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.