Progress in the Final Week

As we enter our final week this spring in Dunedin, I have to smile because the week started yesterday with yet another celebration.  This one, of course, was for Cinco de Mayo.  While less than half of the population in this area is of Mexican descent, the holiday gave everyone another chance to listen to music, to enjoy ethnic foods, and to overindulge in margaritas. Let it never be said that Dunedin does not enjoy a good party.

Today was a very productive day.  We got up early and were greeted with a beautiful little freesia that seemed to have bloomed overnight in the back yard.  The side yard also shows buds about to open, and that saddens me because I know that our lawn service is coming later today, and they will all be gone.  I did take the chance to get a quick picture of the flower that was open although even that was tricky because we have had quite a gusty breeze all day long.

Wild pink freesia are the only flowers blooming in the yard
that are not weeds!

Our yard needs so much work, but we just do not have the time nor the money to do anything about it this year.  Because Dunedin in reliant on well water, the city rightfully has put fertilizer restrictions on residential use.  We know there are some types of fertilizers and weed killers that we can use, but we have to do more research to understand what is legal and what is prohibited.  Someday (big sigh) maybe we will be able to grow more grass than weeds, and ultimately we may be able to hook up to the reclaimed water that is available in our neighborhood to actually keep the lawn looking good.

The good thing about the brisk breeze today is that it brought in cooler temperatures, so this day was a perfect day to work outside.  Rick finished painting the second coat of paint on the south fascia, and then we worked together on the south fascia of the Florida room. We sanded and primed that in the morning, and as I write this Rick is putting on the first application of the finish coat.  We'll add a second coat tomorrow, and then our work for this spring is finished here at Gladys.

The fascia on the south side of the house is complete. A close
look also shows that the hibiscus are starting to bloom.

We were finished with the initial outdoor painting by 10:30, so that gave us time yet this morning to run some errands, and to come back and trim some trees since Mondays are the days the city will come around and collect "bulk" items like tree branches.  We actually did some fence-line creative cutting to take down vines and budding Brazilian Pepper Trees that were threatening to invade our backyard again.  We also trimmed the old fashioned carnation bush in the corner of our lot.  Finally, Rick climbed on the roof and cut off the brown or yellow fronds from the front yard palm tree.  Since I trimmed the south side bushes last week, we now should have Gladys looking pretty good for the summer.

Our backyard is bare, but until we can put up a fence, we do
not want to plant anything new. We removed the invasive
Pepper trees before they spread further.

Naturally, this is Florida, so we know that Gladys will be totally overgrown by the time we return, but at least we have a good effort before we have to leave for the summer.

Tomorrow morning we'll finish the last coat of paint so we can pack away the painting supplies for the season.  Unfortunately, with the high humidity of the summer, all paint cans and metal tools have to be stored in the house or they will completely rust by the fall.

After the outdoor work, we'll begin to pack the paperwork and the clothes that we want to take back to Wisconsin.  Thankfully, I found my "things to do before we go North" list that I made last year, and we have done over half of those tasks -- like arranging for the water to be turned off and forwarding the mail to Wisconsin -- already.

We are both sad to be packing up Gladys for the summer, but we also are looking forward to getting to our "summer home" in the North.  Our family is anxious to have us home, we have my niece's wedding to look forward to, and most importantly, we have a new little addition that hopefully will join our family in June.  For the first time, Gladys has become "home" to us, but we know that once we are safely in Wisconsin, that house also will be home again.  We are thankful that we have the opportunity to own two houses and to feel equally comfortable and welcomed in both places.