December in Dunedin

A glowing boat in the distance participates
in the Holiday Boat Parade.

After dinner last night, Rick and I drove to the Dunedin Causeway to watch the Dunedin Holiday Boat Parade.  We were not able to be here last year, so we wanted to make sure that we witnessed this unique event.  Alas, our positioning was a little off.  We were too far away to get any really good pictures, but we were still able to sit on a beach, watch a sunset, and then see and hear (think Andy Williams singing "The Most Wonderful Time of the Year" on loudspeakers from the deck of a huge boat) the parade go by.  My one meager picture does not do it justice.  Next year we will position ourselves for a better view by arriving a little earlier in the evening.  A nice picnic dinner on the beach before the parade might be in order.

Yesterday we ventured out to Lowe's and bought a little garden wagon to help with the yard work.  We have determined that the patio I unearthed in the back yard a few years ago really is in pretty rough shape.  Now is the time to take it out in the chunks that it has broken into and haul it to the dump.  First, however, we have to get rid of the cement patio set.  In its day, the set contained three benches around the table.  One of the benches was in pieces when we bought Gladys, and the second bench is missing an intact pedestal, so we are down to a single bench.  The table top and benches are not in the greatest

Cracked and uneven blocks make for a not-
so-inviting patio in the back yard.  Anyone
want a concrete table and bench for free?

of shape, so I would just as soon try to haul it to the magic curb and hope that someone with a strong back and a large truck hauls it away.  If not, the city will come and get it for a fee.  Either way, we will not really miss it in the back yard since we have only used it once or twice in two years.

This morning we took time out to remeasure the yard for the fence, taking into account where the posts would have to be positioned to accommodate the eight-foot panel sections.  Rick calculated how many posts, panels, and gate kits we would need.  Then we tried to estimate how much gravel, cement, cement tubes, and other building supplies would be necessary to complete the job.  His original estimates were pretty accurate. We would like to come back in January, spend that month prepping the site and painting the south side of the house, and then putting up the south side fence.  That will give both us and our neighbors some privacy back after two years of adjoining back yards.

Part of the site preparation involves removing the shrubs that were planted way too close to the house probably back in the 1960s.  Yesterday we cut down an unruly schefflera arboricola that thought it was a tree.  As you can see by the

A monstrous stump will need cutting and
perhaps yanking out with the truck to
make room for the new fence and gate.

stump that is left, it really HAD grown into a tree, and the roots are way too close to the foundation of the house.  The foliage will go out on Monday, and hopefully the stump will be on the same pile if I can coax Rick into stump removal tomorrow.

Our calculations show that the hibiscus next to the house under the guest room window also will have to be either removed or relocated so that our gate mechanism will work.  I will try to transplant that, but if it is too much of a pain, I will just purchase new. The one under the window is not the healthiest that I have seen, and Chris told me that the one she tried to transplant did not survive. I will not deal with that until January.

While we were watching the parade last evening, an elderly couple was chatting with us.  The woman mentioned that Dunedin was holding a local Art Guild art show today in the downtown area.  After lunch Rick and I ventured downtown for a look.  Keep in mind that the temperatures are once again above average in the low 80s and that a delightful breeze is blowing through cloudless skies.  The art ranged from "you really have the guts to call yourself an artist?" to some watercolors that were very good.  However, while they were reasonably priced, most of the pieces were quite small and nothing that we wanted to purchase.  We know that some spectacular art shows are scheduled for the spring, so our quest for reasonable but original art will have to wait until later.

Tomorrow will be dedicated for the most part to getting the house in order for when we are gone and packing a few things for the flight back to Wisconsin.  I really am not looking forward to ice, snow, and cold temperatures (wind chill in Green Bay was -1 this afternoon and snow was falling!), but at least the familiarity of the weather pattern will put me more into a Christmas spirit.  I'll be happy to be back with family and to meet with a select few friends, yet somehow I think returning to sunshine and warmer weather after the holidays will not be too hard to bear in January.