Small Successes

I have been up since 4:45 this morning, awakened by weird nightmares about falling and having my right arm cut off.  I know that the falling nightmare is usually associated with people who feel they do not have control of their lives (or budgets!), so that one I can somewhat understand.  After scrubbing walls all day Sunday, my arm and shoulder ached so much that I think, subconsciously, I wished someone would cut off my right arm.  At any rate, as I rolled over to try to get back to sleep, Rick started to snore, so I knew I was better off out of the bedroom.

I came to the computer and solved one mystery.  I looked up online the owner of the house behind us.  His name was Richard Robert Pusey, and according to city records, he died on February 1, 2012, at age 81.  The house is vacant most of the time apparently because the family is moving things out and trying to sell it. That explains the property agent and the seemingly abandoned nature of the property.  I hope that the house sells to a nice couple who will take care of it. Since it is an estate, it has yet to hit the MLA listings.

When Rick got up, our first order of business was to get the master bathroom sink repaired.  I always wondered why something that looked like a capital J was called a P-trap, but after watching the trap fail due to a large hole in the bottom, Gladys did, indeed, pee out all of the water in the basin.  Maybe the name is descriptive and appropriate after all!

Rick discovered that two trips to the store were necessary because modern replacement parts do not always fit 1960 plumbing configurations.  Market tip: if you have not yet purchased stock in Lowe's and Home Depot, do so now.  With our daily trips there, the value of both corporations is sure to go up.

Rick starting the trim work for the guest room transformation.

The completed paint job.  New windows will be added
in a few days.

After we repaired Gladys' incontinent issues, we were ready to start painting the guest room (which really was what Rick wanted to do from the moment he woke up.) The attached pictures show the results.  What the pictures do not clearly show is that the blue walls really make the blueberries in the cover "pop" from the background. We both love the color of the room and are happy with the results.  We cannot paint the inside window frames yet until we get the new windows installed.  The baseboard, white paint on the closet doors, and a little art on the walls will complete the look. By the way, I do work, too.  I never am shown in the pictures because I am always the photographer behind the lens.


After lunch we went looking for a replacement tree for the yard, and we once again collided with yet another Dunedin dilemma.  The paperwork from the city says that we have to have a tree in before September 31 (yeah, I know...) of this year, so we went to a really nice nursery today.  It was closed but its companion garden center store was open.  We talked to the vice president of the company who told us that even if we planted a crepe myrtle tree today, it still would die.  He suggested that we get an extension on the permit and plant one in January when we come back down.  We went to the city and talked to an engineer named Alan Mayberry.  He told us that if we planted in January and watered until May, the tree probably still would die.  He said that the tree needs water in June - September (the growing season) in order to really establish the root system. So no matter what we do, we are not planning on being here long enough to water the tree and to keep the darn thing alive.  Sigh.  Sometimes this home ownership in two different states really is a problem.  We are not sure what we are going to do because when we leave, we turn off the water to the house.  Even if we asked the neighbors to water for us, we are not sure they are reliable, and we would be asking them to use their water.  While we can pay for the water, Rick is not keen on the idea of imposing on the neighbors. This dilemma has yet to be solved.

Tonight we got the house ready for the window people to come tomorrow.  I am really excited to see what changes will happen to the look, insulation, and security of the house with new doors and windows.  We have been trying to fix, patch, and doll Gladys up.  Now we will give her some new glass(es) so we all can see the world a little more clearly.