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.