The Down and Up of It

Today was a gorgeous day in Florida, so where did we spend most of the day?  In the laundry room, of course!

We had borrowed the wheelbarrow from Steve and Chris so we could tackle the "down" of the laundry room remodel first.  We decided to add on to the concrete floor of the original room so we would have a solid surface on which to tile the floor in the coming months.  We had put down boards last night so that we could get up early this morning to pour the concrete.  Just as Rick was about to start making construction noises this morning, I was cleaning up the kitchen after breakfast.  I looked up through the kitchen windows (which face the road) when I saw a young man walk into our front yard, pull up the cover on our water supply main, and start to do something with a long pole.  He was carrying a clipboard, so I figured he was some kind of an official.  This made me a bit nervous since we have been futzing with the water the last couple of days in our attempt to hook up the new water heater.

I went into the garage just as Rick was about to cut a board on our very noisy saw and said, "Ah, Rick, you might want to come and see this.  There is a guy out front looking at our water system."  I tried to remain calm, but Rick said I had a really stressed look on my face.

He went out front to find out what the man was doing.  The man was from the City, and he was checking all of the houses in the neighborhood to make sure the back-flush valves were working fine.  He said that in reclaimed water neighborhoods, the City checks the valves yearly.  That was the rotten little valve that caused us to spend an extra $90 for the baby pressure extension tank on our new water heater!  He said that our valve was fine, so he went on his merry way.  We waited until he was down the street a bit before we started to make construction noise since we do not need any nosey inspectors snooping around our property.

Our new cement cures in the garage.

Our first task was to mix and to pour the cement.  Thank God Rick is as strong as he is, and that he knows what he is doing.  We added an binder to the cement mix since we were not pouring a wide enough section to add re-rod to tie the two pieces together.  The result is a slightly-slanted extension that will allow us to tile the floor while giving us drainage and a foundation for the drywall. Rick was really feeling his past shoulder surgery by the time the cement was down, so I am sure that this is going to be an Advil before bed night.

After the cement was poured, our sights went upward as Rick cut and we placed the ceiling joists for the top of the room.  Once all of the joists are in place, we can add the electrical and call in the HVAC people to add the heating and air conditioning to the room.  We were not able to get all of the joists fastened today because the original hangers we bought did not work out.

New 2 x 6 joists crown the laundry room.  Coming soon: lights
and air conditioning!

That caused our daily trip to Home Depot.  This time we travelled to Largo because we had a further destination in mind. As we drove down, we noticed that the temperature on the truck said that it was over 80.  Rick questioned if the temperature was really that warm, but then we passed a bank that said the temperature was 82 degrees.  I said, "Yeah, it's really 82 out!"

"Well, we have travelled south," Rick said.  Smart aleck.  Largo is south of Dunedin, but not by much!  We got the new joist hangers at Home Depot, and then set out for the Pinellas Country Parks and Recreation Department in Largo.

Remember me mentioning that there had to be some kind of an annual pass to park at the Beach?  Well, with a little investigation, we discovered that we could purchase such a pass.  We had to go to the Parks and Recreation Department to purchase it.  When Rick put the address into the GPS system, he said, "This really seems familiar.  I think we have been to this building before."  He was right.  The Parks and Recreation Department is actually the entrance to the Pinellas County Botanical Gardens which we thoroughly enjoyed during one of Stephanie's visits.

We now have a pass to the beaches, and maybe one of these fine, warm, sunny winter days, we actually will get a chance to go and sit on one!