Let there Be Light

We have been very busy the last few days trying to finish the master bathroom while we also are shopping for new ceiling fans, staining the vanity for the main bath, and generally just bouncing from job to job.  Sam the stork has not been back to our yard, so perhaps his taste of electrician's screwdrivers was enough for him to ban us from his list of fine dining front yards.

We have been hearing for almost the last two weeks of the horrible heat wave in Wisconsin and the upper Midwest.  While we are having high 80's with a breeze most days here in Florida, they are having 100+ degree days with horribly high humidity.   That all changed as of yesterday.  Summer (read: humidity) has arrived in Florida.

On Saturdays, Dunedin holds a Farmer's Market (they call it "Green Market"), and we love to go down to get fresh fruits and veggies.  Rick got homemade pickles last year, but the pickle vendor has not been there yet this year.  However, a young couple has a booth where they sell homemade breads, bagels, rolls, and other wonderful delicacies.  We bought a few goodies and then ventured further to partake in the Third Annual Orange Festival.  Free orange juice and a quick walk around the booths was enough for us.  By 9:30 this morning, the heat was oppressive, and the paramedics were already attending to one elderly lady. We were going to go onward to get our daily Home Depot and Lowe's fix, but a phone call changed our plans. (More on that later.)

Our new front porch light that thinks it is a beacon
on a lighthouse!

One of the accomplishments of yesterday was getting a new light installed for our front door.  I found a marine-quality light that was guaranteed not to rust, rot, corrode, or otherwise fall to pieces due to the salt air that daily bombards our neighborhood. We wanted to have something with at least two bulbs because I hate having a wimpy light outside that does not even allow me to find the door's keyhole.  We were pleased with the look of the light I chose, and thanks to Rick's expertise, we soon had it installed where the old industrial spotlights that the previous owner had used once hung.  Once the evening came, Rick said, "Let's see how our new light works." He hit the switch next to the door. "Holy Wha!" he said.

Not only our doorway, but approximately half of the front yard was suddenly illuminated like a Broadway stage on opening night. In a bad storm, a Boeing 747 could use our front light to make an emergency landing on our street.  "Ah, Rick," I said, "I think it's bright enough..."

He always like to try the new "toys" in the house!

Another accomplishment was to get the wiring completed for the central vacuum.  As the picture shows, Rick took the vacuum for a successful test drive. (Note his chic paint pants!) We ended up with a 35 foot hose, so with the intake port in the center of the house, we now can vacuum every spider out of every nook and cranny in the entire house.

Andy, applying the stucco around the new front door.
He was a true master with stucco.

The completed stucco work around the new front door.

We were told by Jeff, the contractor that we worked with for our doors and windows, that he would send "his stucco guy" to our house to finish off the front door. Today when we were at the Orange Festival, Rick received a call from Andy, Jeff's "stucco guy."  We met him at home, and he assessed the job.  As Rick has often mentioned, the young people today do not want to learn the hard labor jobs.  He has long lamented that in the future we will be desperately short of masons, electricians, plumbers, and other manual tradesmen.  Jeff, who is 62, told us that Andy was older than he, and I must say that Jeff was not exaggerating.  As the picture shows, Andy was a short little old man (70+ for sure) who really knew his trade.  Rick asked him when he would like to schedule the job, and he said that he could start today. (Remember the heat that I just mentioned?)  He said that he would work as long as he was in the shade and as long as the slight breeze held out.  We agreed on a very reasonable price since he also found a section of the house next to the door that needed repair, and he started to work.  Rick and I ate lunch, ran some errands, and when we got home, we found a note on the door that said, "Work finished, $175.00." We will coordinate with Jeff to get that bill paid, but we are very pleased with the results.  We will have to paint the stucco as soon as it dries, but he did us a great favor by stuccoing under the door.  Now we can tie in a slab of cement with the existing porch and worry about adding tile to the whole thing when we return in January.

Our new bathroom light: what a change from the old one!

We wimpy young people decided to work in the air conditioned house.  Rick got tired of trying to paint around the old bathroom light, so he took it out.  Remember the 1960's row of bulbs, all covered by a three-sided square of glass that was held in place by white plastic screws? Yep, that's what hit the garbage can today.  The pictures show the new light that we installed.  It is not the most expensive or glamorous in the world, but it is modern, bright, clean, and really adds a bright jewel in Gladys' hair.  I smile each time I turn it on and enter the room.

The giant cabinet in the crooked little room.

Our last task of the day was to put the "feet" on the big white cabinet and to then hold our breath as we tried to stand it upright in the bathroom.  With a little finagling, we put it into position. Success... sort of. The cabinet did not sit level, so Rick got his level out.  First he saw how much the cabinet needed shifting.  He checked everything for level. The cabinet?  Check.  The new wall that he just built? Check.  The floor?  Well, not level but not too bad.  The old wall?  Ugh!  From bottom to top, the old wall is off by 3/4 of an inch. Like all little old ladies, Gladys sags and droops a bit in a few places. It's not fair, but our beautiful, level, plumb cabinet will have to be shimmed on one side to sit "level" in our cozy, crooked, little old house.

Since Sam still has not returned Rick's missing pants, our final task of today was to go to Kohl's to buy his some dress pants.  We actually plan on going to church tomorrow; that will be a familiar routine that I have missed in the past few weeks.  We have made such progress that we can afford to take a little time off for us and for some of the things that we want (rather than need) to do.