FAN-tastic!

Today was a day of cutting holes to install the new bathroom fan.

First came the hole in the new ceiling that we hung yesterday.  We actually had to cut the hole a tad larger than we expected to just to get the housing for the exhaust through and into position in the rafters.

Then outside we went.  We quite easily located where we wanted the exhaust hose to go since we knew we needed to be just left of an exhaust pipe located in the roof.  A template and a skill saw made quick work of the soffit.  When Rick threaded the hose from the bathroom ceiling to the soffit, the hole was right where it should have been.  The bright, sunny, warm day also made working outside not too tough to tolerate.

The fan exhaust outlet is rather inconspicuous under the
soffit, but getting the moisture out of the bathroom will
make a huge difference indoors.

Then came the wiring.  Rick was smart a couple of days ago to color code the wires that we pulled through the attic.  Because of that, we knew exactly what wires should go where on the fan end of things.  We were not so smart when we hid the switch wires in the wall three years ago, so when we go to hook up the switch to the fan, those wires may take a little investigation.

Once the wires were attached in the fan and the exhaust hose was threaded out to the soffit, we screwed it into place.  Now is the time to say a few fan prayers, if you know any.  We certainly hope that the fan actually was built properly and will run when we connect power to it tomorrow.  For now, at least it fits and looks good.

The new fan awaits a finished ceiling, some light bulbs, and
a cover to be complete.  Pray it works!

Rick next paid closer attention to the wall where he will place the switch.  Out came the old light switch box.  Rick cut a larger hole (hole number three today, if you are counting) to accommodate the two-gang box we purchased yesterday.  Then out came the single covered box that held the two wires we originally were going to use for an outlet in the cabinet. (That's a whole other story which I detailed back in 2011.)

Before,

Surprise!  Behind that box, we found a third wire coming down from the attic. Had we remembered there was a third wire there, we could have hooked up a night light in the fan, too.  We did not do so because we did not think we had enough wires.  Ah, well.  The fan is not coming down from the ceiling at this point, so I am sure that I will live without a night light in the fan.  Having a regular light in the shower when I bathe will be enough.

during, 

...and after we moved the boxes around to accommodate
the switches for both the main light and for the fan.  The final
switch for the fan also will contain two toggles--one for the light
and one for the actual fan.

With some not so gentle persuasion, Rick got all of the wires back into the two gang new box. We still have some wires to connect in the attic.  When we had the electricity updated three years ago, we made provisions for fans by having the electricians run wires from the attic access area in the hallway all the way to the electrical box in the garage.  Now we just need to tap into those wires by installing a new box in the attic, and by making the final connections in the electrical box. Then our new fan should be set to go.

The last thing Rick did this morning was to patch all of the rough openings, screws, and old holes in the wall in preparation for the tile setters in a couple of weeks.  While neither of us looks forward to the dust, having the room back in one piece will be great.

Today is Halloween.  Forty-two years ago today I had my first date with the dark-haired, brown-eyed, shy photo editor from the college newspaper.  The rest is history. Halloween is still my favorite holiday.
HAPPY HALLOWEEN, everyone!

Happy Halloween, Florida style.

A Little Bit at a Time

We worked a long time today, but anyone looking at our bathroom would say, "Well, what did you do?"  Most of what we did is not visible but is very important.

We risked our lives this morning to take the truck to Home Depot.  The store itself is not bad, but the parking lot is terrible if one is driving a large vehicle.  We picked up all of the electrical connections that we needed for the fan, and we also threw in a 1/4" sheet of drywall and a couple of long pieces of PVC pipe.

Once home, we tackled the ceiling. What we thought would be fairly easy once again turned out to be the most difficult part of the job.  We had two 2 x 4s that were part of the old frame on the inside of the shower.  We'll just pry them down, right?  Ha.  The first one came down fairly easily with little insulation falling on our heads.  We thought we were home free because we could see that the other 2 x 4 was backed by pieces of wood which should have held in the insulation. Rick tried attacking that second board with everything we had: hammers, crowbars, chisels, you name it.  Sadly, the board was firmly attached to a 2 x 8 section of board that was rock solid with age.  Those boards were not going to separate for anything.  Finally, the ceiling started to crack and we had no choice but to take out BOTH the 2 x 4 and the larger board to which it was attached.  Of course, as the boards came down, so did an avalanche of snowy white insulation.  Choke, choke.  My lungs may never be the same!

The good news is that we found an open cavity inside the shower ceiling into which the new fan will fit.  Another fortunate discovery was two wires in the side wall that we had installed earlier with the idea that we might someday put in a ceiling fan.  More on that later...

Success! An open cavity under the roof rafters will give us
enough access to install the fan.

Once the ceiling was open, Rick taped the two pieces of PVC pipe together and slipped them from the attic access opening in the hallway to the hole cut in the ceiling in the bathroom. Then he taped the wires that we had to run from the bathroom to the previously installed wires for the fan in the attic above the hallway attic access, and Rick pulled the wires over.  Since the PVC pipes are no worse for wear, we might take them back to the store tomorrow.

The cavity will work, and the wires are now in a position where we can add power, when the time comes, to the fan.  We also found that we will have easy access to the soffit, so we can vent the fan out the underside of the soffit through a previously purchased vent.

Our plans were falling nicely into place, but we still had uneven levels of ceiling and lots of holes in the ceiling that needed to be patched.  The first layer was a patchwork of left-over drywall from other projects.

A patched up ceiling will help even the ceilings.  Added 2 x 4s
on either side of the opening will allow us to securely screw
the fan into place.

Then we cut a single panel from the 1/4" drywall which both evened out the ceiling all around and provided a much easier surface to mud and to finish in the end.  We covered the whole ceiling and will cut the appropriate hole in it to house the new fan.

Ironically, we went to the store this morning because rain was predicted this afternoon.  We actually set up sawhorses and cut the drywall outside since the afternoon turned out cloudy but dry.  We came inside to put in some of the patchwork pieces, and when we went back outside, we found that the rain was falling just enough to get our good, finish piece of drywall all wet.  "Great," I said.  "I'll bet that is the only shower we get all day."  I was right.  It rained just enough to wet our drywall, and then it stopped and has not rained since that time.

The final layer of ceiling awaits us to cut a hole in it tomorrow
to install the fan.

Our other task will be the switches in the wall.  At first we were going to use two different boxes so we would not have to cut apart the wall; however, in the end we both agreed that a two-gang box would look better.  We will have to feed the wires from the one box into the new two-gang box which will replace the single box next to the door.  That will result in more patching of the wall but a better-looking switch in the end.

Two wires will eventually go to a new box which will
replace the single switch to the left.

The overhead work is a killer, so I am glad that most of that is done.  The ductwork to the soffit, the hanging of the fan, and the connections to the wires are all part of the plan tomorrow.  By doing a little bit at a time, this task, too, will eventually be complete.  Old Gladys has a few more patches to her structure, but she will be beautiful (and less humid) in the end.

A Day of 70s

After pushing ourselves all week, we needed -- and took -- a down day today.  No work on the bathroom, no work in the garage, no work outside: priceless.

We waited this morning for our new Schwan's man to find our house.  The street that allows easy access to the neighborhood is still closed, so I really give the guy credit that he found us.  We stocked our refrigerator with $70.00 worth of food. I am glad that we have some great-tasting meals that are easy to access and easy to prepare.

After that, a trip to Publix lightened our wallet by another $70.00, but at last we are restocked with the basics to make meals for the next few weeks. Lunch was comprised of delicious Publix sandwiches, but it was already too hot outside to enjoy a picnic in the park, so we ate at home.

This afternoon we drove to Largo to see the showroom of one of the glass dealers that sells shower doors.  We found exactly what we were looking for, and the price was almost a $1000.00 less than the dealer quoted us here in town.  When we asked why their price was so reasonable, the woman waiting on us said, "Experience.  We know how to quote, we know how to order, and we know how to install.  We have been in business over 50 years, and we do the job right."  Although we have not ordered yet, when the tiles are installed, we will call Largo Glass to come back in to measure for our glass shower wall and door.  Rick is delighted.

From there, we ventured into Michael's for me to get some embroidery frames. I have to keep my hands busy, so I am trying to embroider some holiday towels, but the fabric is too soft for me to do a good job without some kind of a stretcher or hoop on which to work.  On our way out of the store, we saw a huge display of fall flower arrangements, all for 70% off. (Today, 70 seems to be the magic number!).  I found a beautiful bouquet of flowers in a big green can that goes well with all of the colors in our living room.  I have long wanted a bouquet for our hall table, and now I have one.  The best part was that the bouquet cost me less than $20.00, and if you know the price of silk flowers, you know what a good deal I got on this arrangement.

A new flower arrangement adds a pop of color to the living room.

From there we made a quick stop at Sam's for a couple of items, and then came home.  I had some over-ripe bananas waiting for my attention, so as I write this a loaf of banana/ pear/ nut bread is in the oven. I do not know how it will taste, but it certainly smells good.

We learned long ago that no matter what you are doing, be it working, remodeling, traveling, or sightseeing on vacation, everyone needs a down day to break the routine just to refresh both the mind and the body.  I am glad that we took today off.  See, Lindsay, we don't overwork ourselves every day. Tomorrow, we'll see what we feel like doing...

A Good then Awful Day

We finished most of what we can do on the shower today, exactly one week since we arrived in Florida for the winter.  We made one discovery that changed our calculations a little, and we took one risk, but in the end everything turned out well.

We knew that we wanted to enclose the "pocket door" wall before we built the inner frame which will hold the shower tile.  Our first trip of the day to Lowe's brought home 2 x 4s, other needed lumber, and some drywall. Rick added lumber on the back wall so that the tilers had something on which to attach the backer board.  Then up went the first layer: the drywall on the north wall of the shower.  So far, so good.

Phase one: the new drywall encloses the pocket
door wall.

One discovery that we made was that the original floor of the shower was not square to the corner of the house.  The picture below shows that the front of the threshold of the original shower was off by about 3/4 of an inch.  We will make sure that our new threshold is much more square!

Our level and a rule show that the outline of the old shower
enclosure is "off" a bit from square.

One way to assure the new threshold would be square was to make sure that the new frame we built for the north wall matched the outline of the old shower wall on the south wall. We took a second trip to Lowe's for more 2 x 4s since we ended up with a couple short.  We took a risk by trying (and succeeding) to build the wall frame within the confines of the bathroom itself.  With a little manipulations, the new wall is up, complete with an additional board between the first two boards to support the glass shower doors we eventually will hang to enclose the new structure.

The new north wall will support the tile and
our new glass shower door.

At this point, we have only the fan to install and the new ceiling to add. That will have to wait for another day.  We both are tired: Rick because he worked really hard, and me because a little work seems to tire me greatly.  I am not sure that the medication I am on right now should be reduced anymore.  I may be on the lowest dose I can tolerate.

We need to tape and mud a small strip of wall next to the new frame we built today, but that will not be a large chore. Then we can do nothing more but wait for the tile to come in. Then plumbers and our tile contractor will take over the completion of this shower.  We still need to select a glass wall/ door for the front; however, we have two places that we have chosen as possible suppliers, so we will have a couple of weeks to find the right fit.

This afternoon did not go as well.  We received an e-mail that our application for a fence permit was rejected.  After a trip downtown to the permit office, Rick and I both left angry.  It turns out that his hours upon hours of CAD drawings were fine, but they would not approve the permit because he said that the fence would be 3 inches off the property line.  They interpreted that as meaning we were going to intentionally build our fence 3 inches onto the neighbor's property rather than 3 inches inside our own property limits. How in the world could they be so stupid as to think that WE would be stupid enough to intentionally tell them we were planning on breaking the law.  Ridiculous! The dimensions, if they had checked them, would have shown that our fence would be within our property by 3 inches all the way around.  But nope, what we had submitted was not good enough.  They needed things more simply done, perhaps so that their simple minds could interpret what we submit.  We're both done with even thinking about the fence for now.  For the money that we saved for a fence, we could have one hell of a beautifully landscaped yard, and we could do that for much less effort on our part.  We'll have to revisit this later.

Destruction, Debris, and Dumpsters

Life is strange.  Sometimes the things that we worry about the most turn out to be the exact things that are the easiest to accomplish.  I mentioned in an earlier post that the task I most dreaded to see Rick tackle was to take out the floor of the shower.  We had only a bit of work on the ceiling, and a few tiles and the floor left for today.

The ceiling work, because it was overhead, actually took some time to finish.  Rick had to use all of his might to take down a couple of stubborn boards, yet in the end he was able to get down what he needed as he removed the last of the drywall at the front of the shower.  We have two boards left to remove, but we cannot do that until we are ready to climb into the attic.  If we removed those boards now, the insulation from the attic would cause a "blizzard" of white insulation into the area where the shower used to be.

Getting out the last row of tile around the left hand and the rear of the shower took a bit of brute force, but in the end a good hammer and chisel left the tile and cement as just more rubble.  That left only the old blue tiled floor set up on about two inches of cement.  We were leery of chipping it out because we did not know where the cast iron drain pipe was under the tile.

"Let me see how this will go," Rick said.  He took his hammer and drove the chisel straight down about two inches from the corner. A couple of good whacks and the corner broke free.  Rick moved the chisel over and soon he had one whole row broken off in fairly good sized pieces.  Then he took the chisel and drove it under the slab that was left.  About one-quarter of the slab lifted up!  Within five minutes, Rick had the entire tiled floor of the old shower broken up and out, leaving only the drain itself suspended on about two inches of cement.  All of the pipes from the drain were still safely buried in the slab on which Gladys rests.

The walls are down, the blue tiled floor is up, and the
debris is out of the way.

Interestingly enough, when Rick took out the threshold to the shower yesterday, he wanted to see how far under the threshold the terrazzo floor continued. Ha!  We should not have worried.  You see, once the plumbing was embedded in the original cement slab,  the cement walls were built for the house.  Once those were up, the terrazzo floor was poured over the entire slab inside the cement block walls.  Therefore, the terrazzo floor was under the shower threshold and under the cement and tile, all the way to the drain.  If we wanted to bring in Barry's crew, they could polish this newly uncovered terrazzo, and we could put in a claw-foot tub or a differently configured shower of any size. The terrazzo floor is under everything.

The terrazzo floor actually goes all the way
to the drain.  We'll leave the drain where it is,
letting the plumbers slope the new floor to the
old drain position. 

The demolition is now complete.  We are left with a huge opening for our new shower and with a huge pile of debris.  We originally thought we would add a bit of debris to our garbage every week, but to get rid of this mountain of old tiles, timber, and cement, we would be filling the garbage can from now until next year at this time.  This is especially true because the City announced recently that they are cutting back on garbage pick-up. The recycling has gone so well that people no longer need twice-weekly garbage collection. Starting in January, Dunedin will reduce garbage collection to once a week.  Since we will only get garbage taken away once a week in a couple of months, we had to come up with a better plan to get rid of all the shower debris.

We decided to get rid of it all at once.  Early this morning Rick called the City to have a six cubic-yard dumpster delivered to our driveway.

Just before lunch, our tile contractor came over to do final measurements of the space.  He gave us the dimensions so we could order tile.

After lunch, I stayed home to wait for the dumpster delivery and to try to rid every surface inside Gladys of an inch of plaster dust while Rick went to ProSource to order the tile.  The dumpster was delivered just a few minutes before Rick came home.  By that time, I was really tired.

Rick, of course, could not sit still.  He changed into his work clothes and went outside to put the wooden frame pieces and the drywall/ plaster wall pieces into the dumpster.  When he did not come in after a while, I went outside to investigate.  I found that the neighbor man to our North, Mark, was helping Rick load the heavy plastic bags of debris into the wheelbarrow.  God bless Mark! They then manhandled the bags into the dumpster.  I could tell that Rick was really beat, but he was not about to pass up an offer from Mark to help him get those heavy bags into the dumpster.  Mark had a few old pipes that he wanted to get rid of, so those topped off the dumpster.  All of the debris is now inside, and the dumpster is full.  Rick called the City, and they will send a truck tomorrow to pick it up.

Once again, a turquoise Dunedin dumpster graces the
driveway. It is full to the top with the remains of our shower.

Sweeet!  Yes, the dumpster cost us $77.00 (which will be added to our next water/ garbage collection bill), but it was well worth it.  We do not have piles of debris littering the yard, and by tomorrow we will have the dumpster removed and our driveway returned to us.

The demolition is finished. Tomorrow, construction begins.  We will buy 2 x 4s to frame in a new right-hand wall and a little drywall to enclose the pocket door.  We still have the ceiling fan and attic to contend with, but each day we move toward getting a new shower in the master bathroom.  Not bad for being in Florida less than a week, is it?

And the Walls Came Tumbling Down

If you look at the first picture of the last blog, you will see where the old shower door used to hang.  That space looks entirely different now.

We started the day with a trip to church.  We love our little church here in Florida, but it is small and the congregation is mostly elderly.  In the past three weeks, two people have died, and the pastor announced today of yet another person from the congregation who is in hospice.  I whispered to Rick, "This church is dying."  That is not quite true; rather, the church is dying off as the congregation shrinks with little influx of younger families.  We used to have some families with children, but once we closed the school, those families have left for other congregations that support a school.  I hope our little church can survive.

After lunch, we changed into work clothes and went back to our task of removing the shower.  Most of the work today was centered on the front wall facing the bathroom.  Rick worked very hard, but the pictures below show the results.

Rick chips away at the wallboard inside
the shower enclosure. 

One disconcerting discovery was that the wooden frame under the shower threshold was eaten partly by termites.  We know from three years ago that termites were in this house; that is why we had the house tented to kill everything inside.  The bottom threshold showed that at one point, termites were munching away at our shower.  Now remember that that wood was under a wire mesh, an inch of cement, and very solid tile.  Nothing would have creeped into our bathroom, but having termites eat the wooden structure of the house is not a good feeling... even if they are long gone.

With the front walls removed and the side opened where
we moved out the wall to the bedroom, we have a great
enclosure for a fabulous new shower.

The blue tile (with red paper taped on top
to plug the drain) shows the original
footprint of the old shower. 

Building seems to be "in the air" today.  People were working on the house behind our neighbors.  Our neighbor lady told me that some organization is buying up foreclosed homes in the city, refurbishing them, and then giving them to needy families.  That could be both good or bad.  I am totally for helping people get back on their feet, but I am not thrilled that someone may move in there who has no intension of keeping the house in good working condition.  Our neighbors were replacing part of their privacy fence to block off their yard from the neighbors.

The vacant house behind our house also shows signs that someone has been inside trying to make some improvements.  We both think that perhaps putting up our privacy fence this year will be a good thing.

Tonight we are both tired, but how we feel is a "good tired" because of the sense of accomplishment we have with the progress we have made. Tomorrow is another day.  We plan to get the rest of the structure out and hopefully to talk to our tile contractor about the best way to precede from this point.

Gladys continues to get better and better, and we cannot wait to try our new shower when we finally get it completed.

Shower Doors, Swooshing Branches, and Smiling Toddlers

What a glorious day!  The sky was an azure canvas interrupted only by the comforting sun.  A warm breeze was brisk enough to tease the skin with a hint of coolness which totally disappeared once we walked from the shade into the sunshine.  Since we spent the morning stirring up more dust, this afternoon was dedicated to opening every window in the house and brining the wonderful fresh air into each corner of Gladys. The house smells so good now!

As usual, we were up by 7:15 a.m.  I really had feared that we would have trouble adjusting to East Coast time, but from the first day we arrived, our routine just switched an hour so we went to bed by 10:30, and we are up by 7:15 East time.  I was smart today and did not bother to shower when I first got up, knowing that later on I would need a good scrubbing down to get the dust off my skin and out of my hair.

The shower door and frame are gone, revealing bare walls
almost down to the tiled floor.

We made great progress today. Almost all of the tile is now out of the shower.  We still have a little bit to do where the door once hung, but once that is gone, the worst of the chipping job will be complete.  We still have to remove the whole wall facing the bathroom (where the glass shower doors eventually will hang); however, even though those walls also are plaster, we will not have to contend with the tile over cement board.

A view of the tile left shows the layers: tile, thin set,
1" concrete board, and wire mesh.  What a pain to remove
all of that material!

Our whole neighborhood seems to be under construction.  Two doors down, our new neighbors from New England just finished adding a sprinkler system, a new fence, new landscaping, and a new paver patio.  The vacant house behind us shows evidence that someone spray-painted the interior-- windows and all!  Kitty corner from us in the back, new shingles are balanced on the tile roof, and a dumpster has taken up residence in the driveway.

Speaking of dumpsters, Rick and I have decided that we need one to get rid of all of the shower debris. We have already dumped three bags of tiles/ cement board, and we have three more to go out in Monday's garbage.  However, we also have about nine more bags that we need to dump, and we have walls, thresholds, shower pans, and framing to go yet.  We hope that a 4 cubic yard dumpster will do the trick.

As we took our walk today and went about our daily routine, I have made a few observations.  You can tell you are in Florida

• when people who buy pumpkins have to lift them carefully so the pumpkins don't drop on toes exposed by flip-flops.
• when the weatherman tells viewers to soak their newly-purchased pumpkins in bleach water for at least an hour so the bugs do not eat it before Halloween arrives in six days.
• when the object speeding toward you in the street is an old codger in a souped-up golf cart, and
• when the normally lush fall chrysanthemum plants we are used to in the North are actually giant chrysanthemum bushes for sale at Lowe's.

Rick wanted to work further on the shower today, but we spent all morning chipping and hauling, so by noon I was tired.  I promised him that the work would still be there tomorrow.  We spent part of the afternoon with our Kindles in the back yard, reading for a while.  Just as I was starting to relax, CRAAACK, swishhhh, BBBBOOOOMMM.  A large branch from the oak tree in the yard behind us tumbled from very high in the tree to the ground. Since some of the branches from that tree reach over our property, the branch's nose-dive did not give me a warm, fuzzy feeling.  Ah, well.  I always say that nature is interesting in the tropics.

Tomorrow we hope to get the rest of the tile out of the master shower.  If we can get the walls down, all the better.  We are not so sure that we want to tackle the floor.  We may hire that out yet, letting the tile people and the plumbers vie for that honor. 

Overall, this was a good day.  We even got a treat when our daughter sent us pictures of our grandson on his first venture onto a farm.  He makes me smile, and that really is the best feeling in the world.

Smile! It's a wonderful day.

Killer Muffins

Four more large bags of debris is testament to the amount of work that Rick did on the shower today.  He pretty much took down the rest of the plumbing wall, but disturbing the pipes also caused a small leak to start from the shower head.

As we suspected, the plumbers cut into the
outside wall to make room for the plumbing
fixtures. This would never pass code today.

The back wall is almost all down, too. At
least that wall is intact.

He finished the work before noon, so after two showers to make us presentable to the public, we were off to Steak 'N Shake for a quick lunch and then on to Lowe's to get a cap for the shower pipe.  Off with the old shower head, and on with the cap.  We though that our actions would solve the problem, but now the water is trying to leak out of the shower handle assembly.  Chief Running Water once again is dealing with water that just does not want to behave.

After fixing the plumbing, Rick started to tackle the garage.  He set up the hammock stand in the back yard and rearranged a few more things.  We want to get air into our bike tires to see if I actually can ride it this year.  Since we both own trikes, at least I don't have to worry about falling off... I just have to worry about whether I will have the energy and the muscles to peddle my behind around the block.  We may try to go out later. For now, Rick is enjoying some well-deserved time off with a good book in the hammock.

This afternoon we went to the Municipal Building in downtown Dunedin to apply for a permit for our fence.  We have all of the drawings in, the paperwork signed, and the commencement papers ready to submit.  We were told that we should get a call about the permit within a week.  Meanwhile, we wait.  Rick refuses to order materials until we have an approved permit in hand.

Not that we will be idle.  The shower will probably take us three or four more days just to get the walls down, and God only knows what we will find once we begin to tackle the floor. I dread that the most of all.

I had planned on "breakfast for dinner" tonight with blueberry muffins and omelets. So I drained the blueberries, mixed up the batter, filled the muffin-tin cups, and put the muffins into the oven.  I took the mixing bowl to the sink and discovered the blueberries still draining in a bowl!  Senior moment!  Out came the muffin tin so I could carefully spoon blueberries on top to slowly mix into the batter.  Now, 20 minutes later, the muffins are out of the oven.  They look OK, they seem to not each weigh a ton, so hopefully they will be edible for dinner tonight.  If you hear the headline, "Woman in Florida Kills Husband with Blueberry Muffins," you will know what happened.

Pink at Halloween is an odd color, but
Mooseltoes fits perfectly into our pink
and white bathroom.

One other task that I finally got around to doing was to decorate the house for Halloween. I have tried to keep decorations to a minimum since we do not have much storage space; however, I am happy to report that our pink "Mooseltoes ... Trick or Treat" figurine finally has found an appropriate place in our 1960's pink bathroom.  See, Gladys welcomes everyone.

Showers, Skins, Shrubs, Street Signs, and Santa

Too much work too quickly, dehydration, and possibly Boar's Head all-beef hot dogs lead to a miserable evening for Rick.  He finally got up at 4:00 a.m. and moved to the guest room so I could sleep.  I did not figure he would do anything today, but once again his stubborn insistence to keep working motivated him forward.

A walk around the block this morning in ideal 76 degree temperatures gave us a chance to remember why we come to Florida in the winter time.  The neighborhood has changed positively.  Someone actually trimmed some of the bushes in the vacant house behind us, but the two properties kitty corner from us in the back are still vacant.  One is for rent, and the other one, thankfully, has just been cleaned up a bit.  Foreclosures in Florida are still high, but we are seeing signs of recovery.  The vacant house at the end of the block finally sold after five years after the bank spent some money to renovate it.  Another in the same area now has an offer on it.

The news this morning said that we were going in to a "cold spell" with highs only in the low 80s during the day while dipping down to the 50s at night.  Ha!  Cold front?  I think we can tolerate this.

As we came back into the house, I happened to glance at the artificial plant that I had sitting on the porch.  To my credit, I did not scream when I saw the sloughed off skin of a snake firmly entwined among the branches and leaves.  CREEEEEPY!   No snake was in sight, but that did not stop me from getting the willies. Although I paid good cash for that flower, we have had it for years and it was really faded in the Florida sun.  The neighbors probably thought I was nuts as I pulled out a garden rake, hooked the plant in the tines, and carried it to our garbage dumpster in the back yard. I still shutter when I thing about it.

By that time Rick had retreated into the house where he started again on the shower walls, confident this time that taking them down would not require a trip to the store and the purchase of more tools.  Steve offered us his sledge hammer, but Rick was afraid that too much weight could allow too much power that would actually break out Gladys' outer foundation wall.  We both agreed that taking the walls down carefully and slowly would be in our best interest.

Thankfully, the top part of the wall above the
tile came down a little easier than the walls
behind the tiles.

The shower head is now exposed; however, since it has no
shut-off valves, we have to be careful.  To remove the
plumbing, we will have to turn off the water to the whole house
so we can cap off these pipes.

Since I could do nothing while he was in the demolition mode, I went outside to tackle the overgrown bush to the south side of the house.  Our lawn care service is supposed to keep the weeds trimmed out of it, but I could tell by the over five-foot weeds that no one had touched it since I trimmed it the first week in September. We had driven to Dunedin for a week at that time to bring our new car down.

After I pulled weeds and gave the bush a good trimming, the only bush on our property now looks presentable again.  Speaking of presentable, we are both pleased that the soffits and fascia boards look great, and Gladys sparkles in her new coat of paint and freshly painted shutters.  She is starting to look like a classy old  doll!

Anyone who has ever done house construction knows that plaster dust is insidious. It will find its way into closed cupboards, coat windowsills across the room, and enclose even the back side of blinds two rooms away.  Once the clean-up for the current round of demolition was complete for the day, we decided to get some of the dust-fog out of the air by opening the windows and airing out the house.  The temperatures by that time were in the high 70s, and it just felt and smelled SO GOOD to get the mustiness and gritty air out of the house.

This close-up shows that we still have a lot of tile, plaster,
wire, and cement to remove.  More dust to come!

We decided after lunch to do some necessary shopping at WalMart and to check on Steve and Chris' house.  Roadside signs once again reminded us that San Christopher, the major street out of our neighborhood, will be closed as of next Monday for major street repairs.  We are going to have to take the "back way" out of the neighborhood for God-only-knows how long.  We are both so tired of construction that we could cry; however, in all fairness, the street really is in pretty bad shape.  As long as I do not have to pay for the repairs, I guess I should just shut up and wait for a better roadway.

While most of the shrubs and flowers at this time of year are starting to wind down a bit, when we got to Steve and Chris' house, we did find a survivor.  In one of their giant trees in the back is a tree-hugging plant (whose name I do not know) that was showing off for our visit.  Since it may be gone by next week, I thought I would preserve it here.

One last flower of the season, about to open.

Oh, and one last picture.  While we were at Lowe's yesterday, I took a picture of the blow-up they have next to their garden department.  First, Halloween has not even happened yet.  Secondly, seeing Santa and a giant blow-up Nutcracker soldier next to him under a palm tree while the temperatures are in the 80s is very disturbing. I'm from the frozen north, and those figures right now are wrong... just wrong!

Back to Work

The sun is shining, the parrots are squawking, and the temperature is 81 degrees.  Hm-m-m.  I think we are in Florida!

Our trip back to the Sunshine State started at 4:30 on a frosty (31 degrees) morning in Wisconsin.  We were on the road to the airport by 5:15 and white-knuckled it through morning rush-hour Milwaukee traffic to arrive in good time for our flight.  A snafu on Monday resulted in a long call to the airlines who lost our "early bird" boarding.  After negotiations -- including a demand for a refund of our $25.00 early boarding fee-- we were upgraded to boarding status A2 and A3.  Of course, keep in mind that this was a flight to Florida, so after all of the old folks in wheelchairs were boarded, we still ended up in the fifth or sixth row of seating.  Ah, well, a quiet businessman sat with us, the flight was smooth, and we made good time getting away from the Frozen Tundra and into the land of swaying palm trees and warm breezes.

Our transportation on the Super Shuttle also went well since we were the first ones dropped off when we left the airport. A quick look at the house showed that all was in order, and a $110 trip to Publix filled our refrigerator and pantry for a little while.

Since our Internet worked but our TV didn't when we arrived (no great surprise), we had a quick dinner in the Mall where we then visited the BrightHouse store to get our cable TV reset.  I am glad the trip is over.  For whatever reason, I was absolutely exhausted last night and getting into bed by 10:00 p.m. East Coast time was just fine with me.

Today going to DalTile was first on the agenda to pick out new tile for the master bathroom shower floor.  We knew what we wanted to order for the walls, but we had to choose a new, non-slippery pattern for the floor.  We were able to find what we wanted, so we then were off to ProSource to order the tile.  We were not sure that our tile contractor could put 1 x 2 tiles on the floor, but as luck would have it, our contractor was at ProSource when we walked in, so we were able to both consult with him and then to confirm that ProSource could get the tile.

Once we were finished at the tile store, we went to Lowe's to get a quote for the fence. The worker there talked to Rick for a long time and then gave us a really good deal on the fence components.  He said that he would save us almost $600, and his quote reflected that.  Of course, he was pushing us to order immediately, but we have to get the permit and get our own time schedule in order before we do that.  The shower has to come first...

Like all remodeling, things have to be done in the right order.  Before we can have a new shower put in, we need to take out the old shower, add a ceiling fan and a new ceiling, and then wait for the plumbers and tile contractor to come in to construct the shower. Thankfully, our tile contractor is very busy right now and was relieved that we would not be ready for his workers for a couple of weeks.  So far, so good.

A trip to our favorite stores (Lowe's and Home Depot) to buy tools to destruct the shower had us ready to go.  Unfortunately, only one of us can fit into the shower at one time, so once again the brunt of the construction work fell to Rick.  He started by removing the 1960's recessed-in soap dish and said, "Oh, oh."  I sighed.  That is not a good sign.

The hole for the old soap dish reveals a blob of cement on top
of wire mesh.  The opening is surrounded by 1" cement board
constructed in 1960 when it really was made of cement!

His verbiage was the result of finding that the 1/4" tile was plastered onto a good, old-fashioned solid 1" concrete board backed onto a wire mesh.  Read carefully.  Note I said, "Concrete board" and I mean that in the truest sense... when Rick hit the wall with a concrete hammer, it barely made a dent.  They don't make houses today like they used to. We tried a hammer drill with a chisel bit.  Uh-uh. We tried a Saws-All with a masonry-cutting diamond blade. That was like trying to saw down a giant redwood with a small saw. Nothing seemed to work.  After an hour of labor, Rick had two 1 foot by 1 foot holes taken out of the wall.  At that rate, Christmas would come and go before we had the shower down.

Back to the store we went to get both another tool and to buy some stronger ear protection.  Everything echos in a shower. This time we came home with a non-electric, Rick-operated hand tool: a four pound sledge hammer with a wedge-end opposite the flat side.  A couple of good whacks with that hammer had the walls starting slowly to crumble. Don't get me wrong.  This is still going to be a tremendous amount of work, but in the end, we think the results will be worth it (if we are still alive and can enjoy it!).

With new ear protection in place, Rick works at ripping out
the layers of tile, plaster, cement board, and wire mesh.

The wall behind our destruction is the back side of the
cement blocks that are the walls of this house.

Actually, the exercise will be healthy for us, and I have to admit that working again and seeing results feels good.  However, ask me how good this will be if Rick cannot move his arms tomorrow.

The only good thing about seeing holes like these
in the shower is the knowledge that we were the
people who caused them to appear.

We have been at Gladys now for just about 24 hours, and we already have half a bin full of debris, sore muscles, and a sense that we have never left. So are we sorry we came?  No, not at all.  Old Gladys will keep us young and healthy, and in the end we will have a beautiful, functioning master bathroom once again.