Home Again

We have been in our Florida home less than 48 hours, and it already feels like we have never left.  We have two homes, and we are to the point where both finally feel like home.

Our flight to Florida was thankfully uneventful.  Rick has been watching the flights to Tampa all

week, and each day they have been either on time or slightly ahead of schedule.  We drove to Milwaukee on Monday to get an early Tuesday morning flight to Tampa, getting up at 5:00 AM Tuesday to be to the airport on time to take the rental car back and to be checked in to our 7:45 flight.  The hotel was convenient but not really conducive to a restful night.  We had no problem turning in the car, so we ventured into the airport only to discover that our flight was delayed until 8:20 AM!

Apparently the plane needed repairs before it took off from Washington DC, so it was delayed getting to Milwaukee.  Ah, well, I guess I would rather have the airline personnel find and repair problems before I got on the plane.

We had paid $85 each last fall to go through the security check which would allow us to get Pre TSA approval.  We have had, by chance, Pre TSA tickets in the past which allowed us to move up to check-in in a special line, to not unpack anything from our bags, to put only phones and pocket items in the security trays, and to walk through the scanners without problems.  That luxury, apparently, is in the past.

This time we still were able to move quickly to the front of the check-in lines in a special lane and to get checked through quickly.  The person who checked us in gave us each a blue laminated "pass" which allowed us to keep our shoes on.  Those two things were the only perks of being Pre TSA.  We still had to unload all of the computers and electronics, everything in our pockets, and all liquids.  Additionally, they pulled our bag off to the side and told us that they needed to hand-check it.  Rick said, "I'll bet you want to check out the cheese."

The agent replied, "You are right." We had packed four pounds of good Wisconsin cheese since the cheese in Florida is both expensive and tasteless.  The agent checked that the cheese was just that and waved us through.  We had to repack the whole suitcase and computer case before we could move on. So much for paying $170 for Pre-TSA privileges.  Rick guessed that perhaps the security risk was high right now.  I can only imagine what it will be like at Christmas time!

Once we got to the gate, we started to count the people sitting in wheelchairs who would have pre-boarding privileges. We always have several people in wheelchairs going to Florida, as were we, to escape the cold of the Midwest winters.  This time, however, was excessive.  Twenty-two people in wheelchairs plus their companions (yes, 44 people!) were able to get onto the plane before the poor person who had ticket A-1.  We were tickets A-32 and A-33, so boarding took much longer than we expected.  Kudos to the pilots, however, because once in the air, he tried as much as possible to make up time.

We had no problems getting to Dunedin from the Tampa airport, and returning the rental car also was easy.  While the house needs a good power washing, Mother Nature did a great job of decorating both the house and especially the garage with cobwebs for Halloween!  We were pleased to see the inside showed no signs of water damage from the pounding summer rains, and since we left it clean in May, Gladys is in pretty good shape.

A trip to the grocery store left us $150 poorer, but our pantry is restocked.  Other expenses to buy new furnace filters and such means my bank account really took a hit, but that was somewhat expected.  Opening a house is always a costly endeavor.

A drive around the neighborhood showed that most of the vacant houses in the area have now been sold.  New people have moved into the houses at the end of the street, and the house behind ours, which has been vacant for four years, finally was purchased by an investor.  He put on a new roof, totally ripped out the overgrown landscaping, and painted the formerly pink house a neutral beige. What an improvement!  The house next door to the one behind us also was sold this summer.  A couple from Michigan is in the process of restoring that one, so there is hope for this neighborhood yet!

After dinner (Publix sandwiches), we took a drive down to the Marina.  We discovered that the vacant lot at the end of quaint Victoria Lane which the city sold to a developer is now turning into an atrocious monstrosity of condos and shops.  It is obtrusive, ugly, and not in tune to the neighborhood or the cobble-stone streets which represent the spirit of Dunedin.  How sad!

The new development looms over the sidewalk
and spoils the looks of the neighborhood.

One nasty surprise that we found was that the neighbor built a gate to fence off his property in the back.  We are not opposed to him doing so; however, we are not pleased that he butted his gate post right up to the side of our fence.  He technically is 6 inches on our property since we purposely put in our posts and fence panels well INSIDE our property line.  We need to do something under the fence so our landscaping services do not keep weed-wacking the posts, and his intrusive posts and gate add a further hinderance to our plans.

The last two days have been expensive, busy, and productive.  We both are looking forward to a day were we can relax a little and enjoy our bikes and the hammock which we put up (but have not yet used) in the backyard.  The weather was great today; that was a reminder of why we chose to buy Gladys in the first place.

On our walk tonight, we passed one house that was really getting into the Halloween spirit.  This picture is for you, Owen!

Happy Halloween!