Decisions, Decisions

Today was a good day because we made some important and welcome discoveries.   We have long spoken about going into Tampa Bay Millwork which is adjacent to the Home Depot in Palm Harbor, and today we took the time to actually go inside.  We made the following discoveries:

1. They are a custom cabinet shop with exceptional workmanship and results.
2. They provide everything from cabinets and doors to baseboard and staircases.
3. They offer a variety of doors that cannot be found in big box stores like Home Depot or Lowe's.
4. Their prices are equal to or even less than the big box stores, and the quality is much better.

What a find!  We ordered a fire-proof door for the entrance between the garage and the laundry room in a two-panel with wainscot pattern that will blend beautifully with our coastal cottage decor.  We may use the same doors to replace the delaminating doors in the rest of the house also.  We have to wait to see how much our remaining remodeling budget covers. We are excited to get a door that will function as fire-proof but will still look good when viewed from the kitchen.

While we were there, Sonya, the decorator we were working with, offered to show Rick the shop after he had mentioned that he used to teach Tech Ed.  During the tour, we saw some beautiful cabinets, and she mentioned that they do a lot of CNC work.  Rick commented that he used to do CNC with the students all of the time and really enjoyed it.  Sonya replied,"You know, we are always looking for qualified CAD draftsmen and CNC operators.  If you get bored with retirement, you can come and work here."  Rick is tempted, but not enough to go back to work... yet.

Speaking of work, I learned today from our tax consultant that not only will I have to pay state and federal tax on the money I made completing my Cengage contracts, but I also will have to pay both my share and a company's share of Social Security on that pay since I am self-employed.  Yikes!  That leaves me with about $2.00 an hour in pay.  With deep regret, I had to send an e-mail to Beth, the editor I work with at Cengage, and tell her that I could not sign any more contracts.  I will miss the work, and I will miss working with Beth even more. Cengage had a gem in her, and I hope they realize that.  So now I guess that I am truly retired. 

We have been collecting birthday, Christmas, and anniversary money to buy a beach umbrella, so even though our remodeling funds are tight, we have enough saved for an umbrella.  Rick looked online today and ordered a bright red umbrella for our escapes to the beach.  We really liked the blue umbrella the company had for sale, but all of the rental umbrellas on the beach are blue, so when I leave, I don't want someone thinking I am walking off with a rental umbrella.  The red one will definitely stand out at the beach, and I know I will be able to find Rick if I go off for a stroll without him. Also, the red will match the color of my skin if I forget sunscreen (fair-haired, blue-eyed, fair-skined ladies like me burn like a marshmallow that falls off the stick into a campfire). The umbrella and I might as well glow together!

Another discovery of the day was that we do not need to pay an HVAC company $300 to add air and heat to our laundry room.  Once again, advice from an expert and a trip to Home Depot resulted in us having all of the materials that we need (at a cost of approximately $50) to do the job ourselves.  That task and adding lights to the room are on the agenda for tomorrow.

The decision to buy the door from a quality millwork shop was easy.  The decision to not accept another contract at Cengage was sad, but practical.  And the decision to complete the HVAC work ourselves took a little more thought, but choosing to save $250 was a no-brainer.  

I do not envy anyone who is building a new house and has to make the hundreds of decisions that go into such a process.  At least the floors, layout of the rooms, and other basics were all done in Gladys when I was just six years old.  The decisions we make now are bound by safety and practicality first, the budget second, and our style and taste third.  So far I think that we have done OK.  People who walk into Gladys used to say, "Oh, Geeze" because of the disrepair and filth, but now they say, "Oh" and comment on the shiny floors or on the open floor plan.  Gladys gets better each day, and we hope that the decisions we continue to make for her will be enjoyed by us, by our children, and by our grandchildren for years to come.

The Down and Up of It

Today was a gorgeous day in Florida, so where did we spend most of the day?  In the laundry room, of course!

We had borrowed the wheelbarrow from Steve and Chris so we could tackle the "down" of the laundry room remodel first.  We decided to add on to the concrete floor of the original room so we would have a solid surface on which to tile the floor in the coming months.  We had put down boards last night so that we could get up early this morning to pour the concrete.  Just as Rick was about to start making construction noises this morning, I was cleaning up the kitchen after breakfast.  I looked up through the kitchen windows (which face the road) when I saw a young man walk into our front yard, pull up the cover on our water supply main, and start to do something with a long pole.  He was carrying a clipboard, so I figured he was some kind of an official.  This made me a bit nervous since we have been futzing with the water the last couple of days in our attempt to hook up the new water heater.

I went into the garage just as Rick was about to cut a board on our very noisy saw and said, "Ah, Rick, you might want to come and see this.  There is a guy out front looking at our water system."  I tried to remain calm, but Rick said I had a really stressed look on my face.

He went out front to find out what the man was doing.  The man was from the City, and he was checking all of the houses in the neighborhood to make sure the back-flush valves were working fine.  He said that in reclaimed water neighborhoods, the City checks the valves yearly.  That was the rotten little valve that caused us to spend an extra $90 for the baby pressure extension tank on our new water heater!  He said that our valve was fine, so he went on his merry way.  We waited until he was down the street a bit before we started to make construction noise since we do not need any nosey inspectors snooping around our property.

Our new cement cures in the garage.

Our first task was to mix and to pour the cement.  Thank God Rick is as strong as he is, and that he knows what he is doing.  We added an binder to the cement mix since we were not pouring a wide enough section to add re-rod to tie the two pieces together.  The result is a slightly-slanted extension that will allow us to tile the floor while giving us drainage and a foundation for the drywall. Rick was really feeling his past shoulder surgery by the time the cement was down, so I am sure that this is going to be an Advil before bed night.

After the cement was poured, our sights went upward as Rick cut and we placed the ceiling joists for the top of the room.  Once all of the joists are in place, we can add the electrical and call in the HVAC people to add the heating and air conditioning to the room.  We were not able to get all of the joists fastened today because the original hangers we bought did not work out.

New 2 x 6 joists crown the laundry room.  Coming soon: lights
and air conditioning!

That caused our daily trip to Home Depot.  This time we travelled to Largo because we had a further destination in mind. As we drove down, we noticed that the temperature on the truck said that it was over 80.  Rick questioned if the temperature was really that warm, but then we passed a bank that said the temperature was 82 degrees.  I said, "Yeah, it's really 82 out!"

"Well, we have travelled south," Rick said.  Smart aleck.  Largo is south of Dunedin, but not by much!  We got the new joist hangers at Home Depot, and then set out for the Pinellas Country Parks and Recreation Department in Largo.

Remember me mentioning that there had to be some kind of an annual pass to park at the Beach?  Well, with a little investigation, we discovered that we could purchase such a pass.  We had to go to the Parks and Recreation Department to purchase it.  When Rick put the address into the GPS system, he said, "This really seems familiar.  I think we have been to this building before."  He was right.  The Parks and Recreation Department is actually the entrance to the Pinellas County Botanical Gardens which we thoroughly enjoyed during one of Stephanie's visits.

We now have a pass to the beaches, and maybe one of these fine, warm, sunny winter days, we actually will get a chance to go and sit on one!

Skeleton of a Laundry Room

While all of us would agree that the major things in life -- air, food, water, shelter, safety -- are all that is essential to our existence, we also know that there is a great difference between existing and living.  I admit, I am a spoiled child of creature comforts.  I like the "little" things that we have worked hard to get: a dishwasher that cleans a load of dishes at night, a warm bed and a ergonomic pillow on which to rest, a warm shower to awake me in the morning, and even the ability to be in Florida and not freeze fingers off while filling the car with gas. Such things make "living" comfortable.

As a spoiled Northerner, one of the Florida traditions that has always struck me as wrong was washing the laundry in the garage.  Obviously, for climatic reasons, in the North our washers and dryers are either in the basement or in a separate laundry room in the house, but here, especially for these old houses like Gladys which did not originally have air conditioning, having the hot washer and dryer in the airy garage just made sense.

When we looked at houses to buy, we saw many strange locations for laundry facilities.  In some, the car had to be in the driveway in order to open the laundry appliance doors.  In others, the washers and dryers were cramped into corners, parked in entryways or hallways adjacent to the kitchen, or stacked in precarious towers unreachable for someone like me who only stands 5' 2".  One of the big attractions to Gladys was the fact that she had a more dedicated part of the garage for the laundry facilities.  The 3" step up the the "laundry room" separated it from any water or debris that traditionally might be hauled into the garage with the car.  Gladys had no wall to separate the dirt (and sawdust, in our case) from floating freely into the laundry area, so building that separating wall was our challenge for today.

A drain for the washer and sink.

Yesterday Rick worked hard to get the drain installed for the washer and, eventually, the laundry room utility sink. While that task took a little figuring, it was not physically challenging other than the need for cross ventilation to dissipate the smell of the cleaner and pipe glue.  As the picture shows, we needed a few twists and turns to get it to work, but in the end everything was fine.  Well, that is not completely true.  On the "maiden voyage" of the washing machine, we did have a leak.  Rick freaked out for a moment, but he soon realized that the glue joints were fine.  He simply forgot to tighten the clamps around the rubber gaskets that attach the plastic plumbing pipes to the steel drain pipe coming out of the wall!

Today was the day to build the outer wall. Because Rick positioned the new wall approximately 8" from the concrete lip of the laundry room slab, we will end up with a good size laundry room.  We will put in a fireproof steel door between the garage and the laundry room, add a pocket door from the kitchen to the laundry, and (eventually) have a utility sink and cupboards that tie everything together. The pictures show the true progress of our labors today.

The layout of our laundry room wall.

And the walls start to rise.

A view from inside the room from the back door.

The room starts to look like an actual place to clean laundry!

Tomorrow we will pour concrete to extend the slab between the old floor and our new wall.  While that cures, we can add the ceiling joists, the lighting, and the frame for the pocket door.  We will need to move the garage door opener and the light to the garage to a new location, and we still have to add insulation to the whole room since we plan to heat and air condition the room.  One step at a time. Stay tuned for the progress on the room as the days and weeks pass.  Gladys is getting some new bones grafted to her frame which will help her be better and stronger.

Life's a Beach

Neither of us has been sleeping well lately, Rick because he is always worried about finances, and me because when Rick does fall asleep, his snoring could wake the dead.  After another restless night, we both must have finally gotten into a deep sleep because we slept until almost 8:00 this morning.  I guess that is one of the perks of retirement: we have no schedules to keep and can sleep as late as we wish.

After breakfast, we were back in the garage to try to get the water lines completed for the washer and dryer.  I have a "box" in the wall in Wisconsin for the faucets and drain line, and since that seems to work well, we wanted to try to duplicate it here.  Actually,  I really I wanted to get the house vacuumed and mopped today since "true grit" was a good definition of the floors, so each time that Rick made yet another trip to Lowe's to pick up more plumbing supplies, I stayed home to get some cleaning finished. I lost count of how many times he actually went to the store, but I can say that it equated to being able to sweep and to mop a 1300+ square foot home!

The pipes look so simple when they are completed,
but this took a lot of planning to get it right.

A lot of planning, a lot of dry fitting, and a few blue words later, we had successfully figured out how to get the waterlines properly hooked up the the wall box.  This was no small task since both lines had to be soldered into the fixtures in the box itself, and those joints were very close to the plastic box itself. How Rick got them both secure without melting the plastic box is beyond me, but everything seems to be intact.  We even made provisions for the water lines to run to my as-yet non-existent laundry tub.

When he was at the store, Rick also picked up a load of 2 x 4 lumber for the framing of the other walls, and we have several feet of dryer vent pipe that also has to be assembled and reinstalled.  For all of you with intact laundry rooms, say a prayer of thanks.  So far we make progress on this each day, but I am thankful for my two-week supply of clean underwear just in case we hit a snag in the plans in the next couple of days.

Sand Key Beach

We worked until a little after noon (with a break for lunch), and when we finished, Rick said, "Let's go to the beach."  A trip to the beach is something we had been planning for a while, but since this is January, most days were too cool, and we really were too busy anyway.  Today dawned sunny and warm, so the beach was a perfect escape.  We drove over to Clearwater Beach, but since this is a weekend, their beaches were crowded with tourists.  We ventured further south and came to Sand Key Beach.  This beach is in a county park, out on a peninsula, with miles of coastline.  The only drawback to the beach is that one must pay $5.00 for parking.  I suppose that is one of the ways that the county pays for park maintenance, but the price does become a deterrent to beach-going.

As we were driving through the parking lot, a woman waved at us and yelled (add a strong Southern accent), "Are you leaving?"

I rolled down the window and Rick said, "No we are just coming to the beach."

"Well, then, you might as well use this," she said as she handed us her parking receipt that must be displayed in each parked vehicle's window. "I've only been here for an hour, and this is good until sunset today."

We thanked her and gladly took the ticket.  Now I will say that I would be willing to pay my share to use the beaches, but since I already pay county property tax, I would think that the country could sell the good taxpayers of Pinellas a season-long pass for the beach parking.  In Wisconsin we paid for a pass to use the state parks, and I would love to be able to do that down here to use the beaches.  I will have to investigate this further since I cannot believe that I am the first person to come up with this idea.

Check out those white Wisconsin legs!

As the above pictures show, we had a great time sitting on the beach, reading our Kindles, and enjoying the sights and sounds of nature. Thanks for the lemon beach bag, Lindsay! Sand Key Beach was not crowded, so we were able to relax after a hard morning's work.

My idea of a good time.. a book and a beach.

On the way home, we detoured a little further south to Belleair Beach because last year we saw a house that was being built on the beach.  Rick loves to watch houses being built which is why, I think, he does not even mind our remodeling.  We found that the builders had made progress on the first house, and we came upon another lot where the owners must have torn down the original structure.  The picture shows the humongous house they are raising in its place.  All I have to say is that some people have way too much money, and I am glad that I do not have to pay the taxes on that house.

A single-family "beach house" in Belleair Beach.

Life's going to be an expensive stay on the beach for whomever is building that house.  Ha!  And I was fretting about paying $5.00 for parking!

Baby Tanks and Turtles

A long understood fact in our family is that plumbing and Rick are many times at odds with one another, so we both were happy and slightly amazed that the water heater hook-up went smoothly yesterday.  Rick finished all of the connections, his soldering was exceptional (OK, a little untidy, but nothing leaked), and at the end of the day, we had hot, running water in the house again.

The maze of copper tubes to reach the water line in Gladys...
but no leaks!

Naturally, we were too smug about the whole process because later in the day we discovered that the overflow valve on the new water heater had released some water into the new pan under the heater.  Expletive!  Rick dug out the directions again and read that sometimes, in some neighborhoods, a water heater expansion tank is necessary. Ar-r-gh! Gladys peed on herself with the old water heater, and now the new one was mimicking her actions!

I questioned why the old system did not have an expansion tank while the new one seemed to need one.  We further wondered why we needed one in Gladys when Steve did not need one in his house which is only about a mile away.  Sigh.  OK, back to Home Depot for the millionth time since we came down two weeks ago. We talked to an employee, a retired plumber, about the situation.  He said, "Do you live in a neighborhood that has reclaimed water?"

"Yes, we do."

"OK, that's your answer. If your neighborhood uses reclaimed water, you have a check-valve on your water system, so you'll need an expansion tank.  I'll bet your brother lives in a neighborhood that doesn't have reclaimed water."

"You're right," Rick said.  "His neighborhood doesn't."  With that said, we ended up spending another $90.00 for an expansion tank, more copper fittings, and a strap to connect the little baby tank to a beam, and that is all because we live in a neighborhood where some folks use reclaimed water to water their lawns.  Please note: we are not signed up for that system, and we do not have a sprinkler system, yet we have to put up with the check valve and pay the price for more plumbing.

When we were out on one of our numerous trips to Lowe's and Home Depot, we almost were hit by some crazy driver who decided to make a U-turn without looking for on-coming traffic.  If Rick had not hit the shoulder of the road, we could have ended up being a Florida statistic for 2013.  Worse than that, when we went onto the shoulder, we were headed straight toward a group of people who were waiting for the bus. Thankfully we were in the Camry.  If we had been in the truck with the double wheels in the back, we would have taken out both part of the U-turn maniac and an innocent pedestrian or two. While Dunedin is a wonderful place to live, we also must tolerate the traffic that goes along with the most populated county in the state.

The new baby expansion tank hanging out
with the big mama water heater. 

Today started with the installation of the expansion tank, which actually went quite well. The attached picture shows our non-leaking, fully-functioning, wonderful new water heater complete with an expansion tank to relieve the pressure of the expanding hot water.

Rick promised me that he would quit working after he had the tank installed.  He lied.  Of course he could not waste such a nice day without finding something more he could do.  I swear, the man has forgotten how to relax.  So we put some chicken in the crock-pot, packed a picnic lunch, and ventured out for yet another trip to Lowe's and Home Depot.  (Did I mention that the sight of either store leaves me slightly nauseated by now?)

After the obligatory shopping, we decided to eat lunch in a nearby park.  Traffic was very heavy, and since we were trying to locate a small park on a busy street, we drove right past it before we knew it was even on that block.  Plan Two:  where was the next public park?  I looked at the map, and we discovered a huge county park somewhat on our way to our next destination.

Do the alligators get a sign that says, "Do
not feed on or molest the humans"?

We drove up Keene Street and came to Eagle Lake County Park.  What a delightful place!  The park has three small lakes, at least four picnic shelters, restroom facilities, and a wonderful winding walking/ bike trail.  We had lunch at a clean bench under a shaded pavilion, and then took a short walk onto one of the piers.  The sign in the picture certainly is not something one sees at a park in Wisconsin, but we did not see anything worth feeding either!

Mama turtle just lazily floating in the lake.

What we did see was a group of turtles (what do turtles come in--flocks? herds? packs?) who were frolicking in the water below the pier.  Someone had thrown out some chunks of bread, and the curious turtles come up to investigate.  They were fun to watch because they were leisurely paddling along, coming up to float in the sun, nibbling occasionally on whatever looked tasty to them.  One was larger than the others, so we think this could have been a mama and her half-grown babies.

One of the babies.

The turtles were a relaxing diversion in the middle of a hectic day, and the park is one that we definitely will visit again.

Winter in Florida continues to amaze and surprise us.  We enjoy the warm weather, the wildlife is fascinating, and while Gladys still needs lots of love and attention (to say nothing of money), we are having fun spending time with her.

Welds and Water

Yesterday was a day spent in the garage hooking up the pipes for the relocated water heater.  Thank heavens Rick is a good welder because we decided that with the hard, hard water in Dunedin, we would use copper pipe for the job. Copper will last much longer than any plastic ever would.  And for the price of copper today, it should!

New water heater with pipes going over
the rafters in the garage.

We were successful in getting the water heater located in the corner and in getting the pipes up and over the rafters in the garage.  Rick read all of the local codes, one of which that says we must keep the pipes at least 30" from the electrical box.  (That makes sense!)  We actually have the pipes almost 36" from the electrical box, and we will bring them down the wall to the water supply tomorrow.

We had to pierce one beam to get the pipes to the
water supply across the garage.

As the pictures show, the heater is ready for final hook up. You may think we are strange for taking pictures of plumbing, but we would like to add a ceiling some day to the garage, and knowing what pipes are where behind walls and ceilings is very important.  We learned with our first house and first remodeling to always take pictures before putting up the final walls.  Superman x-ray vision is great, but when the man in the cape is not available, having pictures as reference is the next best thing.

We would have loved to hook up the water heater today, especially since Rick accidentally caught his pocket on the release valve of the old heater, causing it to spew water on the floor and then drip into a sand bucket for most of the day.  He finally listened to his wife and tapped in the corroded pin on the old heater to stop the drip.  We cannot shut down the old heater and hook up the new one until we get the new wall built behind the washer and the dryer.  Actually, the cement wall that is there stays; we just want to build a wall out from that one to enclose the plumbing and the dryer duct since we will see that wall from the kitchen.

The 2 x 6 wall awaits refreshed muscles as we stand
this up, carry it into place, and install it ... tomorrow!

We worked on the above-mentioned new wall today, putting together a 2 x 6 structure that we will put into place tomorrow.  Right now it looks a little silly lying on the garage floor for the evening, but we did not have enough time to get it installed today.

Out with the old...

and in with the new!

We did get the new refrigerator, although the delivery was quite late.  The upper handle has a little chip out of it, so I will call tomorrow to get a replacement for the handle.  The rest looks good.  I like that the new refrigerator is larger and that the freezer is on the bottom in a drawer.  That makes so much more sense than pratically having to be on hands and knees when trying to get something out of the veggie drawer when the freezer is on top.  The old and new pictures show what a difference having all white appliances in the kitchen makes.  Now the whole room is clean and new, so I am not really sorry that the old refrigerator is gone.


We have made great progress today.  Are we as fast as the professionals?  No, but through slow and steady work, we are transforming another area of Gladys, making her both better and stronger.  She continues to improve as our efforts bring her closer to our vision of what we want her to be.

A Curve in the Road

Sunday started a little rocky for Rick, so we did not start the day in church.  We did a little necessary shopping in the morning and as the day progressed he started to feel a little better.  By the afternoon, the weather was great so we took a short ride on the trail.  Our total trip was only about five miles, but when riding the trike a person uses the upper thigh muscles rather than the calf muscles.  We both discovered that we still are terribly out of shape, and our thighs need lots of conditioning yet before going on longer trips. The trail itself, though, was delightful.

Half of the fun of riding the trike was in watching the expressions of the people who have not seen a person on a trike before. Most say things like, "Ah, cool" but a few just shake their heads like we are overgrown children (which, in truth, we are!).

Lindsay called this morning to tell us that Green Bay was 2 degrees with a wind chill of -25.  Rochester, Stephanie informed us, was even colder.  We smiled as we cruised down the road with the car windows open, enjoying the refreshing 70 degree temperatures today.

When we got up this morning, we looked forward to meeting with Michael, the contractor who is selling us the cabinets for the laundry room. He called this morning and arranged to come to our house this afternoon to measure the room.

We went out to get some needed supplies for installing the water heater, arriving home just in time for lunch.  That's when our day dramatically changed in a way we had not anticipated. Our budget took a curve in the road as it detoured to a new, necessary project.

I opened the freezer to get out food for my lunch and discovered WATER in the freezer.  I have noticed in the past week that some of the food in the refrigerator was frozen while some food in the freezer was covered in ice crystals or was somehow soggy.  Yesterday the package that holds waffles was covered with frozen drops of water.

"Ah, Rick," I said, "I think we have a problem."  He came out and saw the water dripping off the ceiling of the freezer.

"Oh, that's not good," he said. "Did we just not shut the freezer tightly from this morning, or is this really on the fritz?"  Neither of us really knows the answer to that question; however, Rick was up last night because he said he heard such a racket that it woke him up.  He went toward the kitchen to investigate and discovered that the refrigerator was the culprit making the noise.

Sadly, our budget is not endless this year (has it ever been?), so our decision was a no-brainer.  We can get along without cupboards in the laundry room, but we cannot get along without a refrigerator.  We called Michael, put the cupboards on hold, and went shopping for a new refrigerator.  Our choices were limited since we wanted white (not stainless steel), a single door on top (not French doors), no water dispenser (Lord, are we outdated!), and a drawer freezer on the bottom (finally, something in vogue!).  We found a model that we wanted, ordered it through Home Depot since they had the best price, and we will have it in two days.

The refrigerator and our Schwan's order were both supposed to arrive on Wednesday, so we cancelled the Schwan's order since we may or may not have a freezer to put the frozen goodies in, and no one can eat THAT much ice cream.  We then arranged to take some frozen food over to Steve and Chris' house tomorrow (thank God for relatives!), and we plan to start our two electric coolers tomorrow.  We'll eat what we can, refrigerate the necessities, and store what is left with friends and relatives.  The funny thing is that if we were still in Wisconsin, we could put the frozen food out on the back screened-in porch where it would be safe from squirrels yet colder than in the refrigerator, and we could put the refrigerator food in boxes in the garage.  All would fair well.

Am I disappointed not to be getting the cupboards?  Yeah, I am.  But as I pointed out to Rick, this refrigerator was made in March of 2003, so it is 10 years old.  We knew that we were on borrowed time with it, and with this purchase, we will now have officially replaced all of the major appliances.  We also have "spread the wealth" with the merchants of Dunedin and Clearwater since we bought the washer and dryer from Best Buy, the oven and new water heater from Lowes', the microwave and dishwasher from h.h. gregg, and now the refrigerator at Home Depot.  Let no one accused us of not being an equal opportunity buyer.

This is a disappointing curve, but we know that with patience and perseverance we will eventually meet all of our goals.  And the good news is that with all new appliances, Gladys is just that much younger and more physically fit to keep up with the demands of modern living.

Progress, Plans, and Plants

Yesterday (Friday) was cold but not wet, so it was a good day to get some indoor jobs done. I filled in nail holes in the baseboard, changed the linens and towels throughout the house, did the laundry, and worked with Rick on the budget.  Rick also tried to work a bit more on the plastered area in the garage, but since the weather was damp, the plaster was not dry, so there was little he could do.  Ah retirement... so exciting, we sit and watch the plaster dry!

Yesterday afternoon, in an attempt to get out of the house, we went to the grocery store and then visited Hudson's Furniture Store where we had seen a potential desk for the Florida room.  The decorator, Denise, suggested that we get a large table desk that I could use for my laptop computer, but that we also could use for crafts, puzzles, and sewing.  We found an off white large table desk with a center pullout drawer to accommodate a laptop computer and two smaller, side storage drawers.  The straight legs are tapered at the bottom so they will match the style of our living room tables.  Hudson's was having a January sale, so if one can believe the ticketed price, we got a good deal on the desk which was marked 50% off.  If a store can sell something for 50% off and still make a profit, you know that the item was way overpriced to begin with.  At any rate, the desk will be delivered to the store a week from this Monday, so to save $45, we will pick it up ourselves.  That way, we will have control over how it is transported to our house, and we do not have to wait around for delivery men.  The store is only a few miles from our house, so if the weather stays dry, we will not have any problems getting it home.

Computer drawing of cabinets for the laundry room.

We discussed our plans for the laundry room yesterday also.  Rick proposed that we put in the same kind of cabinets in the laundry room that we currently have in the kitchen.  That really makes sense since the door between the kitchen and laundry room will stay open most of the time.  We contacted our original kitchen cabinet contractor, and he sent us drawings and a bid on the cabinets today.

Front view of the cabinet plan.

As you can see by the attached drawings, we will have two 36" cabinets above the washer and dryer, a 30" cabinet above the utility sink, and a base cabinet to hold the Swanstone utility sink. We plan to tile the floor, but we will NOT have granite in the room, and the utility sink will not be a below-counter sink as the drawings suggest.  I may have to get a tall step stool to reach everything in the cabinets, but storage in these basement-less houses is always at a premium, so I will be happy to have a clean, dry place to store seldom used items.

Rick had a really rough night and awoke with a migraine headache or a touch of the flu today.  I tried to do quiet things to let him rest, so I finished patching the rest of the nail holes in the baseboard, arranged some paperwork, and mopped the floors.  We took a walk this morning, thinking that fresh air would make him feel better.

Kumquats growing in the back yard!

Today was a beautiful day: 72 degrees with a mild breeze.  After lunch, I went outside to do a little gardening.  In the corner of our neighbor's backyard is a kumquat tree, and right now the kumquats are just getting ripe.  The neighbor behind us actually died last February, so the house is vacant.  Some of the kumquats are falling into our yard, so I picked one up to try it.  I learned on the Web that a kumquat, which look like a miniature orange, is actually a citrus fruit that is highly nutritious. Each fruit has 2 - 5 seeds that need to be removed since they are bitter.  Once they are out, the whole fruit is ground, rind and all, and used for everything from pies to bread to salsa.  I cut one open, took out the seeds, and sucked out the meat of the tiny fruit.  Let me tell you, the flesh of a kumquat is very, Very, VERY sour!  Wow!  It may look like a miniature orange, but it has the kick of a lemon.

Bananas (or plantains?) hanging over the sidewalk.

We took our second walk of the day this afternoon since Rick was feeling better.  I had him take the attached picture because I could not believe that I could see bananas (or perhaps plantains?) hanging over the fence over the sidewalk in our neighborhood.  Having plants blooming in January is surreal for us, especially since I know that Wisconsin is having snow flurries today.  Warm weather, walking outside, getting hot in the sun in January are all new experiences for us, but I think with a little time I could really get used to this!

Another Task Completed...Almost

We had an interesting diversion last evening thanks to the Dunedin Fine Arts Center.  Dunedin is known as an artists' community, and they have a Fine Arts Center that offers a variety of shows, classes, and lectures.  To try something different this winter, Rick and I signed up for a series of four lectures on famous paintings-- the Mona Lisa, The Scream, The Kiss, and American Gothic.  The lectures are conducted by a retired art history professor from the University of Illinois.  The first painting was Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa. The professor combined a history of the time at which the painting was done, a biography of the artist, and visuals of other works of the time to discuss the impact that the painting had on the society of the day and on the world at large even today. The lecture was very interesting and informative; it was a nice diversion from our daily routine.

Today dawned windy, rainy, and cold... at least by Florida standards.  We have heard all week that a cold front would be moving through last evening, and today the temperatures only got into the high 60s or low 70s.  Ha!  Lindsay called from Wisconsin the other day and said that they were having a heat wave since the temperature climbed all the way up to 45.  Like everything else, the notion of what is hot or cold is up to the beholder and relative to the surrounding community.

Actually, the rain was fine since Dunedin is dependent on a well for water.  Any rain we get just helps the old water table, and a day such as this certainly makes staying indoors to get some work done much easier.

We decided to use the day to finish prepping the walls for baseboard and then adding said baseboards later in the day.  I started with sanding and painting the dining room and Florida room walls where we had patch-plastered while Rick went into the garage to continue his prep of the area where we are going to relocate the water heater.  I finished my jobs in about an hour and a half with only a minor injury: a skinned knee after too much "walking" around on my knees.  Actually, I ended up with more like a blister on my knee that I did not notice until the skin peeled off.  Ouch! These old knees are definitely not what they used to be.

Rick was skim-coating the cement block walls of the garage in the corner where we want to relocate the water heater.  He figured he had better do it now since this would be the only time he would have access to that corner.  Once the new water heater is installed, the unit certainly is not going to be moved. We want to move the water heater so we have room in the laundry room for a utility sink.

Our thanks goes out to Rick's brother Steve who came to our house twice to help us move new water heaters out of the truck yesterday.  When we opened the first box to check the water heater, we found that it was badly dented and broken on top.  This was strange since the box that it came in was perfectly fine.  We took the first one back to Lowe's and came home with a second unit that passed our inspection in the store.  The second water heater is safely encased in its original box awaiting installation later this month.

The Florida room, complete with baseboard, now
needs only some furniture to make it "home." 

Once we finished with our morning tasks, we took a short break for lunch and then decided to cut and install the baseboard.  Since rain continued to pour from the sky, the weather caused a few problems since we have to open the garage door and occasionally stick baseboard outside off the end of the saw to have room to cut it.  We purchased 16-foot boards so that we would not have to make splices mid-wall.  Thanks to Rick's excellent calculations, (plus one OOOPS!), we only have one wall with a splice in it, and we have very little baseboard left after completing the job.

Cement blocks wrapped in towels make great baseboard
holders until the glue dries!

Our one challenge was the back dining room wall that actually is plaster over a cement block wall.  On the other side of the dining room wall is the laundry room/garage, so that wall was made as an original "outer" wall of the house.  When we took the old baseboard out, we discovered that the original builders had used cut nails to install the baseboard.  Not wanting to drive spikes back into the wall, we opted for contractor's glue instead.  To hold the baseboard in place, we used cement blocks that we found in the garage and yard when we bought the house.  I wrapped the blocks in old towels so they would not scratch the terrazzo floors, so right now my dining room looks a little strange.  The blocks will do their duty until tomorrow.

What a difference baseboard makes! The rooms were freshly painted and clean, but not "finished" until the baseboard was in place.  Gladys had on a new dress, but like all classy ladies, she needed shoes to make the outfit complete.

I still have to finish filling in all of the nail holes, and we have a few crooked-wall places where we'll have to add a bit of filler to make the baseboards perfect, but we can cross off one more large task as we continue to make Gladys a really sassy-looking old doll.

Ailments, Alarms, and Amazing Progress

As a part of our "get fit" program, we have promised ourselves that we would eat more healthy (read more fresh fruit and veggies), and exercise either by riding our trikes or walking each day.  We generally have been working too late each day to safely ride our trikes, so walking has been the activity of choice most days.  On Sunday we went for a long walk in the neighborhood.  We like to see the vegetation that blooms in the winter, what people are doing to decorate their homes, and what we can do to better doll up old Gladys.

We took a long, long walk that night, and unfortunately, I overestimated how much insulin I needed to take to counteract the carbs of my dinner. I have been diabetic for 47 years, and sometimes I still screw up the counts. About a block from home, I was dizzy and staggering, just trying to keep putting one foot in front of the other.  I had no energy left, and the only thing that kept me moving was pure stubbornness because Rick was panicked and insisted that he could run home and get the car to pick me up. I made it home and took my blood sugar: even I was shocked to see 28.  A normal blood sugar is 80 - 120, so let me tell you that walking with a 28 blood sugar was like running with my feet tied together in a sea of molasses. Needless to say, I ate all kinds of sweet things to get my blood sugar back to normal which, in effect, negated all of the healthy food I ate for dinner.

That same evening, Rick and I went to bed about 10:00 p.m. and promptly fell asleep.  We were both dead to the world when a screeching alarm at 2:41 a.m. almost made me dead for real-- from a heart attack.  Disoriented, I thought that the alarm might be from my insulin pod controller system, but the alarm was way too loud and too high-pitched for my medical system. Rick sat straight up in bed and yelled, "Wh-what's that?"

I jumped out of bed and ran to our dresser. Rick's iPhone was brightly lit and the words "Amber Alert" were spread across the screen. When I swiped his phone to "open" it, a message appeared which told us to contact our local authorities for details.  At 2:41 a.m., the only authorities I would think of contacting might be an ambulance for my still-racing heart.  I checked my iPhone, and I also had the Amber Alert, but for some strange reason my phone did not screech.

As I went back to bed, I said to Rick, "I am SO tired, but I'm also kind of sad because the alert means that some poor kid has been abducted."  The next morning we turned on the news to see what the alert was all about, but nothing was reported.  Sadly, this evening while watching the news we learned that a father had killed both himself and his young daughter a couple of days ago. They were found together in his car. She may have been the reason for the alert.

One last alarm that we had this week happened today when we were driving to Home Depot.  We were in the right-hand lane of a road, waiting at a red light.  We wanted to go straight ahead, but the woman in a yellow Volkswagen behind us wanted to turn right, and she was not about to wait.  Dunedin and Clearwater are wonderful communities in that they provide citizens with bike lanes on several busy streets.  Since Rick was fully in our lane and was first in line near the corner, the crazy lady behind us decided to pass us on the right, using her own invented "lane" of the bike lane and the gutter!  She came within  inches of our car but somehow was able to squeeze by without side-swiping us. I hope that whatever she was in such a hurry to get to was worth it.

Baseboard finishes the guest bedroom.

The progress mentioned in the title may not have been really amazing, but it feels good to finally see some results of our hard work.  We tackled the baseboard today and finished both the hallway and the guest room.  What a finishing touch baseboard makes.  We also scraped and mudded the walls for baseboard in the dining room and the Florida room.

New living room design... with old Ikea chairs yet.

We had a decorator in yesterday who gave us some advice on how to arrange furniture in our wide-open floor plan.  She suggested that we buy two comfortable chairs for the living room and a table/desk for the Florida room.  She also offered to help with the decorating for a fee, but we did some calculations and decided that the laundry room remodel was more important that some new furniture.  This became even more important when Rick leaned today that our water heater (with its six-year warranty) is actually 12 years old.  Yikes! I think we are on borrowed time, so we both feel better about  buying a new water heater.  Of course, with our luck we'll buy a water heater with a 12 year warranty, and it will break down after 6.

My cake after a big "rat" got into it!

My final action today was to bake a cake.  Strangely enough, Wisconsin is a prime state to produce cranberries, but fresh cranberries are usually on the grocery shelves only from mid-November to right before Christmas.  Then they disappear.  Yet here in Florida, I found cranberries from Wisconsin on a prominent shelf in the fruit section of Publix Grocery store. I bought the cranberries to make a Cranberry Upside Down cake.  The cake was a bit of a challenge since I do not have a mixer, but the amount of cake that disappeared after dinner shows me that it must have turned out all right.  If I ask, my husband will probably say a fruit rat must have snuck in and eaten the cake, but I think a Rick-rat would probably be closer to the truth.

Peculiarities and Progress

I have to say that as a Northerner girl who has spent the last half-century freezing her butt off in Wisconsin's winter wonderland, I find many things in this city strangely peculiar since this is now January.  Keep in mind that we spend the other part of our life in a city nicknamed "the frozen Tundra," so when I see Christmas wreaths hanging next to a screened door with the inner door open to let the breezes in, something seems wrong.

Poinsettias under the palms!

The other day, Rick and I were taking a walk, and we came upon a house with three-foot tall poinsettia plants in the front yard. Lindsay has been after me to plant some poinsettias (which are native to Mexico), but I truly did not know how they would grow as a garden plant here in Florida.  The attached picture shows that I no longer have any doubts about their ability to survive.

Merry Christmas in the Marina.

The other picture I just had to take when we were taking a walk at the Dunedin Marina.  While most people have their holiday decorations down, the captain of this ship must have wanted to keep the celebration going a little longer!

Progress on Gladys continues.  The cement slab that we poured to extend the porch is drying well which is not hard in 84 degree weather.  Everyone is saying that the weather is unusually warm right now, but no one is complaining.  We see the children go off to school each day, and I have to admit that I am glad I am not a teacher here.  This warm weather just says "summer vacation" to me, and I would not be able to concentrate in the classroom! I am really enjoying NOT teaching anywhere right now.  We can get up each day, tackle a few minor or one major project, work until mid-afternoon, and then just enjoy the rest of the day.

Life here is as exciting as drying cement.

Today we did a little shopping to price new water heaters and associated plumbing (boring!), a pressure washer (since houses and all cement surfaces need yearly cleaning of mold and mildew), and tile samples for the front porch and the laundry room.  We found a rough-textured, light brown tile that will work well on the front porch, and a lighter tile that will work in the laundry room.  Tiling a porch is something else that seems strange to us since no one in Wisconsin would dream of tiling a surface that needs shoveling in the winter.  Here, coving the red "broken pottery" tile of the old front porch will be a pleasure.  I can't wait to see the new tile in place, but that will have to wait at least 28 days until the new concrete cures.

Rick had to paint in the shade since the sun dried the
paint too quickly.

While at the store, we also picked up seven 16-foot pieces of baseboard molding.  Thankfully, the traffic was not too heavy because we had quite a tail of molding hanging off the back end of the truck on the way home.  Rick took it into the back yard, set up the sawhorses, and spent a couple of hours painting it.  It will get a second coat tomorrow afternoon, and then the cutting and fun begins.  While he is doing that, I will try to prep the Florida room by scraping off the ridge from the last baseboard and sanding the wall smooth.  A bit of touch-up paint will finish the prep job for the molding.  Hopefully, in another week the molding will be complete in the house.

Our next big project will be replacing and moving the water heater, enclosing the laundry room, and adding a sliding pocket door between the laundry room and the kitchen.  That will take us some time, but will be well worth it in the end.

Outside, we need to tackle prepping and refinishing the soffits and facia boards on the house.  We probably will not paint the walls of the house this year, but if we can get the trim done, that will be a major step in brightening up Gladys' make-up.  Once again, doing all of these chores in the middle of winter seems strange, but we are happy that we have the time and the weather to work on them all.

Speaking of strange, right now the Tiki torches are lighted and the fire pit is roaring as my neighbors next door enjoy a warm, relaxing winter evening.  Rum, anyone?

If it weren't for bad luck...

... we would not have any luck at all.  Oh, how that old adage rings true lately!  For the past couple of days, everything we touch seems to go wrong somehow, taking us extra effort to remedy.  Actually, like most people I guess we tend to accept the good as due to us and to notice the bad.

New kitchen faucets and a shining granite countertop.

The good, as far as projects go, was that Rick got all of the plumbing done in the kitchen and miraculously, nothing is leaking!   I am enclosing a picture not only of my wonderful kitchen faucets, but also of my now gleaming countertops.

The granite has been a sore spot since last year.  We finally have the granite all installed correctly and paid for (more good), but the granite people told us that the granite had a lifetime seal on it.  Lie.  We noticed as soon as we had the water working in the kitchen that each time water stood on the countertop, that spot darkened.  Rick called our granite company back in Green Bay and explained what was happening.  The woman who answered said, "That shows that the granite is not sealed and is soaking in the water.  You need to seal it immediately or water and oil will ultimately stain the countertop."  The woman told us to go to Home Depot and to get the 511 Impregnator Sealer which is the same sealer we use in Green Bay.  We picked some up yesterday, so I spent this morning with the windows wide open while I sealed the granite in the kitchen.  Actually, the smell was not too bad, especially with a mild breeze flowing through the house.  The countertops seemed to suck the sealer in, so buffing off the residue after five minutes was not too difficult.  I have to let the granite "cure" for 24 hours, so lunch was at Steak and Shake today.  Dinner, this evening, will probably consist of cold sandwiches prepared in the dining room or microwaved dinners which cause few dishes and no countertop prep.

While I was taking care of laundry and countertops this morning, Rick was at the Toyota dealership getting the oil changed on the Camry. The next bad luck showed up when the technician told Rick that the struts were going to need replacing soon, and that they would cost $2100!  After the $750 hit we just took on fixing the truck (more bad luck), this bill was nowhere on our budget radar.  Heck, this bill was not even in the same stratosphere as our planned budget.  We now have a decision to make because putting another $2000 into a car with 170,000 miles on it does not seem a very wise thing to do.  Unfortunately, a car payment for a new-to-us-but-used car also is not in our current budget.  We had hoped to get at least two more years from this car, so for right now we are just going to watch where we drive with it and not push our luck.  The car is safe, but eventually both the ride and our comfort level with the mechanics will deteriorate.

As mentioned earlier, we went to Steak and Shake for lunch.  For some strange reason, we got stuck in a dinky little booth rather than a more spacious, comfortable booth, and when Rick tried to put some catsup on his plate for his fries, the cover popped off and a mound of catsup plopped onto his plate.  Even the little things seem to be fighting us! As we were leaving, Rick noticed that the clerk had miscounted his change, so he had to go back to straighten out that problem, too.

Porch addition prepped for tomorrow.

When we returned for the afternoon, we prepped the space next to the front porch for concrete tomorrow.  I had dug out stones, roots, and other debris from the area this morning, so we were ready for the sand and for the re-rod. The chore did not take too long, and the results show that tomorrow's job will hopefully not take much more than an hour.  We are supposed to have 80 degree temperatures for the next week, so we need to take advantage of these unusually warm days. Once the concrete cures, we will have to make some decisions about what kind of tile to put over the entire porch.  It will be nice to have a full, matching porch on which to greet guests.

Yesterday I dealt once again with health insurance that did not want to pay for medical equipment for me.  I won't go into details, but after talking to three people at the insurance company and one at my former employer who carries my insurance, I appealed to my doctor for help.  The nurse I usually work with said that SHE talked to two people at the insurance company, sent in the required paperwork twice over, and this morning I still do not know if I have the problem solved.  Rick's lament is that to save money, employers are laying off or not replacing retiring workers, leaving more work for less people to handle.  The result is that either people are incompetent or so overworked that no one is doing a good job anymore.  Is this bad luck for me?  Sadly, if it is, I am far from alone in dealing with such issues.

Our palm tree doorbell, hanging by a wire!

A million little jobs still await us.  We know that we may have to put off the laundry room remodel until we know for sure that we will not have to buy another car, but that does not mean we will sit idly and get lazy.  Case in point is our wonderful palm tree doorbell.  We bought this as a fun trademark image for Gladys, but when we took the old doorbell out, we found that the wires were woefully short.  We temporarily stuck the doorbell on, but we need to put a backing board on the bell and tack on some more wire so it sits level. Once again, this was something that went wrong, but thankfully, we will be able to fix it.

If a person has a quota of bad luck, I think that Rick and I are trying to use ours all up in January.  None of these problems is tragic or insurmountable, but one irritation after another does tend to wear one down.  I just hope that we can overcome the bad, more forward, and recognize the good that comes our way.  Some superstitious people say that 2013 will be a bad year, but I don't feel that way.  We are here in a wonderful climate, we have enough to live on comfortably, and our family is safe and healthy.  I'll look on the positive and pray that our blessings continue as the year progresses because we and Gladys still have things to do together.

Slow and Steady

We are slowly getting back into life in Dunedin although after two years of rushing to get things completed in the few short summer weeks we have had here in the past, I feel an unnecessary urgency to be busy every minute.  Massive guilt still sets in when I have nothing to do.

The last two days have been lots of chasing around getting small things for the house (like a comforter to put inside the duvet cover on our bed), so little visible effort seems to have been done.  Strangely enough, after buying the comforter, the temperatures have continued to rise each day.

We have discovered that the vegetables and fruit are great this time of year.  We bought two large bags of oranges to enjoy, but when Rick tried to eat one, he found that he had a very juicy mouthful that left seeds and pulp behind.  We apparently bought juice oranges rather than navel oranges, so a further expenditure was a juicer so we would not waste our purchase.  Rick squeezed two oranges this morning for a fresh although slightly sour glass of juice.  Strawberries, right now, also are fat, juicy, and  absolutely wonderful.  My taste buds love Florida in the winter!

Today started with a thorough dusting of the house followed by my mopping the bathrooms, bedroom, and hallway.  Like most houses, this one constantly needs cleaning, but at least the terrazzo floors make that effort not too bad of a chore. I would never, ever have a carpeted house again.  I have the laminate floors up North and the terrazzo here, so when I clean, I know that there are no hidden grains of sand or dirt nestling in the carpet fibers.

This morning we went to the Palm Harbor Nursery to look at a replacement tree for the rotten tree we took down last year.  Once again, we walked away with nothing.  The woman at the Nursery -- who had a delightfully wicked Scottish accent -- talked us out of a crepe myrtle because she sensibly said that it would be beautiful all summer when we were not here and would be a messy, boring, colorless tree all winter when we are in residence. She also said that we should come down early next year (read September or early October at the latest) and immediately plant a tree and shrubbery that we could water for the entire winter.  Trees and bushes need at least six months of daily water in order to survive in this climate, so coming early may be the only way we can insure that our expenditures would not die due to dehydration.

Noon found us at Dunedin Brewery to help Steve celebrate his 21st and 1/3 x 3 birthday. We found the Brewery a couple of years ago when Lindsay bought us a gift certificate for the place.  We have never been there for dinner, but we enjoy their food and the atmosphere, and apparently their ales and lagers are great. (I hate beer, so I cannot vouch for the taste, but Rick likes their Pale Ale.)  The Brewery is the oldest microbrewery in Florida, and when one visits the place, one dines right next to the giant tanks of beer.  We had an enjoyable lunch, and for the price I brought half of my lunch home for tomorrow.

Another chore today was to wash all of the windows in the house.  Let me laud the fact that we have a one-story house, so windows are all within reach without the need for ladders.  Rick soaped and squeegeed the windows while I washed around the frames and removed all of the dirt from the window ledges.  We definitely are going to have to add some paint to this house soon.  Like most Florida homes, our windows are deeply set with wide cement window ledges.  The cleaning today revealed enough peeling paint to tell us that they used to be painted a bright turquoise, and that we need to refresh the white paint that covers them now.  The evenings still have been cool enough that paint may have to wait another month or so, but I know that we will soon be outside tackling that chore.

Our "ouch" today was to pick up the truck that we took into a garage yesterday.  After the truck sat here last winter, we noticed that the airbag light came on when we came down in October.  A blown airbag sensor and a new fuel filter cost us $754!  Oooouch! We had other plans for that money, but what could we do?  We could not risk driving the truck home this coming May with no airbag.

As temperatures climbed to 79 today, Rick changed into shorts, I dug out the helmets, shoes, and water bottles, and we almost killed ourselves pumping up bicycle tires.  Let me amend that -- tricycle tires.  Since we both have trikes, we have a grand total of SIX tires rather than four to inflate.  Whew!  I can put in the first 80 pounds of pressure, but that last 5 pounds is a killer.  Rick's trike takes 100 pounds, so that one is totally beyond my muscle power.

We felt like we had a complete workout by the time we finally were able to sit on the trikes.  OK, yes, I admit it: we are totally, undeniably unfit and overweight.  Since we now cannot use the weather as an excuse not to exercise, the riding has to be a daily affair.  I know we will both feel better if we are not lugging around the extra blubber we both have added on.  You'd think we were bears beefing up for the winter!  No excuses.

Once on the trail, I truly felt like I was once again in Florida.  The Pinellas Trail is a 37-mile paved walking/bike trail that used to be a rail line.  It is mostly flat, so we have no excuses not to enjoy the relatively safe (we still have to cross some streets, and not everyone likes bikers), nicely landscaped trail. Steve had mentioned at lunch that, like the old surfer movie "Endless Summer," we "snow birds" now can live the dream of having summer most of the year.  That fact still astounds me: this is January 8, my husband is wearing shorts, and I was outside watering my few remaining flowers in the yard before I took a trike ride.  Unreal.

This is what we have worked so hard for.  We now are able to come here in the winter, to get exercise and to eat healthy, and to enjoy the ambiance of Gladys.  We cleaned her shoes and her face today, so she is looking pretty good right now.  We still have lots of projects to do, but as Rick said, we are no longer embarrassed when someone comes into the house. We are moving forward slowly and steadily. Tomorrow is a new day, so we'll see what opportunities the new day brings to us.

Markets, Motivation, and Motorcycles

Our trip to Dunedin yesterday started with a long, uneventful drive to Milwaukee.  For some reason, Southwest Airlines charges an extra arm and leg when one wants to fly from a regional airport, so we rented a car and drove one-way to Milwaukee for far less than two tickets to fly Green Bay-Milwaukee would have cost us.  We were blessed with a bright (think reflection of sunlight on mounds of new snow) and sunny day.  The roads were dry, so we made good time and that left us both time to eat and time to fill the car with gas before we got to the airport.

Our flight was a late flight -- 6:55 p.m.  When we entered the plane, we found it half-full of people who had flow to Milwaukee from Las Vegas.  We took two seats next to an elderly lady.  The poor soul had started the day at 11:00 that morning in Reno, flew to Vegas and then Milwaukee, and was staying on the plane for Tampa.  I told her she needed to get a new travel agent since she actually was on the plane from 11:00 Mountain Time to 10:35 Eastern Time. Any way you look at it, that is too long to sit on an  airplane!  By the time we got on, she was sitting on one hip (I understand why!); unfortunately, that meant that her knees were resting on the side of my leg.  Once we were in the air, she started to jiggle her leg up and down.  I wanted to grab her knee and say, "Knock it off!" but I felt sorry for her, so I just endured the bouncing to Florida.  Other than that, the flight was uneventful (thank God!) and we arrived a few minutes early.  Our super Shuttle to get to Gladys took another hour, so we did not get home until 12:30 this morning.  The house was a bit chilly, but a warmed rice bag in bed soon soothed our tired bodies into a weary sleep.

This morning dawned sunny and warm.  Rick started in a long sleeved shirt but soon came in and changed to a short-sleeved polo.  I was in a light long-sleeved shirt and was just comfortable throughout the day.  Since we had only water and Bel-Vita crackers to eat, we quickly showered and went to McDonald's for breakfast.  I have never felt younger in my entire life!  Lord, the whole place was filled with people 20 years my senior shuffling with their walkers to the table to have greasy food and hot coffee with all of their friends.  The place was swarming with grey-haired people who must make breakfast an occasion to get out of bed in the morning. Mental note: if we MUST eat out for breakfast, find a different diner!

We stopped at our bank to withdraw our food budget and some cash for the week, and then we went on to Publix Grocery Store since the refrigerator and the cupboards were bare.  We stocked the essentials, shopped the specials (including the buy 1, get 1 free deals), and actually got out of the store after spending only $180.00.  That will give us at least two or three dinners along with breakfasts and lunches for the entire week.

All of the while we were doing this, Rick could not stop smiling.  "Look, Sher," he said as we walked outside. "No snow!"  A little later he commented, "I'm outside in short sleeves with no jacket!"

"Yes," I replied, "and the most wondrous thing is that it's January 5."  Later in the day, we started to see people wearing shorts, and one brave soul even had on flip-flops.  This seems so strange at this time of year, especially when people in shorts walk past a house that still sports Christmas lights on their palm trees.

After Publix, we were able to do one of our favorite things: we went to the Green Market (Farmer's Market in Wisconsin) to buy fresh fruits and veggies.  Our favorite baker was there, although we did not need any bread having just come from Publix.  We did get some fresh tomatoes, but we were disappointed that the fresh pasta vendors were not there. Maybe next week.  They have these markets both on Fridays and Saturdays, so we will try the Friday market to see if they have different vendors.

The motivation mentioned in the title was to get running water into the kitchen today.  When we left in October, we had all new granite and a sink installed, but we did not have time to do any of the plumbing. The rest of the day was spent putting faucets on the kitchen sink, hooking up the garbage disposer, running a line through the disposer from the dishwasher, and figuring out the plumbing for the whole set-up. Plumbing is NOT Rick's strongest skill, but we survived with only a few blue words and a record of only two trips to Lowe's.  As I sit here, the dishwasher is engaged in its maiden wash, and the kitchen is not under water!

As we drove back to the house after a celebration meal at Steak and Shake this evening, we noticed more motorcycles than we ever saw in the summer.  Apparently, summer is too hot to ride cycles, but they are out now in full force.  Again, this is surreal to us... pulling up to a motorcycle the first week of January!

To say that we are having a bit of culture shock is not an exaggeration.  (I actually saw the little neighbor girl run around her daddy's truck with bare feet!) However, the wonderful weather is the whole reason for working so hard to make Gladys a place we want to live in for the winter months.  She needs a good vacuuming tomorrow, but for the most part she is clean, dry, and a welcoming place to come "home" to. We have yet to see Sam the wood stork, but we saw a couple of egrets. The lizard population seems to be way down from summer, but Rick's parrot friends are back, and we were delighted to see Monarch butterflies coasting on the warm breezes in our front yard.

I think we're going to like it here.  (Rick's still smiling...)