Merry Christmas!

I awoke this morning and realized that I am experiencing regional culture shock.  The weatherman said that the temperatures would reach as high as 38 today, and I thought that 38 sounded really warm.  Well, Toto, we're not in Florida anymore!

The sun has been missing for most of the time that we have been in the North, yet the temperatures have been mild enough to allow the precipitation to come down in the form of rain.  The little snow that we received upon our arrival last week has all melted, save for a tiny mound at the corner of the driveway.

Thankfully, the rain rather than snow allowed Stephanie to arrive safely from Minnesota, so we are very happy about that.  We are looking forward to celebrating Christmas with her and with Lindsay and family tomorrow.

We have been blessed with many things this past year: Owen's adoption into the family, regained health and strength, two beautiful homes that we continue to improve, and most of all the love and support of all of our family and friends.

Merry Christmas to you all!  Have a wonderful, prosperous, blessed new year.

White Christmas?

According to the weather report this morning, Wisconsin has a 90% chance of having a white Christmas this year.  While I have to admit that the snow helps get me into the holiday spirit, I would rather have Stephanie (who arrives Christmas Eve) and nephew Jon (who arrives at my sitter's house Christmas Day) home safely before too much more white stuff accumulates on the ground.

Our trip home was uneventful except for the snow flurries that turned into a downright snowstorm as we drove home from Milwaukee.  We had snow for about half of the way home, and until today have had an already-white landscape.  The temperatures today started cold but have risen as the day wore on, so much of the snow has melted. Not to fear.  Snow is predicted for Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday (Christmas Eve) of the coming week, so I am sure that we will have more than enough snow for the holidays.

We were a little perturbed with the dusting of snow that we received upon our arrival only because our snow service came and shoveled us out.  I did not think that we even had two inches of snow, yet when we got up on Wednesday morning, our driveway and porch had definitely been shoveled.  They had better not charge us more than $10 for that job, or I will protest.  They are not supposed to shovel at all unless we have at least two inches of snow to remove.

The last two days have been busy.  We went to the grocery store and meat market, spending over $200 just to stock the refrigerator for the next couple of weeks.  We finished our Christmas shopping, walking carefully to avoid ice patches in the parking lots.  I hate the cold weather! We have put up the tree, decorated the rest of the house, baked three kinds of cookies, frosted some of the cookies, wrapped the gifts, and started to clean the house.

The lights of the Christmas tree overshadow
the gifts beneath it.

Owen is coming over tonight to "help" frost some cookies.  That ought to be fun.  I am sure that eating (or at least licking off the frosting) will be a part of that venture, too.

We are now pretty set for the holidays. Our stockings are hung on the half wall (since we do not have a fireplace or internal chimney) with care.  I am glad that we only have six in the family, since I have run out of wall room!

The homemade crocheted stockings await Christmas Day.

We wish you all a very relaxing Merry Christmas and a wonderful new year!

Life Goes On

Rick keeps saying that perhaps we are too old to be remodeling Gladys.  I don't believe that is true for two reasons:  we have made progress with the remodeling this year and we feel better when we are out working on projects.  We have done an incredible amount of work on this house in the past three years, and the work that we have done in just the past two months shows that we still can do the work.  Even this morning, though both of us are now in pain from our injuries, he admitted that he felt better when we were out digging holes and pouring concrete.  He is just frustrated right now that we could not finish the fence, as he had planned, before we go North for Christmas.

Yesterday I woke up more stiff and sore than ever.  I thought that by this time I should be feeling better, so I finally listened to Rick and went to MedExpress in town.  They are an urgent care facility similar to an ER, but they were less busy and better suited to what I needed. (The earliest I could get into my doctor's office was in February.)  Rick and I both agreed that he should have gone to MedExpress instead of the ER a couple of days ago.

The PAC who saw me ordered X-rays to be sure that nothing was cracked or broken.  The X-rays confirmed that her guess was right; however, she said that when I fell on my shoulder, I probably slightly dislocated it.  The shoulder has popped back into place (as confirmed by the X-ray) but I had multiple contusions that were just going to take a long time to heal.  She prescribed Neproxin and a muscle relaxant, also telling me to use heat to help the knotted muscles relax.  Sigh.  Here I am again, screwing up my muscles.  I have to admit that I keep trying to stretch the muscles in the arm so that it does not freeze while still keeping within pain tolerance.

Rick, meanwhile, is driving himself nuts by wanting to be active.  We drove down to the Marina and walked down Victoria Lane to check on the new, massive house they are building.  Rick had to stop twice when his leg buckled, so we did not venture far.  We watched masons lay brick for a while and then headed back to the Marina.  While we relaxed on a bench, I noticed a large fin suddenly break water at the mouth of the marina.  Then a second fin appeared, but this time the dolphin to which it was attached fully arched out of the water.  His companion followed suit, and we watched the two of them play for a few minutes in the calm waters.  One even turned on his back, sticking his snout into the air as he did the backstroke back out into St. Joseph's Sound.  What a treat!  We usually do not see dolphins that close to shore.  They made us both smile which is something we have not done in the last few days.

Today Rick cleaned up eight weeks' worth of accumulated paperwork in his office while I cleaned both bathrooms and washed two loads of laundry.  I also dry-mopped the floors as a way both to clean the house and to stretch my arm.  The house looks better, and Rick's office is once again visible after removing four small garbage cans full of papers.

A walk around the block felt really good to me but rather painful for Rick.  He went out to get some lunch and to buy some materials necessary to finish a small Christmas gift he is making.  I am content to spend the rest of the day here, letting my shoulder and back rest.

Are we too old to remodel the house? Not in the least.  Yes, we have to be careful when we work, but there is no reason that we cannot continue with our labors.  People far older than we have done much, much more.

Is luck on our side?  Not always.  We actually took the wishbone from the Thanksgiving turkey today to make a wish.  We each made a wish and then pulled the wishbone.  It was very dry so it shattered, leaving both of us holding short ends while the main connecting point flew away from us into the air across the kitchen.  OK, nobody will get his or her wish.  That's all right. Shakespeare once wrote, "If wishes were horses, beggars would ride."  Dreams are not fulfilled by wishes; they are, instead, fulfilled with determination and actions.  Once we return from the Holidays, we will continue to pursue our plans and dreams for Gladys.

Down But Not Out

Rick was bummed out waking up today because this was supposed to be the day that we almost finished with the posts for the fence.  Of course, since he tore his hamstring yesterday, I strongly discouraged his continuation of digging holes and pouring cement.  We are down, but not completely out.

Instead, we took a short drive to the post office to send in our check for $115.00 for snow removal for November.  That much snow already means that this could be a long, cold, expensive winter once again... but we are still glad that WE are not doing the freezing or the shoveling.  Afterward, we added gas to the car, then headed to Whole Foods for a little shopping.

I have to admit that while I am into healthy eating and good food, the prices that Whole Foods charges for some items are just ridiculous.  I guess I am not rich enough to be THAT healthy.  We did buy some tri-colored pasta (spinach, wheat, and white) that will pair with meatballs and spaghetti sauce for dinner tonight.

We cleaned out the back yard by carrying the last two boxes of panels and one set of panels into the garage.  Those bundles were not heavy, so the two of us could handle them.  Then Rick cut up the pallets with the SawsAll, and we carried them to temporary storage by the garage.  They will go out to the curb on Monday. Rick seemed to walk all right as he was doing all of this; my biggest project will be to keep him down enough so his body will heal.  The back yard looks so big now, and I cannot wait to start to add plants and landscaping to the blank slate of the back yard.

The back yard looking toward the south.

The back yard looking to the north.  We have lots of room to design and
to landscape it into an inviting, relaxing area. 

Rick had called Steve to ask if he would be willing to unload the seven bags of concrete from the back of our truck.  He and Chris came for a few minutes to complete that task, and Chris brought us some delicious shortbread for dessert.  Thank you for the goodies!

We used today to clean up the yard so that the grass will not completely die. We wanted to get a clear vision of what we have to work with in the future.  I am excited to see what we can do with the blank canvas once the fence is completely finished in January.

Hit the Pause Button

The day dawned very cool and cloudy, but we did not have to contend with any rain today.  We were out on the worksite early, adding a post on the north side and the first post in the gate wall on the south side.

We marked the post on the north side as our measurement pole, making sure that the other post was lined up height-wise to the post we had transmitted earlier.  When Rick dug the post hole on the south side, we added the measuring tape in the same place.  Then Rick dug a deep hole and put in the post.  Nope.  Too high.  He dug down more and put in the post.  Nope.  Still too high.  He dug more and put in the post.  Oops.  Way too low, yet the tape measured just perfectly according to the transit.  What gives?  I looked at the north side post and then at the south side fence.  Duh!  Of course the south post was too low-- we had stepped down the north side five inches from the south side for the last three panels, so we were trying to measure the south side with the stepped down measurement from the north side.  That snafu just shows that a person should not put up a fence while still half asleep.  Once we had the correct measurement for the south side, we added lots of stones to bring the post up to where it should be.  OK, so the post has a lot of good drainage.  At least it is level with the rest.

We have "turned the corner" on the south side of the house.

A one-board wide panel gives us the corner and
post on which to hang the gate.  Tape at the top and
boards under the bottom help keep the post level
and plumb while the cement dries.

Once the south and north side posts were cemented in, we cleaned everything up and went in to shower by 11:00 a.m.  Rick excitedly talked about putting in possibly two posts tomorrow which would mean that we only had one more post the put in on Thursday.  I know that he wanted to have the fence completely finished before we flew north for the holidays, but that just was not to be.

One more panel on the north side reaches toward the street.

After lunch, we loaded two "extra" posts into the truck to take back to Home Depot.  We knew that we needed to buy one more cap, one more set of wall brackets, and seven more bags of cement. When we got to Home Depot, the "returns" line snaked out the door.  Apparently lots of people are spiffing up their houses before the holidays because I saw lots of "extra" supplies (like boxes of wood flooring) being returned. A long wait rewarded us with cash back to our charge account and a short trip to pick up the supplies we needed.

Rick drove the truck around to the loading zone so the early twenty-something man there could help him load the seven bags of cement.  Rick stepped up into the bed of the truck, and the man handed up the first two bags of cement.  As Rick stepped over to take the next bag, he cried out "Ah-h-h!" as he gripped the back of his leg. He took a step, and his right leg bucked beneath him.  As the man loaded the last four bags of cement into the truck, Rick somehow climbed down and limped to the truck.  He told me that he could drive although I offered to do so.  (Some people are SO pigheaded!)  He drove home, using his right leg on the gas pedal and his left for the brake.

When we got home, we transferred to the car, and I drove him to Morton Plante Hospital. The ER at Morton Plante was very busy, and since his condition was not life threatening, we waited while others who were more ill were taken first.  That was OK.  We expected that.  However, when we finally got into the ER treatment area two hours later, he was escorted to a cot in the hallway where he was told to get into a gown and to lower his pants so the doctor could examine him.  We were both dumbfounded. A doctor came, did a cursory examination, and said that Rick had torn his hamstring muscle, and that there was nothing we could do but go home and rest.  He offered pain medication which Rick refused.  Never again will we go to Morton Plante if we have an emergency.

I was supposed to go to the doctor today to have him look at my shoulder, but since we were sitting in the ER, I cancelled my appointment.  The doctor's office called back later; I told them to forget it.  If nothing can be done for a torn hamstring, I am sure that nothing can be done for a torn shoulder.  We make quite a gimpy pair.  Athletes who tear a hamstring are out of the game for four weeks, and that is what I would like to see Rick do... just REST for the next four weeks. Time to hit the pause button on the fence and the chores.

My fear now is that he will have a tough time flying home comfortably.  We leave in a week and a half.  If I can get him to rest and ice his leg, he may be healed enough to at least walk without too much pain. At least in Wisconsin we can really relax since we will not have a fence tempting us to dig holes or to put in posts. I think for Christmas this year, we'll put Advil in each other's stockings.

Cool Day, Hot Soup

The only good thing about yesterday is that we went to church.  I don't know about others, but at least in church I can find peace because no one can hassle me, nothing can break down, and God forgives even my meanest, darkest thoughts about contractors.

Early Sunday morning we discovered that our refrigerator was not cooling correctly.  The boxes in the main part of the refrigerator was "sweaty" and the boxes in the freezer were covered with a light frost.  Uh, oh. The refrigerator is less than two years old since we bought it in January of 2012, and we have probably run it about 9 months total since that time.  We set the controls to cooler and went to church.

After church we went to the store to pick up a bracket to "plug" a hole left in the post next to the tree since we had to raise the bottom rail to accommodate the roots of the tree.  As we were about to leave the parking lot of the Home Depot in Clearwater, the Home Depot in Largo called to tell us that our special order U-Channels had come in. We need the U-channels to finish the panels next to the gates, so we could not finish them without the channels.  We were about 5 miles away, so we decided to eat lunch out and to pick up our order before we went home.

After a delicious lunch at Culver's, we picked up our U-Channels at Home Depot.  Would anyone care to tell me why eight U-Channels, which when nested within one another probably take up 4 square inches around at most, came in a box that was 12 inches square?  The package weighed over 4 pounds on the shipping label, and the plastic U-Channels weighed probably less than 6 ounces total.  Why do we waste so much cardboard and materials in our packaging -- to say nothing of the money that it costs to ship them?

When we got home, we discovered that our refrigerator was up to 60 degrees in the main compartment.   Out came the portable cooler for some of our necessities, and the rest of our refrigerator contents we took to Steve and Chris' house.  (Thank you both for your generous use of your refrigerator!)

Rick got on the phone to call a repairman.  We quickly learned that to have repairs covered under any kind of warranty, we needed to have someone certified by GE.  A call to them informed us that we would probably have to throw out what food we could not keep cool, and that the earliest a certified repairman could come to our house was next Saturday.  Seriously?!?  A week later???

Once we had the refrigerator empty, it started to cool down.  We monitored it overnight, and this morning everything was back to "normal."  We think that maybe we had too much food in the freezer and that somehow blocked a vent or overtaxed the compressor.  We returned to Steve's house to get our food, and we resolved that if the refrigerator continues to work well, we will cancel our Saturday appointment and focus our energies on buying a small chest freezer.  We could fit a small one in the garage, and that may serve us well.

Today a cool, hard drizzle has spoiled most of our plans for doing anything outside.  I am still really sore from my fall, so I called the doctor's office at 8:30 this morning to see if I could get an appointment.  I was told that Sheila, the nurse, would have to call me back.  The time is now 2:34 p.m. and I have not heard from Sheila.  I think it is time to find a new doctor.

The crappy weather today did not stop us, however, from moving forward with our fence plans.  We picked up some boards that we had to build into a U-shape sleeve to slip inside the corner posts to use next to the gates.  The wood is needed to support the screws that will hold the hinges for the gates and the latches to keep the gates closed.  We had to rip some of the boards down; thank heavens that we had the Festool saw available.  The whole task was not difficult, but it took us much more time than we has thought it would.  In the end, though, we have four posts ready to support our gates once we are ready to build the gate walls.

The refrigerator continues to run well today.  Go figure. The lesson learned is that we have overstuffed our freezer, and each evening from now until we go to Wisconsin next week, we have to have a meal from the freezer.  Tonight, in honor of the continuing miserable drizzle, we will have white meat chicken and rice soup (thanks to Schwan's Foods) that is heating up in the crock pot as I type.  Hot soup on a cold night.  My idea of true comfort food.

Problem Solved

We have worked for the last two days to find a solution to our problem of how to put the fence next to the tree.  Neither of us really wanted to waste fencing to go out around the tree and to "box" it in, but there was no easy solution.  However, went two half-wits put their heads together, we actually came up with a solution using our one whole brain.

We got up early yesterday to start with the south side post.  Just as we were getting going, Rick got really crabby, so I quit working.  If he wants to be a jerk, he can work alone.  I came in and showered while he finished that panel himself.

After lunch, we talked about the fence near the tree.  Rick had some ideas about how we could bridge the gap, and I had an idea of how we could cap off the end.  We needed to get a post into the ground as close as we could to the tree without damaging any large roots.  We found the "sweet spot" a couple of feet from the tree, and then ran the rails straight through the post so that it was supported on both sides.  Actually assembling the whole thing was a bit of a struggle, but in the end everything worked out well. My idea of using gate components close to the tree helped support the boards with a neat appearance. We like that the top rail is still level and that the bottom rail was able tuck itself tidily behind the root.

The top rail balances through the post and ends near the tree.

As we were cleaning up, we worked together to pull a tarp loaded with soil to dump it in a low spot in the yard.  I was dragging my corner across the indentation in the yard where we took the old patio block out and did not realize that I was near the raised lip at the edge.  I caught my heel on the raised yard and because I was pulling backwards on the tarp, BOOM, down I went.  My head hit the ground so hard that it bounced (maybe it really IS full of fluff, like Winnie the Pooh's head!), and my left shoulder took the worst impact of the fall.  My doomsday husband immediately started to talk hospital and concussion, but I never saw stars or passed out, and I was able to get up off the ground and to walk straight.  My shoulder is still killing me today, but I have full mobility to it.  I think I just bruised or strained the muscle.  I don't know what I have against my muscles, but we do not seem to be getting along very well lately. Hopefully it will heal in the next few days.

Today we had planned on going to church to help with the holiday decorations, but my sore muscles put a stop to that.  Rick said that we would take the day off and take it easy.  Yeah, right.  This morning we went to the drugstore and the grocery store before going to the Farmer's Market downtown.  We talked to a man about a couple of Christmas presents he is making for us, and then we got an education on honey.

The local honey dealer told us that with each season, bees take in the nectar from different flowers.  The nectar, in turn, causes the bees to produce different flavors of honey.  The spring honey was very mild, the summer honey had a buttery aftertaste, the fall honey was a darker, heavier taste, and the winter honey was dark and maple-flavored.  We liked the summer the best, so we bought a small squeeze jar in the shape of a bear (like I remember from my childhood).  Then the honey vendor had us taste a cinnamon honey-- thick, rich, sweet, and spiced with cinnamon.  He said that his wife cuts up apples, put the slices in the microwave, and then drizzles the cinnamon honey on top.  The result: a "baked" apple sweetened to perfection.  Needless to say, we came home with a jar of cinnamon honey also.

After lunch, Rick just could not resist getting back into the fence. So much for our day off. The only good thing about working today was that we did not have to use any cement.  He came up with a slightly different plan for the south side of the tree.  We could not get as close as we did to the north side because of the root configuration, but in the end, the panel turned out all right.  That panel is a combination of rails and screws on the back side with a support board to the ground.  In both sections of fence, we can make further moderations as the tree grows.

The fence gets as close to the tree as the roots will allow.
We just cannot fight Mother Nature; she wins every time.
We'll plant bougainvillea or other shrubs to bridge the gap.

We are happy with the results even through I am not happy at all that we could not just take one day off, as planned.

Tonight we are going to the beach to watch the Dunedin Holiday Boat Parade.  I addition to a marching-through-the-streets parade, Dunedin also has a floating parade where boat owners compete for prizes as to who has the more grandly decorated and lighted boat.  We want to leave early this year so we will pack a picnic supper and set up our chairs on the seashore to get a good view.  Only in Florida...

Nosey Neighbors

We have begun marking the days by looking into the back yard to note how many more panels of fence  we can see.  We are down to two a day, but today we ran into some problems.

Yesterday we added two more panels.  We had to step down the north side fence since the drop from the back corner to the front gate is nine inches.  We brought the fence down five inches with the hope that when we get done landscaping, the drop will not seem that drastic.  Even spreading out some dirt under the higher panels helps the eye to even out the view.

One step down will help us deal with the sloping landscape.

A second post on the lowered side today further helped to minimize the look of a drastic drop.  If we did not do this, our gate would float so high in the front that we would have no privacy at all.

With this second lowered panel, we now block the view of
our north neighbor's yard from our back yard.

The east side post went in with only a few minor root removals.  We learned today that we were lucky to find a fairly clear area for the post since the next one closest to the tree is not that accommodating.  If we could use the full eight foot section, the post would be nestled right next to the tree; unfortunately, that area underground is filled with foot wide and deep roots that Rick is unwilling to disturb.  He says that the tree will just continue to grow and will dislodge the post in a couple of years anyway.

This panel is almost as far as we can get to the tree without
cutting out some major roots.

I do not want to build the fence out around the tree because it will cause a weeding nightmare and will take away the whole idea of having the tree in our yard.  If we build around it, we also will create a very awkward plot of land in the southeast corner of our lot.  I would rather try low palms or something like a bougainvillea that we can somehow attach to a trellis.  If all else fails, perhaps big pots of flowers... anything to block off the neighbors!  If you have any ideas, let us know!

The splayed roots of this tree are causing us unwanted decisions.

Everyone has a noisy neighbor, but since the houses behind us are all vacant right now, those peeking over the fence are not human, but they are rather pretty.  I will welcome this kind of nosey neighbor any time.

Pretty blooms peek to see who is making all of that racket
on the other side of the fence.

Only in Florida (Chapter 2)

This week started on the south side with just one shorter panel before we would have to turn the corner into the wall. That was all right with me because I was tired anyway, and we wanted to take time to figure out the gate panel for that side of the house.  How did this yard get so large?

The final south side panel shuts off our back yard from
the neighbors.

The gate panel turned out well.  We are pleased with the results, and because the company came up with a better design, we probably will not have to order out a cross bar piece to keep it from sagging.  We did, however, have to order out some extra U-channel pieces for the smaller panels on each side of the gate.  We won't be able to finish the gate ends of the fence until we come back from Wisconsin in January.

The  final short panel completely closes our yard off from the neighbors on the south side.  They are really wonderful people; we have no problem with them whatsoever. Gladys is shaped in such a way, however, that our entire Florida room juts our behind the main part of the house.  Since it has windows on all three sides, we have no privacy in that room at all unless we pull down the blinds.  By having the fence up, we will be able to let the sunshine and fresh air in but also have the privacy we desire. We also want to give their our neighbors the same privacy if they want to have friends over or to have a party in their yard.

After the backyard work was complete, we went to two different Home Depot stores to order the U-channels.  Then we purchased 30 more 6- pound bags of cement mix. A slight chance of showers was predicted for today, so Rick unloaded all 30 bags onto a pallet in our garage.  I wish I could have helped more, but 60 pounds is almost more than I can carry.

Another "Only in Florida" Moment: As a treat, we took a short drive downtown to see some of the Christmas lights. Only in Florida will a city decorate their lampposts with wrapped gifts under palm trees!

Getting into the festive spirit takes some adaptation in Florida.

Today we had no choice but to only put up two panels, and that was fine with both of us.  We will now change to two-a-day for the next two days.  A few roots gave Rick some trouble in the next east-side hole, but they were nothing that the SawsAll with a pruning blade could not handle. Even more challenging than the roots, sadly, is the orange clay that we are encountering about two feet down on the east side.  The clay is so sticky that when Rick brings the post-hole digger up, I have to take a garden spade and scrape it off.  The work is tedious and frustrating. Maybe I should mold all of the sticky clay together to make a Florida "snow" man.

The north side soil starts as black dirt but changes to gray sand about two feet down.  The sand is as easy to dig through as the clay is hard.  We have about four panels to go yet across the east back side and five on the easier north side.  We are just glad that two more panels surround our yard.

Our corner continues to grow on the north and east sides. 

This afternoon our shower contractor finally contacted us and came to see why we were upset with the shower.  He agreed to buy more tile and to fix the shower floor.  I am concerned because he wants to add another floor on top of the one already there, extending the drain to make the tiles look and fit better.  My concerns are that the floor will then cover another inch on the bottom row of tile, and that the drain is already extended and the tile contractor still will not handle the job correctly.  Sigh.  Sometimes we cannot win for trying...

We doubt that we will have the shower resolved for another month yet.  We hope to have most of the fence done before we leave for the holidays.  If we can come back and have nothing but the gates their surrounding panels to erect, we will be very happy.  

Panels, Gates, and a Christmas Preview

I am really tired tonight, so this post will be short.  I don't know if the fatigue is just from trying to keep up with my husband, or if my dropping down in medication is finally taking its toll.

At any rate, the work continued today.  Rick dug three holes for three more posts.  Thankfully, none of the holes had roots in them, so the digging was fairly easy.  We were outside by 7:45 this morning, so by 9:00 a.m. we had all of the posts set into the holes at the correct depth.  Since it was 9:00 a.m., we felt we could start to pour the concrete, especially since the mixer really is not noisy at all.

The first two poles went in with little trouble.  Once again, the south side hole gave us the most grief.  That is supposed to be the easy side of the yard, and the last two poles have fought us as far as positioning is concerned.  However, by 11: 40, all of the panels were complete, and all of the posts were set in concrete.

The east side of the yard needs only one more panel for us to be shut off from the street view behind us.  We still have about five panels to go, but adding a panel a day really eats the distance we still must enclose.

Another panel both on the north and the east side of the yard
continue to give us privacy and to define the yard.

The neighbors to the south are not too pleased that we are putting a fence back up between our yards.  The yard had a fence when we moved in three years ago, but it was falling apart and not safe.  We tore it down the first year we were here, leaving the yards open to one another.  While the expanded views made both yards seem larger, we now are ready to have some of our privacy back.  With the fence, I will not feel like I am in a fishbowl each time I sit or work in our Florida room.

Another panel almost entirely closes off our yard on the
south side from the back yard of our neighbors.

After lunch, we took a quick trip to Steve and Chris' house to see how they fastened the fence to their house.  We are now to the point where we have to design the final panel on the south side so we can position where we want to end the fence and to position the gate.

When we came home, Rick dug out the instructions from our gate kit on how to construct our gate.  We decided to build it since we cannot do final calculations until we have more exact measures of the gate. The instructions were poor, but with little effort, we were able to put the gate together.  We'll finish our calculations and hopefully add the final south-side panel tomorrow.

"Why did I ever start this fence?" Rick seems to be thinking
as he walks back to the gate we were constructing.

Now for the "Only in Florida" experience.  Our neighbor across the street has a huge evergreen tree in her front yard.  When I looked out today, I looked up and smiled.  Only in Florida does one see a Christmas tree topped with a white ibis instead of a star! This the season, I guess...

Florida decor for Christmas. This is better than two
partridges in a pear tree.

We hope to work on the south side of the house tomorrow in an attempt to have that side totally complete before we leave for Wisconsin in a couple of weeks.  If we only complete two panels a day, that will be fine with both of us.  We have pushed the project and actually are further along than we thought we would be at this time.  We'll be happy when it is finished; perhaps we can find time to relax in the new year.

Three More Panels

If a person were to walk down the street just east of our house, he could look through the houses and see everything in our back yard.  As we add panels to our fence each day, our privacy increases.  With just two more panels across the back, passersby will no longer be able to see into our backyard.  That delights me both from a personal privacy perspective and from a security perspective.  Maybe that's why working so hard each day is rewarding.

We started early again today; however, the weather was not so damp or so cold.  A single sweatshirt without gloves or hats was all that we needed to be comfortable.  Since our neighbors to the south sleep later on Saturday, we decided to work first on the north corner.  The hole on the north side was still quite soggy, but it accepted the panels and post with no problems.  The panels across the back on the east side were a bit of a problem.  When we put in the bottom rail, it still rested on the stump end that Rick had sawed out yesterday.  We knew we would have to cut further, but rather than waste time just then, we moved on to the south side.

Rick had dug all of the holes yesterday, but the south side post fought us both in height and in north/south positioning.  Rick worked for quite a while to get it positioned correctly, and then when we poured the cement in, it tried to move back to its incorrect place.  Gr-r-r-r.  It is now in position, but the location is more "good enough" than it is "just perfect."

With just two more panels on the south side, we will be ready
to turn the corner to connect the fence to the house.

Back to the east side, once again the SawsAll in conjunction with a cold chisel and a large demolition mallet removed the offending remainder of the stump so that the fence both would sit level and would have at least 2 - 3 inches of clearance underneath.  This post, too, fought us.  We thought that the north pole hole was soggy; this one was underwater about 3 inches.  We added stone and worked to get the post in at the right height.  Although it now is level, it is twisted just a bit to the left, so we will have to make some corrections with the next pole.

Two more panels to the right of the right-hand section
totally will block the view of our yard from the parallel street.

Rick was worried that we were putting the fence back too far on our lot.  We are trying to stay 3 inches inside our property line.  He measured once, and then measured again.  We are right where we should be.  The problem is not OUR fence but rather the chain link fence behind it.  That fence, over the years, has been greatly bowed out toward our property by the camphor tree just inside of it, just as our live oak tree has bowed that same fence toward our neighbors property further down the property line.  If I look at the chain link fence top, it looks like a giant silver snake slithering away.  Our fence is straight, and that is all that is important.

Our neighbor's crooked fence had us worried
for a few minutes.

One milestone that we reached today was to use all of the panels on the first pallet from Home Depot.  Our neighbor has a fire pit, so when we break it all down, he can burn it to get rid of it. One pallet down, one more to go!

The smaller of the two pallets of panels lies ready to be
dismantled and stacked into a burn pile.

Our progress has been great thus far, but we have discovered that the east side of the property is going to give us root problems all of the way.  Perhaps our three panels a day will have to soon slow down to two.  That's OK.  Each day's progress takes us closer to Gladys' private, "outdoor room." I can't wait to decorate it with flowers and bushes.

Post-Thanksgiving Labors

While the rest of the world is out shopping on this Black Friday, Rick and I dealt with a different kind of black -- dirt -- in our back yard.  We made great progress on the fence today.

Yesterday was a delightful day both because we did not work on the fence and also because we had family over for Thanksgiving.  Our nephew Jon just accepted a teaching job only 12 miles from here, so we invited him to spend the day with us, helping us eat the turkey.  Thanksgiving was the traditional feast: turkey, stuffing, two kinds of cranberries, spiced potato slices, green beans, and a pumpkin roll with cream cheese filling.  We all ate too much, but we had a good time spending it with family.  The day was fun and relaxing, something that all of us desperately needed.  Jon went home with food for a couple of days, and we were thankful that he did.  We still will be chewing on the old bird for the next couple of days ourselves.

Rick had helped Jim, our neighbor, move his boat out of his back yard so that we did not fence it in. That gave us the freedom to continue adding the fence to the south side of the house.  Rick had dug the hole for the next panel on the south, and the first hole for the first panel on the north this past Monday.  Since it rained Tuesday, we were not able to work.  Sadly, the holes half filled with water, so we could not work on Wednesday.  That was probably a good thing because then I had time to prepare the house for our guest and to get some of the cooking done.

Today we were back at our labors.  Our challenge this morning was the weather.  When we went outside, the temperature was 44 degrees with a wind chill of 36.  We both came back in to add another layer of clothing, and we added hats or scarves so that the heat did not escape from our bodies so quickly.  I even added a winter scarf to keep the cold breezes from going down the neck of my two sweatshirts. Gloves were necessary so we could move our fingers.  I know that 44 degrees sounds like a heat wave to most of our friends and family in Wisconsin, but the cold down here is a damp cold that penetrates a person's very core.

So there we were, waddling around like fattened bears just before the winter, hauling out all of the gear necessary for the fence.  The south pole and panel went in first with few problems. We both agree that blocking out the neighbor's storage sheds with clean white fencing is a welcome sight.  Once we get the whole yard enclosed, the yard will then become an extension of the house, like another huge room.  I cannot wait to decorate it with bushes and colorful flowers.

Each panel that goes up adds more to our privacy.

The second panel of the day went up on the north side of the house.  This panel, too, was not too much trouble. The ground was a bit muddy yet; however, adding the panel helped define the corner.

The inspects the hole for the next post.  The remains of the
root that he cut out are visible behind where the post will
be secured.

Then Rick started to dig the first post on the east (back) of our property.  That area is where the former owner of this house had planted a "jungle" of bushes, trees, and plants for privacy.  On top of that, we knew we would have to contend with roots from the camphor tree behind the neighbor's chain link fence.  One root in particular had surfaced and ran about four feet above ground level into our yard.  That root had to be removed because the top of it actually was above the level of the bottom of the fence. Rick worked for quite a while, cutting out the root in four sections.  The root itself was at least 10" in diameter, so I could barely pick up the cut pieces to haul them away.  Naturally, once that root was gone, we dug a little deeper and found yet another huge root in the way.  Rick did a bit of creative carving to get the hole in the correct position for the post.

Once that panel was in, we had yet another corner of the yard defined.  I wish that the gardenia tree were positioned a little more to the left, but nature chose the location for that tree long before the fence went in.  Maybe I will put a big, colorful pot of flowers next to it to balance out the area.

The northeast corner of the yard is complete and
provides a cozy home for my gardenia tree.

We took a break for lunch both for nourishment and to warm up a bit, and then we put in the third panel.  I started to wash down the posts, and when I looked up, Rick was back on the south side of the yard digging the hole for the next panel and post tomorrow.  He does not know when to quit.

When he finished that one, he came back and started the hole for the next post on the east side.  Once again, he almost immediately ran into root problems.  The whole area needs to have lots of soil removed since it is mounded higher than the rest of the yard. While I started to move dirt away, Rick once again got out the SawsAll and started attacking another giant camphor root.  The entire yard reeked of camphor, as does our garage where I disposed of one smaller section of root.  In the end, we now have two holes ready to accept posts tomorrow.

The holes for the posts on the east side of the property will
give us grief because of the roots we will encounter.

I was exhausted, the bottom dropped out of my blood sugar, and I simply had to quit.  By this time, it was almost 3:00 p.m., so we put in a much longer day than I had anticipated.  We cannot keep up this pace... or at least I cannot do so.  The fence will get done when the fence will get done.  We are not in a race to impress anyone, and I personally would like to be alive at the end of this project to actually enjoy my fenced-in back yard!

And in THAT Corner...

Rick has been fairly good about controlling his obsessiveness in putting in the fence, but today signs of that tendency started to surface.  After a not-so-restful night, I got up to find him sitting on the sofa, waiting for me to wake up.  Then he was dressed and out the door before I could hardly finish my breakfast.  Suddenly I heard a pounding sound that was WAY too early in the morning to hear, especially since the children do not have school this week, so I doubt that either my neighbor lady or her children were awake yet.  Her husband had left for work early in the morning, but I am sure that the rest of the household slept in. I rushed to the guest bedroom window to find him driving in a stake right next to our neighbor's bedroom window.  I tapped on our window, pointed to my watch, and frowned.  He got the message.

After I dressed, I went outside to discover that a heavy drizzle was falling.  Rick was already two feet down into the hole he was digging for the next post.  Rain was predicted for today, so I was unsure as to how long it would hold off.  I told Rick that the only reason I was tolerating working in such miserable weather is that it was warm outside; had the drizzle been in 40 degree weather, I would have returned to the house.

As the day progressed, the drizzle stopped and the sea fog lifted.  We never really got rid of the clouds, but the temperatures warmed nicely and a breeze kept us from noticing the humidity too much.

Soon, Rick had the first hole completed.  He then turned his attention to the opposite side of the yard in order to put in the corner post in the northeast corner.  My old fashioned Gardenia tree was a bit in the way, but we were able to work around it.  I noticed that it has one bud on it right now, so perhaps by Thanksgiving we will be rewarded with a little white flower.

Rick uses the post hole digger and the SawAll to ready the hole
for the corner post.  My Gardenia tree seems to duck for cover.

I feared that this corner would be an underground web of roots, but it was not too bad.  He had to use the SawsAll a couple of times, but the hole was completed in record time.  He put in this pole, took it out again, added stone, and went through the normal routine of trying to get it at the right height.

This pole will be a bit inside our lot line, but
that is fine with us.  

The only thing that I will regret once we get the panels up on either side of this corner post is that I will not be able to see the beautiful red flowers that are in full bloom in my neighbor's yard.

A little winter color is always a welcome sight.

Our came the cement mixer.  The box that held our next set of panel parts was wet, so it completely disintegrated before we could carry it over to the south side post. Thankfully, the pieces are very light, and in short order, we had another panel between the posts.

Each day we are excited to see the progress.  Once the panel was in and the posts were set, we worried that we might have to step the south side of the fence down.  However, closer examination of the landscape shows that we just need to move some dirt around to take out the hills and fill in the valleys in our yard next to the fence to have it look good.

Four panels now start to give us privacy from our neighbors.

Tomorrow the weather is supposed to be stormy, so I do not know if we will get outside at all.  That is fine with me since I want to start to get this house in order for Thanksgiving.  I told Rick that on Wednesday, even if the rain quits by noon, roasting the turkey, making the cranberries, and making a pumpkin cake roll will take priority status over the fence. And, of course, on Thursday I refuse to work at all.

The latest art for my kitchen reminds me to count my
blessings including family, which is the greatest blessing
of all.

The best part about being a grandparent is that we get refrigerator art again.  We received a package in the mail today from Owen, so I will smile each time I see his little hand prints in the turkey tail.  What could be better?

And In This Corner...

When a person wants something bad enough, he convinces himself that whatever it is he wants will be easy to achieve.  We both faced today terribly optimistic that our fencing tasks would be both simple and quick to do.  Ah, how delusional we were!

Our goal was to put in the two poles for which Rick dug holes yesterday.  Pop in the poles, put together the panels, get them all into place, and pour in the cement.  Sounds simple, and truth be told, the process itself was.  However, our building today took both more time and more effort than we had imagined.

Once again, we were blessed with sunny weather.  However, the winds were gusting close to (if not over) 30 miles per hour, and the humidity was on the rise.  Last week the weatherman talked about setting record lows, and today he was alluding to record highs.  We were in the low 80s most of the day.  The telling problem was not the heat but the wind.  At one point, we put together a panel to insert between two poles.  The wind came up and almost knocked me over because the panel acted like a giant plastic sail.

Each day gets a little better as we learn from our mistakes and find easier ways of getting the job done.  We are getting into a work routine, as we knew we would.  The first panel gave us trouble only in getting the posts set 91 1/2 inches apart and at the right height.  In the end, Rick felt that the panels were a little loose between the poles, but it will be fine.  We had to pull up the post a little, but by the time things were set, gravity had taken it down again by about 1/8 -1/4 inch.  Our wavy yard is so uneven that nothing looks level, but this time I verified that the panels were within my tolerance levels.

The second panel was the one that went from the corner post to the post by the tree.  This one caused a few more problems.  It was too low, so Rick added some stone into the bottom.  Oops.  Too much stone, so out some came.  For those of you who have never used a post hole digger, getting stone out of a deep hole with one is not an easy task.  The pole took more time than we thought it would, but in the end we succeeded in getting both it and the panel set.

Three panels completed now hide most of the sheds in the
neighbors' yards.

Our dilemma is what to do with the space that is left. We have some options, but are uncertain if any of them are good choices.  We can rise the lower rail to accommodate the roots of the tree, keeping the top even.  The problem with that is how to fasten it near the tree since the root system will prohibit us from adding another post.  We might have to bolt it to angle iron pounded into the ground, but then we have the raw edges of the cut panels to deal with unless we can somehow affix a post to the angle iron.

Another option is to buy some big plants like a Sago palm or ruffled fan palm and just plant them to cover the 41" gap between the fence and the tree.  The problem with that is that the plants may not grow with so many roots in the area, and if the neighbors in the back ever take down their chain-link fence, then we have a gap in our fence through which dogs or other creatures can crawl.

The gap by the tree poses a 41" dilemma. 

A final option might be big earthenware pots into which I can plant something to hide the area.  The pots would bring color to the area along with some greenery; however, getting the pots to sit flat in a very not-level area could be a real challenge.

The decision on what to do with the area will probably wait until the rest of the fence is complete.  We need to do something before we have the fence inspected in the spring, so we cannot delay our decision too long.

Tomorrow, if the weather cooperates, we would like to add one more panel to the south side of the property, and then dig the hole for the pole in the northeast corner.  We could really run into a lot of roots in that area (to say nothing of underground -- though now dead -- telephone wires.  I am very tired tonight, so I am glad that we achieved what we did today.  I have learned my lesson.  I won't think that tomorrow will be easy, and I won't even begin to estimate how much time our plans will take to complete.  Tomorrow will take care of itself.

Panel 1

The day cleared to cloudy and threatening, but that was enough for Rick to get outside and to start digging the second hole to accept the first fence panel.  As before, the second hole on the south side of the yard caused no problems since there were not any roots.  I was a bit concerned because we used to have both a Brazilian Pepper Tree and a palm tree in that area, but Rick encountered no roots as he dug the second hole.

We used the transit to make sure that everything was level... or so we thought.  After the hole was dug, we added stone and did our first measure to make sure that the pole was going in somewhat plumb.

Then we put together the first panel for the fence.  We had a little problem with fitting in the bottom rail which made us wonder if the hole was too close.  However, we were within specifications and eventually put together the panel and the top rail.  Into the second pole it went. So far, so good.

The cement was next.  Learning from our lesson yesterday, we made a very soupy mixture with the first bag of cement to make sure that all of the cement powder in the back of the mixer was thoroughly  mixed.  Then we added the second bag and let the machine do all of the hard work.  Meanwhile, we made small adjustments to the pole to make sure it was positioned correctly. Then in went the cement -- as the old nursery rhyme goes: "three bags full."

Rick laughs at me because I am so paranoid about getting everything level and plumb.  As the cement settled on the outside, we worked together to dump cement inside the pole up to ground level.  Ooops.  Not enough concrete. We still needed another half of a bag to have enough to fill the inside.

I checked again for plumb, and then decided to put the level on the top of the panel.  Uh-oh.  It was angled like a baby slide at the park! "It's not level," I said.

Rick rechecked the transit and said, "We are right on the money."

"We can't be," I said.  The level told us that we were at least an inch low on the new pole.  Rick had put a piece of tape on the corner pole from yesterday 12 inches from the top.  He used the transit to line up a piece of tape on the second pole that we were working with today.  Then he took his tape measure and measured the tape from the top of the pole.  The tape on the corner pole was 12 inches down, but the tape on the second pole was only 10 1/2 inches down.  What?  Oh, duh!  We were reading the bottom of the tape on one pole, and the top of the tape on the other. Dang! A little lifting, a little jiggling, and a lot of prying brought the second pole up the inch that it was low.  Whew!  That was a close call. Thankfully, the cement was still liquid enough that we were able to make the adjustment without any harm.

The first panel is plumb and actually level! (The ground, as
you can see, is not.)

After a late lunch, Rick went back outside to "just see where the hole next to the tree (on the east side of the property) would go." After 28 years of marriage, I know that when he tries to "just see" something, it means that he will engage in the task full force.  He dug down this third hole about 8 inches when he hit the first tree root, a monster that was approximately 10 inches round.  Out came the SawsAll with a pruning blade.  The root fought back, but eventually Rick worked his way through it by cutting out small sections at a time.  As he dug deeper, smaller roots gave him some trouble.  One in particular seemed to go everywhere.  When he finally cut it out, Rick said that it looked like an intersection of streets.  As I took the picture, I thought it looked more like a cross.  I hope that means that we have the Lord's blessings on our endeavors.  We will need them.

With lots of roots to go, we can use all of the help we can get.

The hole toward the tree is 41 inches from the massive tree itself, and that may be as close as we are able to get with conventional posts.  We still are in a dilemma as to what to do with the fence and the tree.  For now, we may take the fence as far as we can, and then deal with the tree later after the holidays.

Still energized, Rick went back to the south side of the yard and dug another hole for the next panel on that side. Our back yard looks like ocean swells on a not-particularly-calm day, so the dirt that came out of the holes was quickly tamped down into one of the many depressions in the yard.  By 2:00 p.m., he had the fourth hole dug, so we are set for tomorrow.

We made great progress today.  Rick's brother Steve told us that once we had the first panel up, we would want to continue working until they are all up.  He was right; however, my wishes far exceed my energy level.  We can't wait to see the progress we make tomorrow, and this time we will make sure that we are reading the tape and the transit correctly!

Pole 1

We started the fence yesterday, and we are optimistic, so far, that the fence is within our power to finish.  As with all things, we have to learn a routine to accomplish what we want to do each day.  Yesterday was our first attempt and a learning day with our cement mixer, so we expect to get better and more efficient as we continue.

We learned a number of valuable lessons in our first attempt at putting in a corner post. The first hole was very easy to dig.  Rick encountered few roots, and the ground was almost all sand.  We dug the hole too large, so we ended up using five bags of cement for the single post!  We'll get better with that routine.  I hope that we can put in a post with only two bags of cement.

Although the pole looks crooked, it is perfectly
plumb.  The fences behind it are not as straight.

The cement itself was no problem.  We learned that with this cement mixer, we need to put in lots of water at first to thoroughly mix the first half bag of cement.  Once that is well mixed at the back of the mixer, we can add more water and the rest of two 60 pound bags of cement.  The mixer is quiet and does a good job.  The best thing about the mixer is that it is easily maneuverable, so we can wheel it right to the hole and dump it without having to shovel it out.  Sweet!

We never would be able to physically do this job if we did not have the mixer.  With it, though, we feel we can save our energy for digging the holes and carting around the dirt and the stones.  The cement mixes itself as we put in stone and position the poles.  We feel the mixer has already paid for itself in saving our backs and our health.

We awoke this morning determined to put in our first panel and perhaps to put in two more poles.  No such luck.  It is pouring rain right now, so we are on hold until we see how the day progresses.  Even the best plans are dependent on a higher power.

Connecting the Loose Ends

Today was a good day.

We awoke to temperatures in the 40s which would be balmy in many parts of the country.  It was a wee bit chilly for my tastes, but at least we did not have five feet of snow to slog through this morning as some people did. In fact, the weather was getting better by the minute, so we decided after breakfast to start with the outlet to the backyard.

Although code in this city is that a house have an electrical outlet at the front of the house and another at the rear, I would guess that this house was built before such a code ever existed. We have an outlet in the garage near the front of the house that serves us adequately when we need to use something electric in the front yard.  The back yard, however, is a different story.

Rick works on hooking the wires to the
outlet at the back of the house.

We faced the decision of spending $30 - $50 on yet another extension cord to string together with the three that we already own just to reach all sides of the house, or we could spend just less than $30 for the materials necessary to add an outlet outside behind the garage.  Since the electrical box is in the back of the garage anyway, adding an outlet simply meant drilling a hole through the wall, running wire through a conduit, installing a GFCI outlet in a box approved for outdoor use, and connecting it to a separate 20 amp circuit breaker to handle the load.  We already had the GFCI outlet and Rick had the tools necessary to do the job.  With a couple hours of work, we had a new outlet that is safe and easy to use.  If we someday add a lanai to this house, the outlet will be an added bonus.  (Dream of the future: being able to have a covered lanai under which I can house a small chest freezer!)

Rick has been not-so-patiently waiting for our cement mixer to arrive.  He received an e-mail this morning that it finally was ready for pick-up at Home Depot, so we went to the store to pick it up.  The box was heavy, but the personnel at the Pick-Up desk were very accommodating, and a fork-lift soon had the box safely placed in the back of the truck.

While I waited in the truck, Rick went to the contractor's desk to see about our still-missing 17 pole caps from our order.  They have been promised to us twice, but no one at that desk seemed to be able  to follow-up on our order.  I am glad that I stayed in the truck.  Rick eventually came outside with his mouth set in a straight line.  That is never a good sign.  He said that the Home Depot Pro that we had been dealing with tried to come up with more false promises.  Long story short... we got our money back for the missing caps and went another Home Depot store to buy the caps.  We bought all that they had in inventory -- 14 -- so now we are only missing three.  In the end the caps will cost us $1.00 more for each one, but paying $17 to avoid the hassle of dealing with promises that never come true is well worth it.  Our order is now complete (for the most part) and totally in our control.

When we got back from buying the caps, we worked together to assemble the cement mixer.  The directions were terrible, but Rick was able to get it together without too much trouble.  It seems to be very easy to wheel around, and our test drive of the motor shows that everything is in working order.  Rick is like a kid with a new toy.  We'll see how much fun it is after we install a few sections of the fence.  Actually, it will probably save me from damaging my muscles further, and it will save Rick's shoulders, back, arms, and heart.  The price we paid for the mixer is small compared to the health benefits that we will get in the end.

The new cement mixer will save us hours
of back-breaking mixing.

I laugh because we had one "spare part" when we were finished.  Apparently it was welded together for shipping purposes only because it certainly does not belong anywhere on the machine!  When we started to take the pieces out of the box, Rick was a little upset when he pulled it out.  "Look.  They spray painted over rust," he said.  That is true, but as it turns out, the piece is only going into the garbage anyway.  I am sure that if I put it out on the magic curb, someone will haul it away before the garbage men come on Monday.

The "left over" part turned out to be a rack used for shipping.

We hope this fellow has a good appetite for the
rodents and snakes that roam the neighborhood.

We had a noisy visitor at our house today.  We have noticed a huge hawk flying around the neighborhood.  Yesterday he was in the trees behind our house, and today he was almost in our backyard.  I will put up with the noise he makes squawking because I know that he rids the neighborhood of unwanted visitors like moles and rats.  Compared to the other creatures, he is welcome at my house at any time.