In order to save money, we have decided to cancel our Internet service in Wisconsin while we are down in Florida. However, before we could make that decision, we had to get a new e-mail address not tied into that particular company. Thus, we have just spent the last two days doing nothing but alerting our friends, families, and the 1000 or so companies who communicated with us through our past e-mail account. I have a headache...
One of the most difficult transitions was with this blog which was originally tied to my old e-mail address. How frustrating! I know that I am not a computer wizard, but their directions would have earned a C- in my writing class, so my transition to the new address did not come easily. This is the first blog with the new settings, so I give it only a 50-50 chance of actually appearing on someone else's screen.
We are in the midst of packing, and at this point we both are at a loss. Although the temperature this morning in Dunedin was 60 degrees, that temperature lets me know that I would not be comfortable in a short-sleeved tee-shirt. The temperature is 71 now, but again long sleeves and perhaps a light sweater when outside (unless I am really working hard) would be more suitable. We need to figure out what to send down to Florida, what to carry down on the plane, and what to leave here for the late spring/ summer/ early fall seasons that we face in Wisconsin. As Winnie-the-Pooh would say, "Oh, bother!" I am sure that we will do some taking down and hauling north of clothes and other goods for a couple more trips until we can get this right. We both long for the day when we can pack one bag for the flight and just take that and a computer that can fly back and forth with us. Someday...
Since our last blizzard here, we had another "minor" snowstorm that promised us 1 - 3 inches of new powdery snow. Ha! I wish the weatherman could have been in my driveway with a shovel when that prediction resulted in almost 7 inches of snow that Rick had to remove. We have another storm predicted for Thursday, but that should be the last storm we have to deal with before we leave.
The other thing I will not miss this winter is the cold. We have a predicted zero degrees by midnight tonight with a wind-chill factor or -10 as we ring in the new year. I hope the temperature freezes out all of the violence and evil doings of the past year so that 2013 can dawn clear and bright. Happy New Year, everyone!
Monday, December 31, 2012
Thursday, December 20, 2012
Prayers, People, and Preparations
As I sit down to write this, a blizzard is in progress on the other side of our windows. We are expecting 12 - 14 inches of snow in Wisconsin before this storm moves on tomorrow morning, and the blizzard warnings are in place because of projected 35 - 40 mile per hour wind gusts. Since I have been out in the snow three times today taking out and bringing in garbage cans, however, I really question that this heavy, wet snow is going to do much blowing anywhere. I guess time will tell.
The prayers mentioned in the title are not only for everyone to travel safely across the Midwest as the blizzard crosses the midsection of America, but also for the families of the innocent children and teachers who were recently slain at Sandy Hook Elementary School. As adults, our instinct is to protect children, so when we are unable to do so, we find the motives of the perpetrator of such violence both reprehensible and inconceivable. The question always is, "Why?" but in watching news reports, we can see some hints, and the guilt may lie a bit in all of us. We learned that Adam Lanza, the shooter, was someone who due possibly to Asperger's, was socially maladjusted. As a teacher myself, I have had several students who suffered from this condition, and for the most part, they were kind, sweet, albeit socially-awkward people who simply wanted to have friends like everyone else. Asperger's does not cause violence; it may, however, make a person feel alone if others do not accept him or her. We know this young man felt alone and that he struggled with school. We also learned that his mother both tried to work with him in school and had several "altercations" with the school system, so much so that she home-schooled him for a while. We begin to see a pattern of blaming others for his problems instead of having people trying to teach him how to cope with frustration and disappointment while taking responsibility for his actions.
I fear that this trend does not end with this one young man. I have just finished teaching after 30 years, and both I and my colleagues have noticed a trend in the past 10 years of coddling our students instead of teaching them personal fortitude and responsibility. If the student fails, it is not his fault; the teacher must not be teaching him correctly. If another student fails to take an interest in school and do her homework, it is not her fault; the teacher must not be entertaining her enough or motivating her enough to want to do the work. We are babying our students to a state of finger-pointing and blaming others rather than preparing them to face the ever-increasing dangers and challenges of the real world. I shudder to think of how so many of today's students will function in society when they are not equipped to use critical thinking, personal resolve, and independent responsibility to solve the world's problems. We as teachers and as parents must stop crippling our children by doing everything for them; they must become self-sufficient, strong students who take responsibility for their own actions before they ever leave high school.
I also am saddened that the public is being fed the image that the personnel and teachers at Sandy Hook Elementary School were unique in their heroic behaviors. Were they heroes? Yes, certainly they were. Their actions resulted in them saving many, many children who, I hope, will honor those heroes by growing to be responsible citizens. Yet I hope that the public realizes that those school workers and teachers were just doing what every teacher I have ever met would instinctively do without pause. Teachers are like all of the other people -- police officers, firefighters, doctors, nurses, and first responders-- who dedicate their lives to serving the public. Teachers teach because they want to help others; they want to equip their students with the knowledge and skills to be contributing, productive members of society. They love what they do, and they love their students. I come from a family filled with teachers, and there is not one of us -- whether teaching kindergarten or college classes -- that would not have done everything in his or her power to protect our students. Those heroic Sandy Hook teachers exemplify the majority of teachers in America. They face low pay, tight budgets, overcrowded classrooms, little recognition, long work hours, and yes, sometimes true physical dangers, as they walk into their classrooms each day. If you are reading this, thank the teacher who taught you how to think and to read. Teachers all are true heroes, and be comforted that they will sacrifice everything to keep our children safe.
We are deeply immersed in the holiday season, so even in this midst of tragedy for the nation, this is a time of wonder, hope, and joy. I look forward to having my children home for the holidays, to bringing my mother here for a visit as well, and to planning for the coming year. Rick and I leave for Florida soon after the new year, and we take with us both plans to continue working on Gladys and dreams of adding yet another generation to our family in the form of a grandchild.
I wish all who are reading this blog peace, love, and joy for this holiday season and the for the coming new year.
The prayers mentioned in the title are not only for everyone to travel safely across the Midwest as the blizzard crosses the midsection of America, but also for the families of the innocent children and teachers who were recently slain at Sandy Hook Elementary School. As adults, our instinct is to protect children, so when we are unable to do so, we find the motives of the perpetrator of such violence both reprehensible and inconceivable. The question always is, "Why?" but in watching news reports, we can see some hints, and the guilt may lie a bit in all of us. We learned that Adam Lanza, the shooter, was someone who due possibly to Asperger's, was socially maladjusted. As a teacher myself, I have had several students who suffered from this condition, and for the most part, they were kind, sweet, albeit socially-awkward people who simply wanted to have friends like everyone else. Asperger's does not cause violence; it may, however, make a person feel alone if others do not accept him or her. We know this young man felt alone and that he struggled with school. We also learned that his mother both tried to work with him in school and had several "altercations" with the school system, so much so that she home-schooled him for a while. We begin to see a pattern of blaming others for his problems instead of having people trying to teach him how to cope with frustration and disappointment while taking responsibility for his actions.
I fear that this trend does not end with this one young man. I have just finished teaching after 30 years, and both I and my colleagues have noticed a trend in the past 10 years of coddling our students instead of teaching them personal fortitude and responsibility. If the student fails, it is not his fault; the teacher must not be teaching him correctly. If another student fails to take an interest in school and do her homework, it is not her fault; the teacher must not be entertaining her enough or motivating her enough to want to do the work. We are babying our students to a state of finger-pointing and blaming others rather than preparing them to face the ever-increasing dangers and challenges of the real world. I shudder to think of how so many of today's students will function in society when they are not equipped to use critical thinking, personal resolve, and independent responsibility to solve the world's problems. We as teachers and as parents must stop crippling our children by doing everything for them; they must become self-sufficient, strong students who take responsibility for their own actions before they ever leave high school.
I also am saddened that the public is being fed the image that the personnel and teachers at Sandy Hook Elementary School were unique in their heroic behaviors. Were they heroes? Yes, certainly they were. Their actions resulted in them saving many, many children who, I hope, will honor those heroes by growing to be responsible citizens. Yet I hope that the public realizes that those school workers and teachers were just doing what every teacher I have ever met would instinctively do without pause. Teachers are like all of the other people -- police officers, firefighters, doctors, nurses, and first responders-- who dedicate their lives to serving the public. Teachers teach because they want to help others; they want to equip their students with the knowledge and skills to be contributing, productive members of society. They love what they do, and they love their students. I come from a family filled with teachers, and there is not one of us -- whether teaching kindergarten or college classes -- that would not have done everything in his or her power to protect our students. Those heroic Sandy Hook teachers exemplify the majority of teachers in America. They face low pay, tight budgets, overcrowded classrooms, little recognition, long work hours, and yes, sometimes true physical dangers, as they walk into their classrooms each day. If you are reading this, thank the teacher who taught you how to think and to read. Teachers all are true heroes, and be comforted that they will sacrifice everything to keep our children safe.
We are deeply immersed in the holiday season, so even in this midst of tragedy for the nation, this is a time of wonder, hope, and joy. I look forward to having my children home for the holidays, to bringing my mother here for a visit as well, and to planning for the coming year. Rick and I leave for Florida soon after the new year, and we take with us both plans to continue working on Gladys and dreams of adding yet another generation to our family in the form of a grandchild.
I wish all who are reading this blog peace, love, and joy for this holiday season and the for the coming new year.
Thursday, November 8, 2012
Promised Pictures
Seeing the bare trees again and the frost on the rooftops was a bit of a jolt to our senses and our systems. However, we have adjusted to the layers of clothing, the frosty ears if we venture for a walk (I hate wearing hats!), and the too-early darkness that is just a part of this time of year.
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| Then: Gladys' kitchen in June 2011. The refrigerator blocked the view, and the countertop ended halfway across the dishwasher. The kitchen had two drawers and no pantry. |
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| Now: Gladys' kitchen in October 2012. Taking out the wall oven and moving the refrigerator to the end allows a full view of the kitchen and a full pantry. By taking the 1960's "eat-in" part away from the south end, we gained a full kitchen with lots of drawers and counter space. |
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| Lots of room for dishes (upper cabinet), a dishwasher, and tons of drawers and storage. |
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| A countertop on which I can place hot dishes, a granite cutting board and a granite-topped wall all make the kitchen much more convenient. The bottom two drawers are deep enough to hold pots and pans. |
Finally, I add the picture of the bookshelf that we bought at the Container Store and brought down in component parts. This bookshelf and desk, located in the guest bedroom, gives us a quiet place to keep track of our bookwork while having access to all of our files in the boxes on the bottom shelves.
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| A new desk, file boxes, and desperately needed shelves all in a room away from the television allows us to work. |
Gladys still is not "finished," but with each addition we are making her more of the home we dreamed she could be when we first took possession of her. In just eight short weeks we will return to her. Depending on our budget, we will see what further transformations are in store for our new "old" home.
Sunday, November 4, 2012
Granite Groans and Grins
As expected, my phone did not ring on Thursday evening with a time when the granite people might come; however, I did get a call early on Friday from the company telling me that they would be at our house in approximately an hour. By this time Rick was so angry and upset that he just left for the day.
When the granite people got here, they put in the small piece next to the stove first so they would not lose or damage it. Then they brought in the piece that they had broken last time. Before they could fit the last one in, I asked them about fixing the hole that the last installer had left in the wall.
"We were not told anything about fixing a wall," one installer said. "We have nothing in the truck to fix drywall."
"Well, the owner said that you would fix the wall, so hang on," I replied. I went to our garage and brought in a scrap piece of drywall and some drywall tape. They carefully cut a piece, screwed it into the exposed wall studs, caulked around the whole patch, and then topped it off with the drywall tape. Since the whole patch is behind the backsplash, they did not have to do more, but since that wall was an uninsulated outside wall, we wanted it covered.
After the repair they brought in the rest of the granite and completed the installation. This time they did not chip the sink, and they did an excellent job with the installation. They took their time and knew what they were doing. Our only problem with the granite now is that the bill was $100 more than what was quoted to us earlier in the week, and about $1200 more than the original estimate on the whole job. Rick is upset with that; I am just to the point where I want no more hassle. I paid the bill, and I hope that we do not have to have any more Florida contractors ever in our house.
The kitchen is completely transformed. I now have a spacious, modern, clean, convenient kitchen to return to in January. We did not have enough time to hook up the plumbing and the dishwasher. That will be our first task of the new year.
We are leaving later today for Wisconsin. We awoke to fog this morning, but that has since burned off and the day promises to be sunny with highs in the upper 70's to low 80's. When we woke up this morning, Green Bay had a temperature of 28, and we expect that we will need our winter jackets when we get off the plane. I am happy that we left a car at the airport. We have a later flight, so we will not get home until about 9:30 this evening.
I really do not want to go back to work, but I have six more weeks of class to cover. Then I will truly be retired, and we hopefully can enjoy the Florida sunshine.
When the granite people got here, they put in the small piece next to the stove first so they would not lose or damage it. Then they brought in the piece that they had broken last time. Before they could fit the last one in, I asked them about fixing the hole that the last installer had left in the wall.
"We were not told anything about fixing a wall," one installer said. "We have nothing in the truck to fix drywall."
"Well, the owner said that you would fix the wall, so hang on," I replied. I went to our garage and brought in a scrap piece of drywall and some drywall tape. They carefully cut a piece, screwed it into the exposed wall studs, caulked around the whole patch, and then topped it off with the drywall tape. Since the whole patch is behind the backsplash, they did not have to do more, but since that wall was an uninsulated outside wall, we wanted it covered.
After the repair they brought in the rest of the granite and completed the installation. This time they did not chip the sink, and they did an excellent job with the installation. They took their time and knew what they were doing. Our only problem with the granite now is that the bill was $100 more than what was quoted to us earlier in the week, and about $1200 more than the original estimate on the whole job. Rick is upset with that; I am just to the point where I want no more hassle. I paid the bill, and I hope that we do not have to have any more Florida contractors ever in our house.
The kitchen is completely transformed. I now have a spacious, modern, clean, convenient kitchen to return to in January. We did not have enough time to hook up the plumbing and the dishwasher. That will be our first task of the new year.
We are leaving later today for Wisconsin. We awoke to fog this morning, but that has since burned off and the day promises to be sunny with highs in the upper 70's to low 80's. When we woke up this morning, Green Bay had a temperature of 28, and we expect that we will need our winter jackets when we get off the plane. I am happy that we left a car at the airport. We have a later flight, so we will not get home until about 9:30 this evening.
I really do not want to go back to work, but I have six more weeks of class to cover. Then I will truly be retired, and we hopefully can enjoy the Florida sunshine.
Thursday, November 1, 2012
A Frightful Halloween
I have neglected this blog for days, so I will try to do a quick recap of the week so far.
We arrived on Saturday to an unseasonably cool and very windy day. It seems as if we brought the cold Wisconsin weather with us, but in reality the strange atmospheric conditions are just due to Hurricane/ Super Storm Sandy that made a colossal mess of New Jersey and the rest of the East Coast. When we unpacked the trunk, I am sure that we looked like a couple of circus clowns piling out of a small car. No matter how much we took out of the trunk, we always could go back for another armful of goods. Finally we got it all into the house, and we still had time to get the refrigerator going and make a quick run to Publix. I have to admit that since we have only been in Florida in the summertime, having the sun set so early is a bit of a disappointment, but it just reminds us that we are now into the late fall months of the year.
Sunday was a nice, though brief, reunion at church. We met another couple from Wisconsin who have owned a home here in Florida for many years, but who still go back to Wisconsin for the summers to be near family and friends. We will have to get to know them better this winter. We also were treated to the chime choir. We used to belong to a chime choir at our old church in Green Bay, so that is something else that we may explore to a greater extent in the future. We spent the afternoon working in the garden and clearing some of the reappearing pepper trees and mother-in-law tongues from our supposedly cleaned-up backyard. Now if I could only get a money tree to grow...
The reason we came down to Florida now was to get the granite in the kitchen removed (since they botched up the installation in August) and to get the new granite installed. Let me go on record as saying that something just does not want us to have granite in the kitchen. Monday saw the workers from the granite company -- and the owner -- come to our house to remove the installed granite. The owner took careful measurements and promised that they would be back on Wednesday to install the new granite. So far, so good.
The granite people were gone by noon, so we took the opportunity to go to the Clerk of Courts office in Pinellas County to declare Florida domicile. We are doing so both to save income tax in Wisconsin and to have the right to declare Florida as our "homestead" which also gives us some tax protection. We plan on spending more time in Florida than Wisconsin, so the declaration just makes sense. We waited in line for about half and hour, filled in one form, showed the clerk our Wisconsin drivers' licenses, and were declared residents of the state of Florida. No problem.
On Tuesday we ventured to the Tax Collector's office to get new drivers' licenses. (I know, the combination of taxes and DMV sounds strange to us, too, but remember that this is a state that combines the garbage collection with the water bill... need I say more?) At any rate, thank God that Rick had done all of his research so that we had the correct paperwork, or we still would not have licenses. At the DMV, we told the man that we wanted to register the Camry and to get new licenses. While we had to prove NOTHING to gain Florida residency, we had to show our Wisconsin driver's licenses, our passports, our Social Security number cards, and two documents that showed we owned property in Florida before they would consider letting us get a Florida driver's license! After passing the vision tests and getting new pictures taken, we were each handed a new Florida license. I am delighted that we actually kept the same number, minus the final digit, since I memorized my driver's license number over 30 years ago. Registering the car took less paperwork since we had the title with us, but had Rick not done the research again, we would have fallen to the floor when we were told that registration, a new license plate, and two drivers' licenses would cost us $565.00. Being prepared for that, we just gulped and paid the bill.
Wednesday arrived and the granite people showed up with our beautiful new countertops. The owner's daughter helped us pick out this granite, and I must say that she did an excellent job. We both love the color and the pattern in the new granite. The workers put the first piece in next to the stove. We have a full backsplash that goes to the top of the half-wall since we capped that with the same granite. The workers did an excellent job of putting it all together. As they were about to install the large piece to the right of the sink, once again disaster struck. That piece had an "arm" that stuck out to go above the sink cut-out, and when they were trying to position this 400 pound chuck of stone, the arm hit the wall and broke off. Game over. Happy Halloween. They could not install the piece to the left of the sink until the broken one to the right was in place, so once again I am without countertops for the kitchen. This is a terrible disappointment because we are running out of time to have the granite installed before we go home. Since the caulk on the granite has to cure at least 24 hours before we can hook up the plumbing, that window of time also is quickly disappearing.
We hoped that they would come back with a new piece of granite today, but as 10:00 a.m. came and went, my hope departed with it. I called the company, spoke to the person who broke off the arm on the first piece, and was told that they were cutting and polishing the granite today. He promised that he would call me before he left today to arrange a time to come to put our granite in tomorrow. I am not depriving myself of oxygen waiting for that call to come in. We have been promised such things before by a whole army of Florida contractors, and usually the phone never rings. If I do NOT hear from him tonight, I will be on the phone at 8:30 sharp tomorrow morning looking for answers.
The good news is that we have accomplished some tasks while we are here. We opened a checking and savings account that will allow us to transfer money back and forth to and from Wisconsin. We removed a tree stump next to the house that our landscape people had told us they would remove before we returned... another Florida promise that did not happen until we took the initiative to start it. We successfully set up the bookshelves and desk which turned out to be much more study than we had originally thought. I wish that I had remembered to bring down the camera card reader so I could publish the results of our labors, but that will have to wait until I return to Wisconsin. When I finish here, I will tackle the hall closet. Now that we have the bookshelves, some of what was stacked in the closet can go on the shelves, and I can clean out and organize the rest.
We continue to make progress, but once again we are waiting on contractors. I know that I am beginning to sound like an impatient old lady; however, Gladys has been waiting for a long time, too, and I really want to start to put completion on at least one more room in the house. So this mystery of the hour is this: will my phone ring tonight, or will the granite company's phone be ringing early tomorrow morning? Time will tell...
We arrived on Saturday to an unseasonably cool and very windy day. It seems as if we brought the cold Wisconsin weather with us, but in reality the strange atmospheric conditions are just due to Hurricane/ Super Storm Sandy that made a colossal mess of New Jersey and the rest of the East Coast. When we unpacked the trunk, I am sure that we looked like a couple of circus clowns piling out of a small car. No matter how much we took out of the trunk, we always could go back for another armful of goods. Finally we got it all into the house, and we still had time to get the refrigerator going and make a quick run to Publix. I have to admit that since we have only been in Florida in the summertime, having the sun set so early is a bit of a disappointment, but it just reminds us that we are now into the late fall months of the year.
Sunday was a nice, though brief, reunion at church. We met another couple from Wisconsin who have owned a home here in Florida for many years, but who still go back to Wisconsin for the summers to be near family and friends. We will have to get to know them better this winter. We also were treated to the chime choir. We used to belong to a chime choir at our old church in Green Bay, so that is something else that we may explore to a greater extent in the future. We spent the afternoon working in the garden and clearing some of the reappearing pepper trees and mother-in-law tongues from our supposedly cleaned-up backyard. Now if I could only get a money tree to grow...
The reason we came down to Florida now was to get the granite in the kitchen removed (since they botched up the installation in August) and to get the new granite installed. Let me go on record as saying that something just does not want us to have granite in the kitchen. Monday saw the workers from the granite company -- and the owner -- come to our house to remove the installed granite. The owner took careful measurements and promised that they would be back on Wednesday to install the new granite. So far, so good.
The granite people were gone by noon, so we took the opportunity to go to the Clerk of Courts office in Pinellas County to declare Florida domicile. We are doing so both to save income tax in Wisconsin and to have the right to declare Florida as our "homestead" which also gives us some tax protection. We plan on spending more time in Florida than Wisconsin, so the declaration just makes sense. We waited in line for about half and hour, filled in one form, showed the clerk our Wisconsin drivers' licenses, and were declared residents of the state of Florida. No problem.
On Tuesday we ventured to the Tax Collector's office to get new drivers' licenses. (I know, the combination of taxes and DMV sounds strange to us, too, but remember that this is a state that combines the garbage collection with the water bill... need I say more?) At any rate, thank God that Rick had done all of his research so that we had the correct paperwork, or we still would not have licenses. At the DMV, we told the man that we wanted to register the Camry and to get new licenses. While we had to prove NOTHING to gain Florida residency, we had to show our Wisconsin driver's licenses, our passports, our Social Security number cards, and two documents that showed we owned property in Florida before they would consider letting us get a Florida driver's license! After passing the vision tests and getting new pictures taken, we were each handed a new Florida license. I am delighted that we actually kept the same number, minus the final digit, since I memorized my driver's license number over 30 years ago. Registering the car took less paperwork since we had the title with us, but had Rick not done the research again, we would have fallen to the floor when we were told that registration, a new license plate, and two drivers' licenses would cost us $565.00. Being prepared for that, we just gulped and paid the bill.
Wednesday arrived and the granite people showed up with our beautiful new countertops. The owner's daughter helped us pick out this granite, and I must say that she did an excellent job. We both love the color and the pattern in the new granite. The workers put the first piece in next to the stove. We have a full backsplash that goes to the top of the half-wall since we capped that with the same granite. The workers did an excellent job of putting it all together. As they were about to install the large piece to the right of the sink, once again disaster struck. That piece had an "arm" that stuck out to go above the sink cut-out, and when they were trying to position this 400 pound chuck of stone, the arm hit the wall and broke off. Game over. Happy Halloween. They could not install the piece to the left of the sink until the broken one to the right was in place, so once again I am without countertops for the kitchen. This is a terrible disappointment because we are running out of time to have the granite installed before we go home. Since the caulk on the granite has to cure at least 24 hours before we can hook up the plumbing, that window of time also is quickly disappearing.
We hoped that they would come back with a new piece of granite today, but as 10:00 a.m. came and went, my hope departed with it. I called the company, spoke to the person who broke off the arm on the first piece, and was told that they were cutting and polishing the granite today. He promised that he would call me before he left today to arrange a time to come to put our granite in tomorrow. I am not depriving myself of oxygen waiting for that call to come in. We have been promised such things before by a whole army of Florida contractors, and usually the phone never rings. If I do NOT hear from him tonight, I will be on the phone at 8:30 sharp tomorrow morning looking for answers.
The good news is that we have accomplished some tasks while we are here. We opened a checking and savings account that will allow us to transfer money back and forth to and from Wisconsin. We removed a tree stump next to the house that our landscape people had told us they would remove before we returned... another Florida promise that did not happen until we took the initiative to start it. We successfully set up the bookshelves and desk which turned out to be much more study than we had originally thought. I wish that I had remembered to bring down the camera card reader so I could publish the results of our labors, but that will have to wait until I return to Wisconsin. When I finish here, I will tackle the hall closet. Now that we have the bookshelves, some of what was stacked in the closet can go on the shelves, and I can clean out and organize the rest.
We continue to make progress, but once again we are waiting on contractors. I know that I am beginning to sound like an impatient old lady; however, Gladys has been waiting for a long time, too, and I really want to start to put completion on at least one more room in the house. So this mystery of the hour is this: will my phone ring tonight, or will the granite company's phone be ringing early tomorrow morning? Time will tell...
Friday, October 26, 2012
The Key Word Is...
Determination. Man is the only animal on earth that truly possesses determination. Oh sure, one can watch an ant diligently haul grains of sand out of the earth in an effort to build a nest, and if that structure gets disrupted, the ant will just start again. Or I can remember a certain robin a few years ago that wanted to build her nest on top of the ornamental light hanging next to our front door. Each morning I would knock it down because I suspect that Mama Robin would have become very territorial of my front door, and a swooping bird would not be welcoming to my guests. Yet as soon as we went to work, she also would get back to work, adding new materials to start a new nest. I had to remove materials each day for about five days in a row before she got the hint and tried elsewhere.
Yet both the ant and the robin above were not working from the premise of a determined spirit. In each case, they were working purely from instinct. They both instinctively knew that in order to survive or to reproduce the species, they had to get these structures built. So why do I bring up the idea of determination? Because without it, we would not be where we are tonight.
This trip to Gladys started with our determination to get everything that we wanted to bring down to her this trip into the trunk and the back seat of a 1999 Toyota Camry. While I will admit that the trunk is rather deep, I am still amazed at what we were able to get into that confined space. Our first goal was to get a full computer desk and two bookshelves (broken down into component parts) into the trunk. With the pieces covered in thin wrapping paper and swathed like mummies in plastic wrap, they nestled together in the trunk. (Pictures of the whole desk and bookshelves, when constructed and in place in the guest room, will follow in a later blog.) Next came a full camera bag, bundles of clothes, a space heater, a post-hole digger, a cherry jewelry box (also in pieces), and various other objects that were snugly placed in the trunk. The whole pile of goodies was topped by an overstuffed garment bag. Miraculously, the trunk actually closed on the first try. We were determined to get everything in, and although we had to rearrange items several times, we finally met with success.
The next draw on our determinism came from the drive down to Florida. We started yesterday after my 7:30 - 8:20 class. To have a car waiting for us on Sunday when we fly back to Wisconsin, we both had to drive a car down to Milwaukee. I HATE to dive in Milwaukee County and probably have done so less than five times in my life (which is quite a feat considering we used to live in Waukesha, WI!) But I was determined that nothing would stop me from swallowing my utter panic and fear and following Rick as he drove to the long-term parking lot at Mitchell Field in Milwaukee. White knuckles aside, we made it that far without incident, leaving one car behind as we drove onward in the Camry which we will leave at Gladys as our Florida car.
We also were determined that since we were that far, we would drive through Chicago to shorten the trip. Rick was used to driving through Chicago, and since we were not in the truck and were not pulling a U-Haul this year, that drive also was a success.
Rain was predicted for Wisconsin, but we drove ahead of the cold front and got out of the state before it hit. We were determined to get as far as Tennessee before we stopped, and even though we were both dead tired, we -- rather Rick -- persevered and drove long after dark until we reached our destination in Clarksville.
We got up this morning in the dark and made it through Nashville with only one "wrong" turn that really turned into an alternate way to get to the same place, so that part of the drive went better than expected. I have to say that our determination today was just to stay alive on the crazy-driver highways of Tennessee, Alabama, and Florida. The speed limits in all of these states on the Interstate highways is 70, so, of course, drivers went anywhere from 75 to 95 all day long.
We only encountered one driver who was going less than the speed limit, and he created a laughable, yet dangerous, situation. Strangely enough, we have now encountered three houses being moved down the highways this trip. The first and second houses were full pre-fab houses that took about 1.5 lanes of highway. Those were going slower than the speed limit, but the drivers were courteous and skilled, so traffic moved around them at a fairly safe rate. The third house, however, was a different story. We were behind the third house that was being hauled by two semis in two half pieces. We were about half a mile behind the houses when suddenly the first part of the house switched from the right to the left-hand lane.
"No way," Rick said in amazement, "Is that house actually passing someone on the highway?"
Sure enough, as we watched, the semi with the house moved to the left-hand lane to pass a slow-moving little car in the right-hand lane. Two or three other cars quickly followed the house, cutting off the "oversized load" car that was trailing that half of the house. Watching a house pass a car is really a bazaar sight, but as we approached the offending car, we knew why the semi driver hauling the house was finally driven to that action. There he was, a little old man in a small car, driving down the 70 mph Interstate, going about 40 miles an hour. So who is more dangerous, the person speeding at 90 miles per hour, or the dotty old man who was driving at 40?
After two days of being on the road for over 10 hours each day, we both are exhausted. My more than ample butt feels flat, my shoulders and arms ache, and we still face a three hour drive tomorrow to get to Gladys. At about hour 6 today, we both had the same thought: how much would shipping the truck home cost us so we could fly home in May? That concept may be worth investigating...
I leave you with one other observation. Wisconsin is a paper-making state, and our hometown of Green Bay is especially noteworthy for producing some fine examples of plush toilet paper. Thus, I have access to the best. After using the facilities in every rest stop from Wisconsin to Florida, I make the following observation: Wisconsin's paper is soft and heavy enough to do the intended job, so it earns an A-. The toilet paper in the rest stops of Illinois is the worst of the whole trip. It is scratchy and so thin as to almost be translucent. Half the roll is needed to adequately do the job, so it earns a grade of D. Kentucky gets top honors; their paper was not only soft and heavy, it also was quilted and quite pleasing to use. Thus, Kentucky's paper gets an A. Tennessee's paper was only slightly better in thickness to Illinois' paper, so it gets a C while Florida's paper is slightly better than that, so I will rate it as a B-. Obviously, the people who purchase paper for the restrooms are men who do not use the stuff as often as women do. The one exception may be Kentucky. They, at least, know that if you provide the public with a better quality of tissue, they will need and use less, be happier with the results, be kinder to their fellow travelers, and leave with an overall positive impression of the state (even though they may not realize why they feel that way).
Am I exhausted? Yes. Have I been on the road too long? Yes. Am I sleep-deprived? Yes. And will I be happy to finally reach dear old Gladys? Oh, definitely, absolutely, certainly, yes!
Yet both the ant and the robin above were not working from the premise of a determined spirit. In each case, they were working purely from instinct. They both instinctively knew that in order to survive or to reproduce the species, they had to get these structures built. So why do I bring up the idea of determination? Because without it, we would not be where we are tonight.
This trip to Gladys started with our determination to get everything that we wanted to bring down to her this trip into the trunk and the back seat of a 1999 Toyota Camry. While I will admit that the trunk is rather deep, I am still amazed at what we were able to get into that confined space. Our first goal was to get a full computer desk and two bookshelves (broken down into component parts) into the trunk. With the pieces covered in thin wrapping paper and swathed like mummies in plastic wrap, they nestled together in the trunk. (Pictures of the whole desk and bookshelves, when constructed and in place in the guest room, will follow in a later blog.) Next came a full camera bag, bundles of clothes, a space heater, a post-hole digger, a cherry jewelry box (also in pieces), and various other objects that were snugly placed in the trunk. The whole pile of goodies was topped by an overstuffed garment bag. Miraculously, the trunk actually closed on the first try. We were determined to get everything in, and although we had to rearrange items several times, we finally met with success.
The next draw on our determinism came from the drive down to Florida. We started yesterday after my 7:30 - 8:20 class. To have a car waiting for us on Sunday when we fly back to Wisconsin, we both had to drive a car down to Milwaukee. I HATE to dive in Milwaukee County and probably have done so less than five times in my life (which is quite a feat considering we used to live in Waukesha, WI!) But I was determined that nothing would stop me from swallowing my utter panic and fear and following Rick as he drove to the long-term parking lot at Mitchell Field in Milwaukee. White knuckles aside, we made it that far without incident, leaving one car behind as we drove onward in the Camry which we will leave at Gladys as our Florida car.
We also were determined that since we were that far, we would drive through Chicago to shorten the trip. Rick was used to driving through Chicago, and since we were not in the truck and were not pulling a U-Haul this year, that drive also was a success.
Rain was predicted for Wisconsin, but we drove ahead of the cold front and got out of the state before it hit. We were determined to get as far as Tennessee before we stopped, and even though we were both dead tired, we -- rather Rick -- persevered and drove long after dark until we reached our destination in Clarksville.
We got up this morning in the dark and made it through Nashville with only one "wrong" turn that really turned into an alternate way to get to the same place, so that part of the drive went better than expected. I have to say that our determination today was just to stay alive on the crazy-driver highways of Tennessee, Alabama, and Florida. The speed limits in all of these states on the Interstate highways is 70, so, of course, drivers went anywhere from 75 to 95 all day long.
We only encountered one driver who was going less than the speed limit, and he created a laughable, yet dangerous, situation. Strangely enough, we have now encountered three houses being moved down the highways this trip. The first and second houses were full pre-fab houses that took about 1.5 lanes of highway. Those were going slower than the speed limit, but the drivers were courteous and skilled, so traffic moved around them at a fairly safe rate. The third house, however, was a different story. We were behind the third house that was being hauled by two semis in two half pieces. We were about half a mile behind the houses when suddenly the first part of the house switched from the right to the left-hand lane.
"No way," Rick said in amazement, "Is that house actually passing someone on the highway?"
Sure enough, as we watched, the semi with the house moved to the left-hand lane to pass a slow-moving little car in the right-hand lane. Two or three other cars quickly followed the house, cutting off the "oversized load" car that was trailing that half of the house. Watching a house pass a car is really a bazaar sight, but as we approached the offending car, we knew why the semi driver hauling the house was finally driven to that action. There he was, a little old man in a small car, driving down the 70 mph Interstate, going about 40 miles an hour. So who is more dangerous, the person speeding at 90 miles per hour, or the dotty old man who was driving at 40?
After two days of being on the road for over 10 hours each day, we both are exhausted. My more than ample butt feels flat, my shoulders and arms ache, and we still face a three hour drive tomorrow to get to Gladys. At about hour 6 today, we both had the same thought: how much would shipping the truck home cost us so we could fly home in May? That concept may be worth investigating...
I leave you with one other observation. Wisconsin is a paper-making state, and our hometown of Green Bay is especially noteworthy for producing some fine examples of plush toilet paper. Thus, I have access to the best. After using the facilities in every rest stop from Wisconsin to Florida, I make the following observation: Wisconsin's paper is soft and heavy enough to do the intended job, so it earns an A-. The toilet paper in the rest stops of Illinois is the worst of the whole trip. It is scratchy and so thin as to almost be translucent. Half the roll is needed to adequately do the job, so it earns a grade of D. Kentucky gets top honors; their paper was not only soft and heavy, it also was quilted and quite pleasing to use. Thus, Kentucky's paper gets an A. Tennessee's paper was only slightly better in thickness to Illinois' paper, so it gets a C while Florida's paper is slightly better than that, so I will rate it as a B-. Obviously, the people who purchase paper for the restrooms are men who do not use the stuff as often as women do. The one exception may be Kentucky. They, at least, know that if you provide the public with a better quality of tissue, they will need and use less, be happier with the results, be kinder to their fellow travelers, and leave with an overall positive impression of the state (even though they may not realize why they feel that way).
Am I exhausted? Yes. Have I been on the road too long? Yes. Am I sleep-deprived? Yes. And will I be happy to finally reach dear old Gladys? Oh, definitely, absolutely, certainly, yes!
Sunday, October 14, 2012
Changed Plans
I should really start this blog by saying that God was merciful to Pinellas County in that He sent Hurricane Isaac away from Florida, west into the Gulf of Mexico, so that Pinellas County got little more than a good dousing of rain. Our neighbor Michelle e-mailed me that we actually had more rain with Tropical Storm Debby earlier in the summer. She said that Dunedin closed schools for one day, but that the potentially damaging storm never hit. Thank God. We know that Gladys is safe, although I still wonder if my flowers are hanging yet off the hook at the front of the house.
Rick and I have done a lot of talking, a lot of figuring, and a lot of soul searching lately regarding Gladys. We know that our remodeling still is not complete. We are getting the granite in the kitchen replaced October 30, so originally Rick was going to fly down to let the granite people in to remove the old stone and to install the new sink and countertops. He was then going to fly home, and after Christmas, we were going to pack the Toyota and drive down to Dunedin. That plan has changed.
We have decided to drive the car down to Florida now in time to get there before October 30. I finish my only class on Thursdays at 8:30 a.m., so on October 25 we are driving two cars to Milwaukee. I will leave my car in the short-term parking lot so it is there when we fly home from Florida. From Milwaukee, we will spend three days driving to Florida, arriving there on Saturday, October 27. Driving down now will save us (we hope!) from the hazards of icy or snowy roads that we were sure to encounter in December or January.
We originally were going to leave Green Bay immediately after Christmas so that we could get to Florida in time to declare Florida domicile before the first of the year. (By doing so, we could apply for Florida Homestead credit on our taxes for 2014.) However, we worried about how many of the offices that we would need to visit to change residency would really be open between Christmas and the New Year. We then started talking about my taking a week off from classes and driving down with Rick while the weather is still good. As he put it, "Do you want to save $150 by teaching that week only to give up over $750 in tax savings in the future?" Of course, the smart thing to do is to go now and to recover the tax savings later. I will have to ask off tomorrow, but at this point, there is not much NWTC can do to me. Could they fire me? Sure, but that would cost them more headaches than it is worth. I have my lesson plans all set and my papers run off, so everything is set for a substitute teacher.
So we are set to pack up the car, pray that the old doll will roll that far, and get to Florida in time to get the granite installed. We actually will arrive one day before Steve and Chris fly in. We then can spend that week getting Florida domicile, getting new drivers' licenses, registering the car, and setting up a bank account in town. Since offices will be open in October, we do not anticipate any problems.
Our other topic of discussion was whether we should take out a new mortgage or somehow just refinance the rest of the remodeling. After going back and forth on this topic several times, we have decided to let our current mortgage against this house in Green Bay "ride" for now with plans to make additional payments as much as possible each month. "Ha! Good luck with that!" you may be thinking, but we actually have been very successful in doing that in the past. If we dedicate our actions to that plan, we both think that we can get the house mortgage down to a reasonable rate to pay it off in four years. We can do this if we set our minds to it.
The other question, of course, is what we can accomplish with the money we have left for remodeling. We are not sure. Each month I have some left over from my retirement checks, but healthcare costs and meeting deductibles are eating that up right now. If we can earmark my NWTC checks to healthcare, we can probably swing a little remodeling each month with what I have left.
We need to enclose the laundry room and add air conditioning/ heating to the space. We need to gut the main bathroom and install new walls, a bathtub, a tub surround, and new lights. The vanity is new and in place, and the new countertop and sink may have to wait a while. Our master bath still needs a new shower, but that, too, is functional for now. On the outside, we need to pour a new front porch, repair the front sidewalk, add a new white fence, plant a new tree to replace the dying Holly tree we removed last year, and renovate the now barren landscape. Some we will do now, some will take years. And then there is the power-washing, sealing, and painting the house...
How will we pay for all of this? We don't know. What we DO know is that although interest rates are low, neither of us wants to pay $3500 in closing costs just to refinance our current loan. With those closing costs, we could purchase the materials for a new fence! We have some options of just paying as we go, doing what we can with what we have. We can borrow from ourselves from our savings (at no interest, and we know that no one can sell our "loan" to anyone else) with a plan to pay back one withdrawal before we do anything else, or we can take out a home equity loan against Gladys which will avoid those horrific closing costs.
Since we do not have a bank yet in Florida, the home equity is something that we have investigated but have not yet really discussed with a live loan officer. That will come later this month if we decide to pursue that route.
Right now we only know that we are happy to drive the car down to Florida while the weather is good. We are happy to get everything arranged to become residents of that state, and we will take a little break to check on Gladys before we return to Wisconsin. This trip will take the pressure out of leaving during the Holiday season. We can wait now until after the new year, knowing that the timing of our changing states will be acceptable and beneficial to us in the future.
While I will again miss family and friends when we fly back down to Florida in January, I certainly will not miss the winter weather. Right now the rain is falling, as it has for the past 36 hours, and the temperature is 49 degrees. Cold, damp, and miserable. I suspect that we are going to have an early and possibly fierce winter, and I will be happy to miss all of that misery. I look forward to getting outside each day for a walk or --for the first time in my life -- for a bike ride in the middle of winter! This is a new phase in our lives, and having something new to look forward to at our ages is really not all that bad!
Rick and I have done a lot of talking, a lot of figuring, and a lot of soul searching lately regarding Gladys. We know that our remodeling still is not complete. We are getting the granite in the kitchen replaced October 30, so originally Rick was going to fly down to let the granite people in to remove the old stone and to install the new sink and countertops. He was then going to fly home, and after Christmas, we were going to pack the Toyota and drive down to Dunedin. That plan has changed.
We have decided to drive the car down to Florida now in time to get there before October 30. I finish my only class on Thursdays at 8:30 a.m., so on October 25 we are driving two cars to Milwaukee. I will leave my car in the short-term parking lot so it is there when we fly home from Florida. From Milwaukee, we will spend three days driving to Florida, arriving there on Saturday, October 27. Driving down now will save us (we hope!) from the hazards of icy or snowy roads that we were sure to encounter in December or January.
We originally were going to leave Green Bay immediately after Christmas so that we could get to Florida in time to declare Florida domicile before the first of the year. (By doing so, we could apply for Florida Homestead credit on our taxes for 2014.) However, we worried about how many of the offices that we would need to visit to change residency would really be open between Christmas and the New Year. We then started talking about my taking a week off from classes and driving down with Rick while the weather is still good. As he put it, "Do you want to save $150 by teaching that week only to give up over $750 in tax savings in the future?" Of course, the smart thing to do is to go now and to recover the tax savings later. I will have to ask off tomorrow, but at this point, there is not much NWTC can do to me. Could they fire me? Sure, but that would cost them more headaches than it is worth. I have my lesson plans all set and my papers run off, so everything is set for a substitute teacher.
So we are set to pack up the car, pray that the old doll will roll that far, and get to Florida in time to get the granite installed. We actually will arrive one day before Steve and Chris fly in. We then can spend that week getting Florida domicile, getting new drivers' licenses, registering the car, and setting up a bank account in town. Since offices will be open in October, we do not anticipate any problems.
Our other topic of discussion was whether we should take out a new mortgage or somehow just refinance the rest of the remodeling. After going back and forth on this topic several times, we have decided to let our current mortgage against this house in Green Bay "ride" for now with plans to make additional payments as much as possible each month. "Ha! Good luck with that!" you may be thinking, but we actually have been very successful in doing that in the past. If we dedicate our actions to that plan, we both think that we can get the house mortgage down to a reasonable rate to pay it off in four years. We can do this if we set our minds to it.
The other question, of course, is what we can accomplish with the money we have left for remodeling. We are not sure. Each month I have some left over from my retirement checks, but healthcare costs and meeting deductibles are eating that up right now. If we can earmark my NWTC checks to healthcare, we can probably swing a little remodeling each month with what I have left.
We need to enclose the laundry room and add air conditioning/ heating to the space. We need to gut the main bathroom and install new walls, a bathtub, a tub surround, and new lights. The vanity is new and in place, and the new countertop and sink may have to wait a while. Our master bath still needs a new shower, but that, too, is functional for now. On the outside, we need to pour a new front porch, repair the front sidewalk, add a new white fence, plant a new tree to replace the dying Holly tree we removed last year, and renovate the now barren landscape. Some we will do now, some will take years. And then there is the power-washing, sealing, and painting the house...
How will we pay for all of this? We don't know. What we DO know is that although interest rates are low, neither of us wants to pay $3500 in closing costs just to refinance our current loan. With those closing costs, we could purchase the materials for a new fence! We have some options of just paying as we go, doing what we can with what we have. We can borrow from ourselves from our savings (at no interest, and we know that no one can sell our "loan" to anyone else) with a plan to pay back one withdrawal before we do anything else, or we can take out a home equity loan against Gladys which will avoid those horrific closing costs.
Since we do not have a bank yet in Florida, the home equity is something that we have investigated but have not yet really discussed with a live loan officer. That will come later this month if we decide to pursue that route.
Right now we only know that we are happy to drive the car down to Florida while the weather is good. We are happy to get everything arranged to become residents of that state, and we will take a little break to check on Gladys before we return to Wisconsin. This trip will take the pressure out of leaving during the Holiday season. We can wait now until after the new year, knowing that the timing of our changing states will be acceptable and beneficial to us in the future.
While I will again miss family and friends when we fly back down to Florida in January, I certainly will not miss the winter weather. Right now the rain is falling, as it has for the past 36 hours, and the temperature is 49 degrees. Cold, damp, and miserable. I suspect that we are going to have an early and possibly fierce winter, and I will be happy to miss all of that misery. I look forward to getting outside each day for a walk or --for the first time in my life -- for a bike ride in the middle of winter! This is a new phase in our lives, and having something new to look forward to at our ages is really not all that bad!
Thursday, August 23, 2012
Another Unwelcome Guest
We are safely home in Wisconsin, getting accustomed to our new life of being "retired folks" after so many years of work. I am still teaching two classes, but they only take up two days a week. That leaves us with long weekends to enjoy doing other things besides work.
We have started to take care of the yard here and other parts of the house that have been sadly neglected for the last couple of years. Washing windows literally shed a whole new light on the interior of the house, and Rick has been working on cleaning up parts of the exterior also.
Our concern, of course, is the next unwelcome guest -- Hurricane Isaac -- that is heading toward Florida. As it looks right now, it could make a direct hit on Pinellas Country. While we are not terribly concerned about the house, thanks, in part, because of the new wind-resistent windows and doors that we installed, we are very concerned about the truck.
The truck is insured, but I mentioned to Rick that I would not put it past the insurance company to say that a hurricane is an "act of God," and, as such, any damage incurred because of the weather will not be covered. The only comfort I have is that Steve and Chris' trailer survived a hurricane a few years ago, so we pray our sturdy, heavy truck will do the same.
We are glad that we removed the holly tree in the back yard before these storms developed. I would feel horrible if one of our trees fell on the house, but even doubly so if one of our trees fell on the neighbor's house. At least all of the dead trees in the backyard are down. I know that Michelle next door is concerned with our live oak tree, but it seems to be a tough, sturdy old giant, so I hope that it will weather the storm. Our bottle-brush tree in the front yard, though, is another story. That one already has lost four major branches in times past, so the rest of it may very well fall too. If it does, I hope that it misses the truck and the house.
Beyond the wind, we also face the chance of flooding due to a storm surge. Gladys is only 9 feet above sea level, and we are in Evacuation Zone E. Zone E is the last and most inland zone, but a storm surge of something like 30 feet could still cause major damage to her. (I will have to check online for the exact details of how large the surge would have to be to flood the neighborhood.) While I am glad that Rick and I are safely in Wisconsin, I will tell you that if we were still in Florida, we would have packed up the truck and would be heading north at this very moment. I am concerned for the neighbors we have met also.
We received an e-mail from our Pastor in Florida stating that the church was not in the flood zone, and that people could take refuge there, but it was not equipped with beds, food, etc. It would be a kind of bring-your-own-blanket short stay, if needed.
At this point, all we can do is pray that the good Lord will look after Gladys and all that we own down there. We are watching the path of the storm carefully, and we can only hope that it veers away from land or really loses power as it touches land. Only time and the grace of God will tell.
We have started to take care of the yard here and other parts of the house that have been sadly neglected for the last couple of years. Washing windows literally shed a whole new light on the interior of the house, and Rick has been working on cleaning up parts of the exterior also.
Our concern, of course, is the next unwelcome guest -- Hurricane Isaac -- that is heading toward Florida. As it looks right now, it could make a direct hit on Pinellas Country. While we are not terribly concerned about the house, thanks, in part, because of the new wind-resistent windows and doors that we installed, we are very concerned about the truck.
The truck is insured, but I mentioned to Rick that I would not put it past the insurance company to say that a hurricane is an "act of God," and, as such, any damage incurred because of the weather will not be covered. The only comfort I have is that Steve and Chris' trailer survived a hurricane a few years ago, so we pray our sturdy, heavy truck will do the same.
We are glad that we removed the holly tree in the back yard before these storms developed. I would feel horrible if one of our trees fell on the house, but even doubly so if one of our trees fell on the neighbor's house. At least all of the dead trees in the backyard are down. I know that Michelle next door is concerned with our live oak tree, but it seems to be a tough, sturdy old giant, so I hope that it will weather the storm. Our bottle-brush tree in the front yard, though, is another story. That one already has lost four major branches in times past, so the rest of it may very well fall too. If it does, I hope that it misses the truck and the house.
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| Gladys as we left her. I really wish that I had taken my hanging flowers down and stowed them safely inside. I am sure they will be long gone by the time Rick gets there in October. If we get reports of damage, he may have to fly down early. |
We received an e-mail from our Pastor in Florida stating that the church was not in the flood zone, and that people could take refuge there, but it was not equipped with beds, food, etc. It would be a kind of bring-your-own-blanket short stay, if needed.
At this point, all we can do is pray that the good Lord will look after Gladys and all that we own down there. We are watching the path of the storm carefully, and we can only hope that it veers away from land or really loses power as it touches land. Only time and the grace of God will tell.
Friday, August 10, 2012
Decisions and Departures
Tonight is our final night in Gladys, and I leave both gladly because I miss family and friends and sadly because I enjoy this house and feel there is so much left undone. However, reality tells me that we are out of money, and unless I go back home to make some more, our remodeling will be tight in the future. Our flight home leaves tomorrow afternoon, so we are out of here and to the airport by 10:00 a.m. We have options for the future of Gladys, and I will discuss that a bit later.
Plans have changed from our original scheme of leaving now and coming back in January. Our trip to the granite store on Tuesday was very eye-opening. We met with Mille, the owner's daughter, who showed us several slabs of granite that she thought might work in the kitchen. She had chosen one in particular called Ivory Fantasy that she thought would work with both the cabinets and with the terrazzo floor. The granite has veins of grey intermixed with areas of cream and tan that will coordinate with the cabinets. When we brought the sample home, we knew that Millie was correct. The granite pulls the room all together rather than fighting both the cabinets and especially the floor. I even think that the blue walls work with it; however, the decision of whether to change the paint will have to wait until the new granite is installed.
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| The new granite: Ivory Fantasy |
The granite company was willing to hold our new sink and the granite replacement until January, but Rick had a different idea. He decided to come back October 27 and have them come in on October 29 to take out the old granite and to put in the new. He can buy and install some of the baseboard that we did not have time to complete, and giving the granite people access to the house will allow them to finish this job before the end of the year. They can get us off their books, and we can have a completed kitchen before we return for the new year.
We started today in a most enjoyable way. Rick pumped up the tires in our bikes, and we actually took a ride before the heat and humidity became too much to bear. We had fun; I cannot wait until we can go out each morning in January and ride the Pinellas Trail. After all, that was one of the reasons we chose to buy a home in this town. (Thanks for the Trail discovery, Steve and Chris.)
One of the most relaxing things we have found to do in the evening is to go down to the waterfront, watch the boats come in, and watch the sunset over the bay. Tonight was our final night of being able to do that. We went to the Marina; unfortunately, there was not much of a breeze tonight and the sun was very intense. However, that did not stop us from watching a "sunset cruise" full of people leave the Marina (playing the theme song of Gilligan's Island as it went out for its own three-hour tour!) We both will miss this part of Florida.
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| The guest bedroom ready for me when Rick snores me out of our bedroom! |
Gladys has once again undergone a transformation. The bedroom had new furniture and a new coat of paint. The master bath has undergone a complete face-lift with new "bling" in the faucet and lighting. The guest bedroom has the old furniture and dressers from the master bedroom, and a totally new color along with blinds in the windows (no more left-over crummy curtains). The living room sports new front doors and a new, Anderson-built cherry TV stand. The Florida room has all new windows -- as does the rest of the house -- and light blue paint. Finally, the kitchen has cabinets, a new microwave, and will soon have new countertops, too.
We still have to put in a fence, paint the house on the outside, add shutters and a little landscaping, replace the tree, finish a new porch in the front and do something with the uneven sidewalk, enclose the laundry room, remodel the main bathroom, and (dreaming here now, folks) put down a concrete slab and enclose it to make a lanai. We certainly do not have the budget to do everything we would like to do to complete the house, so we have been discussing options. Interest rates are good right now, so we may just refinance at a low rate and get enough to finish the house before we are too old to enjoy it.
Gladys has gone from a sagging, dilapidated, dirty-faced old hag into a clean, tight, light-filled home. She looks pretty good in her variety of prom dresses, and as we return in January, we will continue to dress her up even more. I leave Gladys somewhat sadly for now. She truly has become my second home.
Tuesday, August 7, 2012
Sleepless in Dunedin
What was supposed to be a day of great joy turned into a day of deep disappointment once again. The first great disappointment of this summer was when I could not have the white cabinets that I wanted for the kitchen. In hindsight, I should have said, "Thank you very much for your time," and dismissed that contractor. I didn't, and in the end I now have cabinets that are honey-colored but acceptable.
Monday the granite people came to install the kitchen countertops. We were told that since Dunedin is 30 miles from St. Petersburg, where the store is, that we would be their first customer of the day. Millie, the daughter of the company owner who schedules all of the jobs, told us that since the workers would need time to load the granite and drive to Dunedin, they probably would not arrive until somewhere between 10 - 11 a.m. OK, no problem. By noon when they still had not arrived, I called the company. We learned that they were delayed at another job and would not be to our house for another hour. That "hour" turned into two more hours as they did not arrive until 3:20 p.m.
They worked hard, but we grew concerned as they started to do things that we did not like. The sink seemed misplaced and when I questioned losing so much of the undermount sink under the countertop, the installer ended up cutting into the plaster wall at one end of the countertop to position the granite correctly. Rick warned him that he had to triple-check where he was positioning the template so he could drill the holes for the faucet. He seemed to have a "good enough" attitude which resulted in him drilling all three holes incorrectly, chipping the expensive cast-iron Kohler sink in the process. Two of the granite pieces were cut wrong, so one installer tried to grind one down. The result was a backsplash piece with one very crooked side.
After they left at approximately 7:30 p.m. with the promise to return tomorrow with the other pieces cut correctly, Rick and I continued our inspection of the countertops. We found seams that were incomplete, places that were not level, and caulking that looked terrible.
Rick could not sleep and got up at 12:45 a.m.. I could not sleep and got up at 1:30 a.m.. We talked until about 4:30 a.m., and I told Rick that I wanted the company to come in and to remove all of the granite, that I would rather have a cheap plastic laminate top than to keep the granite installed the way it was.
This morning we called the granite company, told them to put our job on hold, and that we were very displeased with the results. I hate the granite and the job that they did. What was supposed to be the crowning glory of the kitchen turns my stomach as I walk into it.
The owner of the company and his daughter came out to our house. He ordered us a new kitchen sink to replace the one that they ruined, and he offered us three very fair choices.
After he left, I took a manila folder and put it next to the kitchen wall. The granite immediately looked better without the blue (which really was designed to go with the white cabinets that I do not have). We went out, got some paint samples of tans and off-whites, and tried a few on drywall sheets. We think that we have found one that might work, but we are not going to do anything until we see the granite people tomorrow.
We are going to the granite company early tomorrow to look at other samples for the kitchen. If I do not find any that I think will go better with the cabinets, I will stay with what we have. Perhaps the change in color will be enough to draw everything together. Perhaps we need to move on to something different.
We have a time urgency right now because we only have four more days in Florida. We fly home this Saturday to become immersed in our "other life" in Green Bay. The granite people are doing us a huge favor by taking care of this problem without charging us more money. I really do want some kind of granite; in this climate, it will not rot or get eaten while we are gone, and it even holds up well to water should a hurricane try to give Gladys swimming lessons.
I told Rick we are not going to do anything else this summer as it really seems to be jinxed. I have to remind myself of the myriad of things that DID go right-- or were easily corrected. Last night I was ready to throw in the towel and to put Gladys back on the market. That, of course, would be foolish in so many aspects. I hope that after a good night's sleep tonight, the sun will shine on us tomorrow and give us a better day.
Monday the granite people came to install the kitchen countertops. We were told that since Dunedin is 30 miles from St. Petersburg, where the store is, that we would be their first customer of the day. Millie, the daughter of the company owner who schedules all of the jobs, told us that since the workers would need time to load the granite and drive to Dunedin, they probably would not arrive until somewhere between 10 - 11 a.m. OK, no problem. By noon when they still had not arrived, I called the company. We learned that they were delayed at another job and would not be to our house for another hour. That "hour" turned into two more hours as they did not arrive until 3:20 p.m.
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| The new countertop. We are not sure of the color with the floor. |
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| The stove is straight. Note that the right-hand top of the backsplash curves inward! |
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| The granite itself is beautiful... but something other than the installation still is not right. |
Rick could not sleep and got up at 12:45 a.m.. I could not sleep and got up at 1:30 a.m.. We talked until about 4:30 a.m., and I told Rick that I wanted the company to come in and to remove all of the granite, that I would rather have a cheap plastic laminate top than to keep the granite installed the way it was.
This morning we called the granite company, told them to put our job on hold, and that we were very displeased with the results. I hate the granite and the job that they did. What was supposed to be the crowning glory of the kitchen turns my stomach as I walk into it.
The owner of the company and his daughter came out to our house. He ordered us a new kitchen sink to replace the one that they ruined, and he offered us three very fair choices.
- He could remove the granite and give us a full refund of our money.
- He could replace or repair the granite that was bad, making design modifications as we requested with no further charges.
- He could remove all of the granite and start from scratch with new granite and installers.
I am not sure what I really do not like about the granite beyond the poor installation. The color, in the evening, seems to go yellow and really fight with the color of the cabinets. The owner's daughter thought that the granite fought with the terrazzo floor pattern. A neighbor came in and immediately said, "That blue wall color really clashes. It has to go."
After he left, I took a manila folder and put it next to the kitchen wall. The granite immediately looked better without the blue (which really was designed to go with the white cabinets that I do not have). We went out, got some paint samples of tans and off-whites, and tried a few on drywall sheets. We think that we have found one that might work, but we are not going to do anything until we see the granite people tomorrow.
We are going to the granite company early tomorrow to look at other samples for the kitchen. If I do not find any that I think will go better with the cabinets, I will stay with what we have. Perhaps the change in color will be enough to draw everything together. Perhaps we need to move on to something different.
We have a time urgency right now because we only have four more days in Florida. We fly home this Saturday to become immersed in our "other life" in Green Bay. The granite people are doing us a huge favor by taking care of this problem without charging us more money. I really do want some kind of granite; in this climate, it will not rot or get eaten while we are gone, and it even holds up well to water should a hurricane try to give Gladys swimming lessons.
I told Rick we are not going to do anything else this summer as it really seems to be jinxed. I have to remind myself of the myriad of things that DID go right-- or were easily corrected. Last night I was ready to throw in the towel and to put Gladys back on the market. That, of course, would be foolish in so many aspects. I hope that after a good night's sleep tonight, the sun will shine on us tomorrow and give us a better day.
Saturday, August 4, 2012
Deals and Dali
We were told by our insurance agent George and others that if we put in new hurricane-resistent windows and doors, we could get a break on our insurance; however, we had to jump through numerous hoops to see if Citizen's insurance would give us any break on the bill. George was not overly optimistic, but we gave it a try. Yesterday we received a notice that our insurance rate will be reduced by $630 each year, and we will receive over $400 back this year now that the windows are in. We are waiting for a $230 rebate from Progress Energy for the windows and doors, too. I wondered where the $30 at the end of both came from, but Rick said that was due to the square footage of Gladys.
Now on to our adventure. For those of you who look at the pictures before you read, you will see that we took the day off, drove to St. Petersburg, and visited the Dali Museum. Although the venture was expensive, we had a wonderful time. The new Dali Museum itself, as you can see, is an architectural wonder. The building certainly fits Salvadore Dali's weird art, and it reflects his love of Buckminster Fuller's geodesic dome and his fascination with mathematics and science as reflected by the helical staircase that takes visitors from the main floor restaurant and gift shop to the third floor galleries. The gardens also were magnificent. The Museum is on the waterfront, and the gardens were works of art themselves, both with the placement of trees, boulders, and flowers, and with Dali's art scattered throughout.
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| The Dali Museum in St. Petersburg, FL |
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| Rick standing in Dali's signature mustache on the Museum grounds. The masts of sailboats can be seen at the far left. |
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| Relaxing on Dali's melting bench as time also melts away. |
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| The top of the helical staircase inside the Museum. |
Yesterday after we came home, we decided to tackle the paperwork that seems to breed in corners when we are not looking. Having two houses and keeping track of mail, forms, receipts, bills, etc. can become overwhelming. As we had papers scattered all over the house, someone knocked on the door (of course!). Standing on the porch was Rick's old colleague Mike who lives in Dunedin. He just stopped by to see the house. Wonderful. The place looked like an unnamed hurricane had just blown through, so we got to show our unannounced guest Gladys at her worst. Ah, well. He was very gracious and commented that she was, after all, our vacation house. We're remodeling, for Heaven's sake, so at this point, she's still a mess. That is why we are not inviting any guests yet except for Stephanie and Lindsay. They, at least, grew up with the constant chaos of remodeling, so this place is nothing new to them.
I learned yesterday that of the four classes I signed up to teach in the fall, I will be teaching only two. I knew that one of them -- a 7:30 a.m. writing class -- was not going because not one person signed up for it! A second class filled above 12 students (16 at last glance) at the last minute, but either one of the full-time people needed it for their schedules for full work-load or the powers-that-be decided to assign it to another adjunct. I actually am OK with that since I have never taught the class (English Composition I) before, and it would have been another prep. Additionally, it met on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday while the two classes I DID get only meet on Tuesday and Thursdays. I am happy about that because that will give me Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays both for prep and correcting and to work on my Cengage Publishing work also. (If you are reading this, Beth, smile. I promise I will meet the deadlines now!)
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| Our new microwave that no longer clutters up the countertop! |
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| A roseate spoonbill standing on a branch watching people walk by on the Pinellas Trail. |
We both admit that although we are ready to return to Wisconsin, we will miss all of the countless little things that make Gladys and Florida very, very special.
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
Baby Steps
After running into our remodeling ventures this summer at full speed, our pace of accomplishments now seem to be coming in baby steps. Yet, as any good toddler will prove to the world, even those little steps can carry a person quite far.
As promised, I will start with the inclusion of pictures of our newly-painted green front door. We still have to paint the doors white on the interior side, but we are both pleased with the exterior color. As Steve and Chris so rightly commented last year, Gladys was lacking a bit in "curb appeal." Hopefully with the hanging flowers (which are fading horribly in the hot Florida sun!) and a touch of color on the front door, her appearance is starting to improve. (After all, what woman does not look better with a little make-up?) Now add some matching green shutters -- next spring -- and a few colorful flowers, and Gladys may even be an old doll that is worth a second look!
I started the day with every intention of getting the doors painted on the inside. I got as far as sanding the door frames before Rick called me out to the garage to hold the ladder and to call 911 should he topple from it. He fished the rest of the wires through the garage and hooked them up to the electrical panel (which was another reason to have someone handy to call 911.) Since I am calmly writing this, you can figure out that all is well. The wires are now snugly nailed to the rafters and secure in the electrical panel. I have power to all of the outlets in the kitchen, and once the countertops and sink are installed next week, I will be able to use both the dishwasher and the garbage disposal.
Since we now have power to the microwave switch, we ditched our earlier decision to wait until January and decided to go out and get the over-the-range microwave. Rick figured out our budget and said, "What's another $200? We are so on the edge right now that buying the microwave is not going to push us one way or the other." So off we went to hhGregg to buy the microwave. We can pick it up at the store on Saturday, so I am sure that I will be able to cook something in my new microwave by Sunday morning. Truthfully, after waiting for so long to get this kitchen put together, I think that both of us just want it finished before we leave for Wisconsin.
Another project that I started -- but probably won't finish before we leave -- is to make some scatter pillows for the bedroom. I purchased a yard of material that matches the bench cushion in the bedroom. I have the pillow forms, but when I rolled out the material, I found a filthy dirt stripe where it was rolled on a cardboard roll for shipping. I had to serge the edges to prevent raveling, and then I threw it in the washer. The washing-machine gods heard my prayers because the material came out in a clean, intact fashion. It needs a touch up with the iron, but that will come as a part of the sewing process.
My next challenge, of course, was where to put the sewing machine. The glass dining room table did not seem like a good idea, and the cocktail table was too low. The end tables were not big enough, so we ventured to the store to find some kind of foldable sewing table. I felt like Goldilocks. Some were too large, some were too heavy, some cost too much, and most were too cumbersome to put up or to flimsy to stay up. In the end, I compromised with something that is sturdy and minimally acceptable. As time goes on, I will look for something else. For this year, my wonderful dresser-turned-sewing-table will have to do.
We still have a multitude of small jobs to finish, and we both are of the attitude that if we do not get something completed this trip, we can always wait until January. We are too tired, old, and winded to continue to race through the remodeling, so toddling along with small accomplishments each day is a welcome relief. We actually may rediscover why we decided to come to Florida (Rick is looking at ads on his computer for beach umbrellas), and I have a new book I just downloaded on my Kindle waiting for me.
If he were still with us, today would have been my father's 98th birthday. Happy Birthday, Dad! Happy August, everyone!
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| Our new green doors! (No Packer jokes allowed...) |
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| Imagine green shutters and colorful bushes in front... someday Gladys will have what every house seeks: curb appeal! |
Since we now have power to the microwave switch, we ditched our earlier decision to wait until January and decided to go out and get the over-the-range microwave. Rick figured out our budget and said, "What's another $200? We are so on the edge right now that buying the microwave is not going to push us one way or the other." So off we went to hhGregg to buy the microwave. We can pick it up at the store on Saturday, so I am sure that I will be able to cook something in my new microwave by Sunday morning. Truthfully, after waiting for so long to get this kitchen put together, I think that both of us just want it finished before we leave for Wisconsin.
Another project that I started -- but probably won't finish before we leave -- is to make some scatter pillows for the bedroom. I purchased a yard of material that matches the bench cushion in the bedroom. I have the pillow forms, but when I rolled out the material, I found a filthy dirt stripe where it was rolled on a cardboard roll for shipping. I had to serge the edges to prevent raveling, and then I threw it in the washer. The washing-machine gods heard my prayers because the material came out in a clean, intact fashion. It needs a touch up with the iron, but that will come as a part of the sewing process.
My next challenge, of course, was where to put the sewing machine. The glass dining room table did not seem like a good idea, and the cocktail table was too low. The end tables were not big enough, so we ventured to the store to find some kind of foldable sewing table. I felt like Goldilocks. Some were too large, some were too heavy, some cost too much, and most were too cumbersome to put up or to flimsy to stay up. In the end, I compromised with something that is sturdy and minimally acceptable. As time goes on, I will look for something else. For this year, my wonderful dresser-turned-sewing-table will have to do.
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| My "sewing table" in the guest bedroom. |
We still have a multitude of small jobs to finish, and we both are of the attitude that if we do not get something completed this trip, we can always wait until January. We are too tired, old, and winded to continue to race through the remodeling, so toddling along with small accomplishments each day is a welcome relief. We actually may rediscover why we decided to come to Florida (Rick is looking at ads on his computer for beach umbrellas), and I have a new book I just downloaded on my Kindle waiting for me.
If he were still with us, today would have been my father's 98th birthday. Happy Birthday, Dad! Happy August, everyone!
Monday, July 30, 2012
A Kitchen... Almost
The weekend was spent doing some smaller projects from our "to do" list including getting baseboard for the kitchen (which needed paint before we can install it) and putting in the last hinge on the master bath cabinet. We both needed a break, so we actually took some time to sit down and watch some of the 2012 Summer Olympics.
Dave came today to install the rest of the kitchen cabinets. We now have an almost fully-functioning kitchen. I say "almost" because we cannot install the kitchen sink and garbage disposal, nor can we hook up the dishwasher until the countertops come in. For now, though, I have cupboards into which I can arrange all of my kitchen goods. I even have an almost complete pantry. Two brackets were still missing from the final count, so we have to wait until Wednesday for those to come in.
Rick spent time over the weekend adding electrical outlets under the non-existent sink so we have electricity for the dishwasher. Even though the position was not the most comfortable, it was still easier to wire an outlet under the sink without the sinking hanging overhead. He also did not have to contend with what will be an almost coiled snake-like configuration of plumbing pipes under the sink. The sink cabinet was moved to the left to accommodate a bank of drawers, and as a result, Rick is facing some interesting and rather difficult plumbing to get everything connected. Pray, folks. Lindsay does not call her father Chief Running Water for nothing!
I spent the morning prepping for classes at NWTC this fall, and Rick spent his time painting the above-mentioned baseboard. As the morning progressed, the clouds started to roll in. By this time, Rick was painting the first coat on the front doors. The distant thunder reminded us that we were in Florida, and that this was, indeed, summertime. As the skies darkened, the thunder roared louder like a lion steadily approaching his prey. Just as we got the newly painted baseboard inside and Rick finished the first coat on the front doors, the skies opened up. Thankfully, the front doors are pretty well protected with a two-foot overhang, so although the rain came from the west (the Gulf of Mexico), it was not accompanied by too strong of winds. The front doors were safe. I will include a picture later after we get the blue painter's tape off the frame and door handles. For now, though, Gladys is really starting to look pretty spiffy!
After lunch, Dave finished the cabinets and departed. I spent most of the afternoon trying to figure out what was going where. I still have an almost empty lazy-Susan in the lower corner, and at least four upper shelves that hold nothing. My pull-out spice rack needed to have a shelf removed to realistically store things, but that still leaves me with more room than I have ever had for spices. We also added a couple of shelves to two cabinets to better maximize the storage space. The cupboard above the refrigerator is totally empty, and the one above the stove only holds two little plastic microwave dishes. I think I have enough room in this kitchen to last me a very long time.
We both think that the transformation is incredible. What was once a tiny, inadequate 1960's kitchen that only filled half the room (since the other half was the eat-in part of the kitchen) is now a full kitchen which is open, airy, and very bright thanks to all of the windows. And since the dining room is literally three steps away from the entry to the kitchen, we have a wonderful place to enjoy our meals without having to look at the stovetop, prep area, or sink.
The granite countertops come a week from today, so that only leaves me with one week before we fly home to enjoy a kitchen sink set in granite, a functioning dishwasher, and a new garbage disposal. Ah, well, that will give me something to look forward to when we return to Gladys in January.
We haven't seen Sam in a very long time. Perhaps he was avoiding our front yard since we have had trucks and workers coming and going, or perhaps he really was watching my new kitchen going in. He may have been waiting until now to see if with a new kitchen I will be serving some delectable, sauteed screwdrivers soon!
Dave came today to install the rest of the kitchen cabinets. We now have an almost fully-functioning kitchen. I say "almost" because we cannot install the kitchen sink and garbage disposal, nor can we hook up the dishwasher until the countertops come in. For now, though, I have cupboards into which I can arrange all of my kitchen goods. I even have an almost complete pantry. Two brackets were still missing from the final count, so we have to wait until Wednesday for those to come in.
Rick spent time over the weekend adding electrical outlets under the non-existent sink so we have electricity for the dishwasher. Even though the position was not the most comfortable, it was still easier to wire an outlet under the sink without the sinking hanging overhead. He also did not have to contend with what will be an almost coiled snake-like configuration of plumbing pipes under the sink. The sink cabinet was moved to the left to accommodate a bank of drawers, and as a result, Rick is facing some interesting and rather difficult plumbing to get everything connected. Pray, folks. Lindsay does not call her father Chief Running Water for nothing!
I spent the morning prepping for classes at NWTC this fall, and Rick spent his time painting the above-mentioned baseboard. As the morning progressed, the clouds started to roll in. By this time, Rick was painting the first coat on the front doors. The distant thunder reminded us that we were in Florida, and that this was, indeed, summertime. As the skies darkened, the thunder roared louder like a lion steadily approaching his prey. Just as we got the newly painted baseboard inside and Rick finished the first coat on the front doors, the skies opened up. Thankfully, the front doors are pretty well protected with a two-foot overhang, so although the rain came from the west (the Gulf of Mexico), it was not accompanied by too strong of winds. The front doors were safe. I will include a picture later after we get the blue painter's tape off the frame and door handles. For now, though, Gladys is really starting to look pretty spiffy!
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| Cupboards full of dishes and an installed dishwasher are starting to make this look like an inviting kitchen. |
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| The missing cupboard (upper left of refrigerator) came in, so dave was able to install the rest of the cupboards. |
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| A full pantry gives me more space than I will ever be able to fill with food. |
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| Naturally, countertops on everything will be great. The open-top spice rack cabinet next to the stove makes access to the salt very easy, however. |
The granite countertops come a week from today, so that only leaves me with one week before we fly home to enjoy a kitchen sink set in granite, a functioning dishwasher, and a new garbage disposal. Ah, well, that will give me something to look forward to when we return to Gladys in January.
We haven't seen Sam in a very long time. Perhaps he was avoiding our front yard since we have had trucks and workers coming and going, or perhaps he really was watching my new kitchen going in. He may have been waiting until now to see if with a new kitchen I will be serving some delectable, sauteed screwdrivers soon!
Friday, July 27, 2012
Garbage and Granite
In the past two days, we have been working on little projects around the house. We cleaned out the rest of the backyard (or so we thought), we moved in to what parts of the cabinets we could in the kitchen, and we met with the granite people for them to measure the kitchen.
The backyard was a jungle of pepper trees, cherry laurels, overgrown shrubs, and mother-in-law tongues when we bought the house. We had the crew come in this past June to remove the pepper trees and cherry laurels. They also were supposed to remove the stumps, but the rest of the garden was so overgrown that they could not get to most of the larger trunks. We spent the last couple of days digging out the rest of the mother-in-law tongues and chopping down the worst of the bushes. We called Boen Tree Service to come back in to give us a bid on removing the last tree and making good on our contract for stump removal. Jeff from Boen talked to us about removing all of the vegetation that was left since the cactus and cherry laurel were both on the fence line that we want to add. I have to admit that I would love to plant hibiscus, bird-of-paradise, and other colorful shrubs in the back yard. So all of the remaining trees and shrubs go except for what I thought was a magnolia tree in the corner. Turns out that is an old-fashioned gardenia bush/tree that Jeff suggested we just prune down to about 6 feet. Proves how much I know about vegetation. Even with a book on Florida shrubs, I guess wrong. The rest will go so we can start fresh with the back yard in the spring. Now if only I can get that money tree to grow when we get back to Wisconsin...
The move into the kitchen still is not complete. As we became more acquainted with the cabinets, we found things that were again disappointing. You must understand that when Rick builds anything, the lumber is solid, thick, and heavy. These cupboards are NOT of that quality. Although the doors are nice, the boxes of the cabinets are less than thick and heavy. We have to remind ourselves that this is a vacation house, and that we will just need to treat the cabinets with tender, loving care. Rick added Tapcon screws to a couple of the upper cabinets which made me feel better about putting things inside them. We are not overly confident in the installer of the cabinets, either. More screws will go into the walls before we will feel confident in their ability to hold our kitchen goods. With Rick's intersession, I know that the upper cabinets now will not fall off the wall.
Another item we have to purchase for the kitchen is a new microwave. We researched over-the-range microwaves and have decided that they are all pretty shoddy. We have a countertop microwave that works, so we will wait until January to purchase a new microwave for the kitchen. We DID purchase and install a pull-out garbage can for one of the lower cabinets. If we had bought the cabinet-maker's garbage can, it would have cost us $250.00, but I wanted one like I have in Green Bay which cost us less than $45.00 at Lowe's.
After we met with Jeff at Boen's, we travelled down to St. Petersburg to go to Depot Granite. We were told when we selected the granite slabs that as soon as they came to make the template for the kitchen, we could come to the company and select what parts of the granite slabs we wanted to use for each portion of the kitchen. We are so glad that we took this opportunity to choose exactly what we wanted since the bottom part of the slabs had a richer, deeper color than the top parts of the slab. We both are excited with the results, and we cannot wait to see it all installed. Getting the granite installed also means that we can install the kitchen sink, garbage disposal, and dishwasher. No more washing dishes in the bathroom sink. Yeah! The Depot Granite scheduled our installation for Monday, August 6.
Before we left for the Depot Granite, we heard a knock on the door. (No one can figure out that that palm tree hanging on the entryway wall is really a doorbell!) The person at the door was our neighbor who lives kitty-corner from us across the street. She introduced herself as Barbie, and she turned out to be a delightful, although somewhat nosey, woman. She knew that we were teachers from Green Bay, Wisconsin, and she shared all of the gossip of the neighborhood. She said that she would keep an eye on our house and assured us that if anything seems out of place, she is not shy about calling the authorities. I guess that is a good thing, although I now know that we cannot have any wild parties at a backyard Tiki bar unless we invite Barbie!
Yesterday, Rick took down the 2 x 4 structure that held my kitchen sink and countertop for the last year. That was gratifying for it showed that we were moving forward. Today we took the sink out of the countertop, cut the remaining countertop into two pieces, and put it on top of the lower cabinets so that we temporarily have prep space in the kitchen.
Gladys is starting to look like the sun-filled house that we envisioned last June. Most of the rooms are back into livable order (with the exception of the main bathroom that now doubles as a kitchen sink), and we are starting to put things "in their place" so we can actually find something when we need it.
My friend Rose said that as soon as we get Gladys' kitchen installed, all we will need to do is to buy her a corsage. That corsage will come next year in the form of a purple crepe myrtle tree and pink and white hibiscus bushes in the backyard.
The backyard was a jungle of pepper trees, cherry laurels, overgrown shrubs, and mother-in-law tongues when we bought the house. We had the crew come in this past June to remove the pepper trees and cherry laurels. They also were supposed to remove the stumps, but the rest of the garden was so overgrown that they could not get to most of the larger trunks. We spent the last couple of days digging out the rest of the mother-in-law tongues and chopping down the worst of the bushes. We called Boen Tree Service to come back in to give us a bid on removing the last tree and making good on our contract for stump removal. Jeff from Boen talked to us about removing all of the vegetation that was left since the cactus and cherry laurel were both on the fence line that we want to add. I have to admit that I would love to plant hibiscus, bird-of-paradise, and other colorful shrubs in the back yard. So all of the remaining trees and shrubs go except for what I thought was a magnolia tree in the corner. Turns out that is an old-fashioned gardenia bush/tree that Jeff suggested we just prune down to about 6 feet. Proves how much I know about vegetation. Even with a book on Florida shrubs, I guess wrong. The rest will go so we can start fresh with the back yard in the spring. Now if only I can get that money tree to grow when we get back to Wisconsin...
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| The upper cabinets needed Rick's attention and several more Tapcon screws before I would even THINK of adding a microwave. |
Another item we have to purchase for the kitchen is a new microwave. We researched over-the-range microwaves and have decided that they are all pretty shoddy. We have a countertop microwave that works, so we will wait until January to purchase a new microwave for the kitchen. We DID purchase and install a pull-out garbage can for one of the lower cabinets. If we had bought the cabinet-maker's garbage can, it would have cost us $250.00, but I wanted one like I have in Green Bay which cost us less than $45.00 at Lowe's.
After we met with Jeff at Boen's, we travelled down to St. Petersburg to go to Depot Granite. We were told when we selected the granite slabs that as soon as they came to make the template for the kitchen, we could come to the company and select what parts of the granite slabs we wanted to use for each portion of the kitchen. We are so glad that we took this opportunity to choose exactly what we wanted since the bottom part of the slabs had a richer, deeper color than the top parts of the slab. We both are excited with the results, and we cannot wait to see it all installed. Getting the granite installed also means that we can install the kitchen sink, garbage disposal, and dishwasher. No more washing dishes in the bathroom sink. Yeah! The Depot Granite scheduled our installation for Monday, August 6.
Before we left for the Depot Granite, we heard a knock on the door. (No one can figure out that that palm tree hanging on the entryway wall is really a doorbell!) The person at the door was our neighbor who lives kitty-corner from us across the street. She introduced herself as Barbie, and she turned out to be a delightful, although somewhat nosey, woman. She knew that we were teachers from Green Bay, Wisconsin, and she shared all of the gossip of the neighborhood. She said that she would keep an eye on our house and assured us that if anything seems out of place, she is not shy about calling the authorities. I guess that is a good thing, although I now know that we cannot have any wild parties at a backyard Tiki bar unless we invite Barbie!
Gladys is starting to look like the sun-filled house that we envisioned last June. Most of the rooms are back into livable order (with the exception of the main bathroom that now doubles as a kitchen sink), and we are starting to put things "in their place" so we can actually find something when we need it.
My friend Rose said that as soon as we get Gladys' kitchen installed, all we will need to do is to buy her a corsage. That corsage will come next year in the form of a purple crepe myrtle tree and pink and white hibiscus bushes in the backyard.
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Before and After
After a toss-and-turn, mostly sleepless night -- Rick because his years-ago-crushed-thumb would not stop throbbing and me because I could not turn off my mind-- we got up early to await the arrival of our new kitchen cabinets.
Michael promised to be here between 8:30 and 9:30. At 9:30 he called and said that they were just leaving St. Petersburg and would be here in about 20 minutes. Michael and Dave, his nephew who would be installing the cabinets, arrived at the promised time with a trailer full of cabinets. Our excitement was abated a little when Michael told us that as he was picking up the cabinets, "they" (whomever THEY is) told him that one of the cabinets was still missing as was our crown moulding for the whole kitchen. The missing cabinet was the upper cabinet located to the left of the refrigerator; happily, since it is an upper unit, its lack of appearance will not slow down the granite people from making templates for the countertop. (SIde note: we called them to come in on Wednesday, but they are so busy they will not be able to measure until Thursday.)
Our kitchen has undergone quite a transformation. Rather than writing about it all, I will let the pictures do the talking for us.
We have certainly come a long way with the way it was to what it has become now.
Michael promised to be here between 8:30 and 9:30. At 9:30 he called and said that they were just leaving St. Petersburg and would be here in about 20 minutes. Michael and Dave, his nephew who would be installing the cabinets, arrived at the promised time with a trailer full of cabinets. Our excitement was abated a little when Michael told us that as he was picking up the cabinets, "they" (whomever THEY is) told him that one of the cabinets was still missing as was our crown moulding for the whole kitchen. The missing cabinet was the upper cabinet located to the left of the refrigerator; happily, since it is an upper unit, its lack of appearance will not slow down the granite people from making templates for the countertop. (SIde note: we called them to come in on Wednesday, but they are so busy they will not be able to measure until Thursday.)
Our kitchen has undergone quite a transformation. Rather than writing about it all, I will let the pictures do the talking for us.
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| The 1960's kitchen in March 2011 when we bought Gladys. |
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| The kitchen from June 2011 until yesterday. Our dishes, silverware and pots and pans have rested on a baker's rack for the last year. |
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| The kitchen as we woke up to it this morning. |
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| The kitchen as it looks tonight. The "hole" between the two cabinets to the right is where the stove will go, and the refrigerator will go next to the pantry. |
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| Looking south in the new kitchen. The dishwasher will fill this hole next to the sink cabinet. |
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| The other accomplishment of the day was that Rick finished putting the drawer fronts on the vanity in the bathroom. Gladys is starting to look like a real house! |
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