Birthday Uninvited Guests

Yesterday was a gloomy, sometimes sprinkling day, so we spent the day working indoors.  Rick focused on getting blinds in the Florida Room and, more importantly, on building the new bathroom wall.  We were lucky enough to still have Stephanie here for a visit because getting the wall up took all three of us to lift it and to position it in the room.  The pictures tell the story better than I can.

Rick securing the new wall to the floor.

We built the frame in the room and then the three of us put it up.  Although the fourteen inches that we moved it out do not make much difference in the master bedroom (which is huge), it will make a world of difference in the tiny 1960's master bath.  We now will have room for the monster cabinet that Rick built.  Imagine... toilet paper and fresh towels all in the room where we need them instead of having to walk down the hall to the main bathroom! We also will have a chance to get rid of the hideous blue sink and eventually to enlarge the master shower. Right now we are content with the blue sink because that is the only place we have to wash out paint brushes and other construction utensils.

The old wall (right) crowded the "throne" while the new
wall gives us room for the cabinet.

     I am so happy that Rick knows what he is doing when it comes to building.  He drew up complete plans in AutoCAD which made cutting and constructing the wall easy.  What was NOT so easy was actually getting it in place and securing it to the rest of the house.
    By the time we went to bed last night, the storms outside had started to intensify.  We heard the rain intermittently through the night and awoke this morning -- Rick's 60th birthday -- to our first encounter with an uninvited guest: Tropical Storm Debby.
     Debby is NOT being a lady.  She is way out in the Gulf, but she is moving very, very slowly toward the Florida panhandle, leaving behind band after band of rain showers to wash up onto shore.  She is not a hurricane yet, but she leaves a mess in her wake anyway.

Lake Anderson at the corner junction of the Florida Room and the guest bedroom.

Our side yard lake as it merges with the Rock Lake in our neighbor's yard.

    Although we are far enough from the Gulf that we have no danger of high tide or floodwater problems, we do have a problem with a very uneven yard that unfortunately slants in too many places toward rather than away from the house, and we had over 5 inches of rain today alone.  The resulting pictures may be hard to see, but look closely, and you will see the flooding in our yard and around our house.
     We also have the unique experience of hearing about tropical storm tornadoes.  These are not the Big Daddy tornadoes like we have in Wisconsin, but these mini-tornadoes can be very destructive.  Some pack as much as 90 mile-an-hour winds, and sadly we learned that one person died today when tornadoes hit inland and leveled five homes.  We also have watched weather reports all day and have seen trees falling on homes and (worse yet) trailers and campers. We are SO glad that we took down that dead Holly tree last week before this weather hit us.
    This afternoon Rick went into our master bedroom with the idea of painting the ceiling only to see a small, damp water spot.  A climb up the ladder to the attic showed no great leaks in the roof (thank you, Lord), so we think the driving rain which seems to come in sheets of water, is somehow slowly getting into the ridge vent.  That will be a problem to deal with once the storms have passed.
     The girls gave Rick money to plant a tree in honor of his 60th birthday.  I think that is a great idea, and since we have to plant a tree anyway, this will be a wonderful opportunity to satisfy the city and to plant a living legacy to him and to all of his hard work on this house and yard.

Sam and his lovely mate, Maude, who came to wish Rick a happy 60th birthday!

    Oh, yes, we also had some other birthday party crashers today.  When Stephanie got up this morning she took out the insulated panel that closes off our front window and was confronted with this pair waiting for some birthday cake.  (Actually, I think they would have preferred some good fish or fresh bugs.)  She screamed which attracted their attention, and they came even closer to the house.  Keep in mind that it is pouring rain outside.  The two dumb birds stood together in the yard, faces to the driving rain, seemingly contemplating the glories of Mother Nature! We decided that this was Sam the wood stork back, and this time he brought his mate which Stephanie named Maude.
     I am sad that the storm is supposed to rage for the rest of the time that Stephanie will be visiting with us. We had planned on doing a few other great things outside, but that will have to wait for a future visit.  Her flight home on Tuesday also concerns me because the winds and rains are still supposed to be with us.  For now, though, we are snug in Gladys, and Steph and I are even with three wins each playing Scrabble.
     Rick did not get to do many fun things for his birthday, but I know with all of the visitors we had today, it is a birthday that he will never forget!