay's name for Rick) was here!

We finally resorted to a little plastic food storage box under the drip as we disconnected the pink toilet.  Not as many bugs fled the daylight when we picked this one up (Florida bugs must prefer blue commodes), and the floor under it was not as gross.  However, the drip continued, so we had to work quickly and to empty the little plastic water box often.  Where is Tupperware when one needs it?  The double wax rings went on, the toilet was set, and we were almost home free.  Almost.  When Rick tried to connect the new hose to the water supply, the hose came up about 2 inches short.  Off went Rick to the hardware store for a longer hose while I continued to bail out the bathroom about every five minutes. 

He seemed to be gone for a very long time.  When he returned, he told me that he had to go to two different stores before he could find the right hose, and then it was too long!  I should have sent Goldilocks... too short, too long... at least she came up with "just right" at the end.  We ended up with the too long hose just so we could reconnect the toilet and keep the house from floating into the ocean.

I am scared to death to get the first water bill from out fair city.  We may have to come home early or join the Y and shower there! 

Oh, by the way.  The magic curb worked again.  The same neighbor woman (whom we later met and now know as Missy from Dallas) who took the blue toilet also took the pink one.  When we met her, I did not have the guts to ask her what she was going to do with two outdated, filthy, disgusting toilets.  Hopefully she is just going to clean them up a bit and use them as his and her planters in her back yard which faces the beautiful lake behind her house across the street.

Trees, Troubles, Walls, and Washers

I spent all of this morning trying to clean up the debris from our tree-trimming venture of last evening.  Steve (Rick's brother) told me that the city will pick up yard waste if I cut it and bundle it into not more than 4-foot lengths.  I spent the entire morning in muggy, low 90-degree temperatures cutting, sawing, and bundling the trees into stacks that could be carried out to the curb.  The bugs spent the morning trying to eat me from the ankles up. We also had four or five palm fronds (like the kind that the slaves used to fan Cleopatra in the old Elizabeth Taylor movie) that were either lying on the top of the concrete patio table in the back yard or were pushing against the old fence that is trying to fall down, so those were added to the stack.  I looked like Pigpen from Charles Schultz's Peanuts cartoon strip by the time I was done... dust and dirt all over!  However, the back yard is beginning to look a little better, and we have successfully removed the rat highway from the backyard trees onto our roof -- and ultimately attic.

The pest control man set traps last night, and soon after that we heard one of the traps become very activated.  Rick checked it out this morning, and we have our first victim waiting to be disposed of by the pest control people.  We still have a few other little holes in door frames and soffits to fill, but then we just have to wait for the traps to do their job. I am amazed by people's attitudes toward the rats.  The pest control man said that everyone has them from the lowliest shack to the multi-million dollar mansions on the beach.  Floridians treat rats in the attic with the same attitude that we treat squirrels in the yard in Wisconsin.  

While I was outside working, Rick was busy in the master bathroom trying to repair the wall behind the still-not-replaced toilet.  The floor refinishing man, Barry, is coming in on Monday, so by that time we have to have both new toilets installed, and all of the furniture moved to the garage.  We are taking our upholstered furniture (just the couch and one chair) over to Steve's house. (Thanks Steve and Chris!) We  may take our new TV over there also so the rats do not have a feast on the cords.

This afternoon saw us ripping down the master bathroom wall that held the old pocket door and part of the other wall.  We did this so that the floor under the wall can be refinished, and we can possibly move the wall a foot to give us a little more "wiggle room" when we step out of the shower. Our concern is with Dunedin's permit-happy officials.  In this town, you need a permit to take down a wall or to put up a wall.  The trouble with that is that if we pay $173 to get the tear down permit, we must put up the wall within six months or purchase another permit when we get around to putting up the wall next summer.  The money that a person spends on permits in this town could buy a heck of a lot of drywall!  We chose to play dumb and not get a permit... yet.

Late this afternoon, BestBuy delivered our new washer and dryer.  We had not intended to buy new appliances this year, but the washing machine turned out to be less than efficient, and the dryer was so bad that the electrician told us, "You can do what you want, but I wouldn't use it."  We did not buy the top of the line or even the Bosch that we originally thought we would get down here.  Instead, we followed the suggestion of Consumer Report and bought a pair of LG appliances.  We need them desperately because we are like babies: we go through at least two if not three outfits a day.  If we sweat one out, we change and go on to the next.  If we want to go to the store, the dirty clothes get tossed for something a little more presentable.  The problem with the new front loading set is that they are wider than the old fashioned machines, so we are now second-guessing how we can build in the laundry room and still have room to function. 

Our "temporary" bedroom --such luxury!

This is the planning stage, and considering that we have only been in the house for nine days, I think that we are doing quite well. Once the floors are done this next week, we can start to really move into the spaces that we want to be permanent. At this point we cannot use the master bedroom because of the glue trails on the floor, and the kitchen and bathroom are  in semi-chaotic disorder.  But eventually this house will respond to our efforts and tender-loving care.

Dumpster #2

With most of the kitchen hauled away with the first dumpster, we took off a few days from heavy demolition while the electricity and the HVAC were complete.  We feel that we were probably ripped off monetarily a little by the electrician, and the HVAC job is another story entirely.

The company we  chose last Thursday to do all of the work came in yesterday with almost two full crews.  The first problem appeared when we started to discuss the insulation.  The salesman said that this company would take out the old insulation (including rat droppings and urine) from the attic and put in all new.  The workmen and foreman insisted that they "never take out the old" insulation, just adding the new on top.  That was not OK with us.  We chose this company because they have been in business a number of years, and the salesman applied some magic to get us 36 month financing.  At this point, that is the only way that we could afford to have a new air handler, heat pump, and duct work installed.  What he promised and what the workmen were planning to do, however, were two different things. 

We told the workmen to stop until we could call the salesman and the company.  After much negotiation, we agreed that we would hire someone else to deal with the insulation, and that part of the job cost would come out of the loan.  The duct work that they pulled out of the house was disgusting.  One workman said, "At one time, someone smoked heavily in this house."  The ducts also had numerous holes where the fruit rats had decided to take up a cool abode inside the insulation next to the cold duct work.  Smart rats, eh?  They let people air condition their nests!  Only in Florida.

Remember the scary toilet that I wrote about?  It was 1960s blue and bugs crawled out from under it when we took it off of a disintegrated wax ring.  The thing was utterly disgusting, so we hauled it out to the magic curb where is disappeared within half an hour.  Tonight, as we started our walk, I spied the blue toilet in the garage of the house across the street kitty-corner from us.  As we walked past, a younger woman was begging a man in his 30s to install the blue toilet for her somewhere.  More power to you, lady.  I don't think the thing works anymore!  But if I see the cockroaches that crawled out from under it, I will send them over free of charge.  After all, that would be the only neighborly thing to do.

Today the pest control man came to the house to help us eradicate the fruit rats.  Rick and I put up the rest of the new soffit vents so the little critters could not so freely come into the eaves of the house and thus attic.  He showed us a few other places that the could come in, so we will take care of those places later today or tomorrow. 

One access area for the rats is through the trees.  Since the big tree in the back yard will remain for at least one more year, we went to Home Depot today and bought a pruning saw.  After dinner, Rick climbed onto the roof and gave the tree a haircut to beat all trims.  The disturbing part of that was not that he was on the roof, but rather that he was able to snap off the branches so easily.  The tree is brittle, and I certainly hope that all good windstorms come off the Gulf and blow everything to the east away from our house.

Our neighbor lady, Michelle, came knocking at our door today with a wonderful gift: a home made key lime pie.  Little did she know that Rick's favorite pie is key lime.  He just had a piece, smacked his lips, and said, "Sher, this pie will not agree with your diabetes.  In fact, I don't think you should even taste it.  I'll just take care of all of it for you."  Isn't he a nice guy?  The jerk!  When I get done with this blog, I am going to have a piece of pie and take the motherload of an insulin hit.

Another task completed today was that Rick put in new lights in the kitchen.  Do the words scary and fire hazard sound familiar?  The wiring in this house still leaves much to be desired, but everything will just take a little more time and a lot more money.

I really do not want this blog to give you the wrong impression.  We love Dunedin.  The downtown is purposely quaint with little shops, wonderful restaurants to explore, and extremely friendly people.  The downtown reminds us of the shops in Ephraim in Door County.   Tonight, just moments ago, we went for a walk around the block.  Since the houses across the street all surround a little private lake, we literally walked around the whole lake tonight.  While the temperature is still in the high 80s, a 20 mile an hour tropical breeze made the walk very relaxing.

And the week went on...

Last night got too late for me to continue recounting the first week of work, so I will continue the saga now.  As I mentioned earlier, the electrician came on Wednesday.  While he was here, we asked him to disconnect the old kitchen built-in oven, ancient (and grossly dirty) cook top, and greasy, smelly range hood.  When he said they were safe to remove, the demolition on the kitchen began.

Rick removing kitchen cupboards.  Oven was to the far right, and rat was yet to fall.

The first to go was the oven.  It weighed a ton, but we were able to get it into the living room by lowering it onto a furniture dolly.  Once the oven was gone, Rick began to tear out the floor-to-ceiling cabinetry.  Other than filth and something splattered (I pray it is coffee!) on the wall behind the cabinets, we got no surprises.  The cook top came next, and although that also was deceptively heavy, the disconnect and demolition went fine.  Third was the range hood.  Rick took it off the wall, revealing dirty and grease that was disgusting enough to make a vulture barf.  But the worst was yet to come because when Rick started to ease the vent stack out of the upper cupboard and attic, along with insulation and hot air came the withered, dried-up carcass of a fruit rat!  He said, "Don't look, Sher.  I just want to warn you that a dead fruit rat just dropped from the ceiling."  Don't look... yeah, right.  I said something like, "Oh, icky, icky, icky!  Get it out of here," rather than screaming as Rick likes to tell.  He said that he was surprised that I was not already in the truck, backing down the driveway.  At any rate, while the rat was gross, it apparently was very-long dead, and I actually was the one who scooped up and disposed of the carcass into the dumpster that now graced our driveway.  The rat was rather like the cockroaches that I have been finding around the house.  I am fine as long as they are dead, but not so nonchalant when they are moving and breathing. 

1960's striped wallpaper with striped moldy ceiling above!

As can be seen by the picture above, the kitchen strangely had cupboards instead of a drop ceiling above the refrigerator and along the east side of the kitchen.  When we removed those, be got the second nasty surprise of the day: above the 1960's striped wall paper we found a ceiling full of mold.  The mold apparently was the left-overs from a leaky roof that was replaced about 9 years ago.  We have to wait to buy proper respirators before we begin to tackle the ceiling renovation.  All of those lovely surprised happened on Wednesday.

The good thing about the kitchen demolition was that in removing the lovely harbor scene wallpaper that someone had added to the eat-in dining area of the kitchen (directly across from the rat-infested ventilation system), we discovered that the harbor wallpaper and the 1960's striped paper both were very heavy paper with dried out paste.  The paper came off the wall in complete sheets, so we did not have to chip away at it as I thought I would have to do for hours on end.  At the end of the day, my kitchen contained only a small section of counter-top next to the sink and dishwasher.  The rest was resting next to the dead rat in the dumpster.

Rick removes the chair rail below the harbor wallpaper.

Thursday brought in the electricians for the second day.  Did you hear that spark?  That was the last of the energy getting drained away from our savings account.  As they continued with the electrical work, we talked to the third HVAC contractor.  He came up with financing, agreed with the size estimates of one of the other contractors, so we agreed to have the HVAC completed today (Monday).

Thursday also saw us rip up the carpets in both bedrooms.  While the master bedroom is not usable because someone glued down the pad under the carpet, the guest bedroom was spared the glue job, so we were able to move from the Florida room into an honest-to-God bedroom.  Some of our friends, when they heard that we had purchased a Florida home, said, "Oh, we will come and visit."  We told them that no visitors were welcome for at least three years, and the pictures thus far as just an indication of why.  Only one bathroom works, the kitchen is now a sink, a microwave, a crock pot, and a steel shelving unit to hold the dishes, and our bedroom has dressers but only a blow-up mattress.  Not exactly that five-star motel quite yet!

We did learn about one unique trait of Dunedin.  The city has "magic curbs"!  (That phrase was coined by my new neighbor, Michelle.)  She told me that if I did not want something, to just put it on the curb, and it will magically disappear.  She is right!  We hauled the earlier mentioned oven, cook top, and range hood to the curb.  Within two hours, it was gone.  Apparently many people around here (including our neighbor man Dave, two doors down from us) collect metal for scrap.  Yesterday we hauled out a blue, disgusting, 1960's toilet, and it was gone within 20 minutes.  Who knew?  Dunedin continues to amaze us.

Gladys (the house) is showing her money-grabbing side right now, but on the whole I think that with attention and love, she will turn into a find old doll.