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?