Carpet and Cookies

A new patio gave us an excuse for new entry rugs.  The old ones that we have used up to this point actually came with the house, so heaven only knows how old they really were.  They have been placed in the muddy north area for now.  We have replaced them with two identical rugs from Lowe's.  They are coir rugs which are great for trapping mud from our shoes when we venture into the back yard.  While not my favorite style, they are the right color and will fulfill our needs.

The yellow and grey rug matches the house and
the concrete!

Two identical rugs adds symmetry to the patio.

The good thing about eating out the pantry preparation for traveling north is that once the pantry is empty, I can actually wipe out the shelves and keep it clean.  Secondly, by using up the supplies, we can start each season with fresh ingredients.  And lastly, when one has a large jar of peanut butter to use, the only logical answer is peanut butter cookies!

Yum!

Life is sweet.

Predictable Results

Last night we took a walk down Victoria Drive to  view the wonderful St. Joseph Sound at sunset.  The views did not disappoint.  We also checked on the artificial turf that the owners of one of the mansions installed in their front yards.  I have to admit, Steve and Chris, that you may find that in our back yard yet.  It looked pretty darn good!

On our return to the Marina, we took a short walk out onto the Pier.  A few boats actually have started to use the day docks, but the boaters were not the only ones who have taken possession of one of the docks. Note the inhabitant below:

This pelican stakes his claim on one of the Day Docks.

He was going to make sure that boaters knew that the dock was subject not only to sea conditions, but also to his whims and avian attitude de jour.  We know from experience that this particular pelican has a mean streak to him, and if he does not like what you are doing, he will let you know.  Apparently, that post belongs to him and you need his permission to use that particular boat slip.

As predicted in last night's blog, my antsy husband this morning was like a kid with a new tinker toy set.  He just could not wait to put it together -- the shed, that is.  Before I had finished getting ready this morning, he was outside and had the shed box pulled apart.  As I showered, dressed, brushed my teeth, and dried my hair, he had the floor dug out of the box and put down, the left-hand wall and both back pieces up, and the right-hand wall firmly in place.

We wanted to assemble the shed on the slab where we wanted it to stay for two reasons: first, we could not fit it assembled through the gate in the fence, and secondly, it weighs 140 pounds empty when it is fully completed.

So we spent the entire morning putting the rest of the shed together.  As I also could have predicted, since it is not made out of 2 x 6 lumber, 3/4 inch sheathing, and roofing materials with a 25-year-guarantee, Rick grumbled about what "cheap $#!*" the whole shed was. However, while it is made of heavy-duty molded plastic, it does have metal rails and braces, metal latches, and metal gas pistons which help to raise the rather large roof.  The shed stands as high as my shoulders, and without those pistons, I would not be able to open the roof to see what is inside.

The shed fits nicely on the extended slab.,
still leaving room for the garbage and recycling.

The shed it low enough to not be visible behind the fence
and to not block the light to the garage window.

Would the shed survive a hurricane?  Maybe, since it is within the fence, next to our bolted-down HVAC unit, nestled on the north side next to our block house.   Would it survive if it were in the middle of our west-facing front yard?  Heck, no.

But it does have an overhanging roofline and plastic construction that is supposed to make it water-tight.  Since it is made of plastic, it also will not rot or rust, and being located on the shaded north side, it also will not fade or quickly decompose in the hot Florida sun.

Rick filled it with large items from our garage, so the storage capacity has greatly increased within the garage, and this summer when we head north for a few months, we will have much less than we usually have to bring into the house.

Dirty Details

Part of our day yesterday was spend pouring the last section of extension on our north side slab.  We wanted the extension to go all the way along the original slabs so we could walk on that area when we wanted to throw something into the garbage.

We laugh that we are finally getting good at pouring concrete again... just in time to not have to do it anymore until next year.

The last section of the slab extension starts
to cure within the frame.

Next year also will bring us time to add pavers both to the front yard and to the area between this north side slab and the fence.  With pavers here, we finally permanently will be free of the mud on this side of the house.

We discovered today what we had feared: the edge of the patio is not high enough for adequate rain run-off in certain areas.  We will have to grade the yard down and away from the patio, or we might just add a drain along the front of the slab to handle the water.  That is a decision that also will wait until we return in the fall.

The mismatched patio blocks, gathered from
various parts of the back yard, give us a path
along the north side of the house. For now,
they work.

Today we took care of the dirty details of our north side work.  We wanted to put the displaced patio blocks that have served in various paths for years and use them for the next year on the north side of the house.  These same old patio blocks will give us a solid surface on which to walk during wet weather.  We filled in the dirt around the lip of the newly poured slab extensions and leveled the remaining area to lay in the patio blocks.  This temporary solution should work well for us until next year.

Our final project for this winter season will be to construct the small plastic shed that we purchased to house some of the larger machines from the garage.  We should wait until Wednesday, but if I know my impatient husband, he will have it built by this time tomorrow.  Time will tell...

Concreted Success

A light breeze.  Sunshine.  Temperatures in the low to mid-70s.  What else could a person ask for when pouring concrete?

We were outside by 8:00 a.m. to set up for our concrete pour today.  Since we had finished the framing yesterday, all we had to do was to mix and pour it. Thank God for the concrete mixer-- which, ironically, soon will be stored on the slab that we poured today.

Water comes to the surface of the concrete
as it starts to set.

Our first mix was a little wet, but that allowed it to flow well into the corners like we had hoped it would do.  Subsequent mixes were easy to pour into the allotted space, so the whole process went very quickly.  We were done pouring by 9:00 a.m.

Of course, then one must have patience while the concrete starts to set.  Patience is not a key virtue for my dear husband, so he got a bit antsy waiting for the pour to set enough for him to really work it.

We probably could have poured the whole thing at one time, but we were concerned that we might not have enough Sakrete with the 13 bags we ordered.  We were correct.  At the end of the pour today, we had only 4 bags left, so we will go back to Lowe's today (E-gad! A big box store on the weekend!) to pick up another bag of Sakrete.  Better to have too much than not enough.

Rick starts to work the edges and surface of the pour.

While we cleaned up the mixer and some of the tools, the pour started to set.  It was a bit too soupy, so it took a while until Rick could get to it to start edging the mix.  Naturally, at that point the wind picked up a bit, so we also had to pluck a few leaves out of the wet concrete as the morning progressed.

The pour was finally set enough for Rick to do a final joint cut and to smooth the surface.  He debated on adding a broom finish but decided against it since we did not broom finish the other slabs.  This new pour will mostly be under the new shed box anyway, so all should be fine.

This portion of the slab addition simply has to cure.

This afternoon we'll make a (hopefully) quick trip to Lowe's, and then I think my Kindle and the hammock may be calling my name.

Geometric Shapes

Today was a day to put together shapes.  However, those shapes were delayed because I forgot to get a blood test yesterday for my doctor's appointment next week, so we started the day at the hospital.

I used to be able to go to a Lab just a short distance from our house.  I would sign in, wait not more than 15 minutes while the technician completed the paperwork, get my blood drawn, and be on my way.  Sadly, the Lab on Keene Drive closed because they lost their lease, and the powers-that-be decided not to relocate that Lab.  So-o-o-o-o, the next closest lab is in the local hospital.  The last time I went there, I waited quite a while to get blood drawn.  Today I waited 50 minutes for a two-minute procedure!  They only have three rooms to complete blood work, and I swear only two of them ever are staffed.  Once I finally got into the draw room, the phlebotomist had to spend another 10 minutes just logging me in and filling in the correct tests to perform on the samples she drew.  Rather than waste her time doing that, don't you think that they could train someone to do that kind of paperwork ahead of time (during the 50 minutes we all had to wait!) so the trained phlebotomists could just do the skilled part of the procedure at the end?  She should have been able to come into the room, ask my name and date of birth, pull up the completed paperwork now on the computer, hit one button to print out the labels for my work, and draw the correct number of vials of blood.  Efficiency is apparently not part of that department!

After our wait, we returned home to start our prep work for the north side concrete addition.  Rick received a call that our "shed" box and the concrete we ordered yesterday would be delivered between 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m.  While I finished some inside housework, Rick started to dig the trench for the additional concrete.

Our back yard is a shambles.  We now need dirt in the area we dug out for our first shed attempt, so Rick wheelbarrowed the dirt to that area and dumped it.  The dirt is filled with stones, so it all needed to be sifted to remove those stones.  Since two people could not work comfortably on the narrow north side of the house, Rick dug while I sifted.

Once he got the dirt out, we framed the area for the concrete pour tomorrow.  We had purchased re-bar to tie the slabs together, so Rick drilled into our older slabs and inserted the re-bar.  Then he put in the frames.  We have to make sure that the slabs we pour tomorrow are lower than the current slabs so the water continues to drain away from the house.  We do not need puddles when it rains, and we are just getting into the rainy season in Florida.

Rick finished his geometric shape: two long, narrow rectangles.

The sections will widen the area enough so we can fit
a storage shed next to the HVAC unit.

I ended up making geometric shapes of my own: tall pyramids (triangles) of sifted dirt.  I don't want to knock them down yet since we may need to scoop some up to fill in the area in front of the new slab once it dries. We also may need some dirt around the patio once the rain settles that area also.

The sifted mounds of dirt look like we have ants on steroids
in our back yard.  Those mounds will eventually be smoothed
down into useable yard before we leave for the summer.

After lunch today, as promised, the delivery man brought us our large box of shed materials and 13 bags of Sakrete.  They all are stowed safely away in the garage for our morning workout tomorrow.

We were able to walk on the new patio for the first time today.  The edges are 8 inches deep, so they are going to take longer to cure than the inside which only is four inches deep.  We removed the sandy grit on the top of the patio with a broom today.  The seed pods that fell on the patio left small colored circles.  I hope that those either wash off or wear off eventually.  If not, I guess that is God's artistic addition to our patio.  I plan to bring the camping rug back to Florida when we drive down in the fall.  We might as well use it here.  It is doing no good sitting on a shelf in our basement in Wisconsin.

We are excited to have a dry, level place on which to sit next year.  Slowly, we are making Gladys a comfortable place to live.

Sand Sculptures, Sheds, and Shopping

We got up this morning, and after the disappointments of yesterday, we decided to get out of town.  We knew that if the Inspector wanted to come to our house, he could do so without us being here.

We traveled to Clearwater Beach to view their Pier 60 annual Sand Sculpture competition.  The theme this year was musical groups and musicians.  The event was totally under a big tent, complete with ever-changing colored lights (which screwed up some of my pictures, which is why many of the following are in black-and-white) and appropriate music.  We thoroughly enjoyed the artistry and the sculptures.  The ten artists took ten days to create some of the following:

Jimi Hendrix

Grateful Dead

The Doors

The Beatles

Glen Miller Band

The Beach Boys

Part of the competition was for "amateurs"
to display their work.  Of the seven in that part
of the competition, this sculpture is my favorite.

Once we were finished with the sand, we returned home just in time to see the Inspector parked in front of our house.  Rick drove around the block to avoid speaking to him, and we returned home after he had left.  Thankfully, he signed off on the patio.

Last night I suggested that since we had the small slabs on the north side of the house, perhaps we could put on just a little storage box to hold some of the items in the garage.  We did some shopping and decided that one of the small, plastic storage boxes would be enough to alleviate some of the congestion in the garage.  Rick wants to put in elfa shelves from The Container Store to better organize the garage; however, elfa is expensive, so those shelves are not in this year's budget.

We traveled to three different Lowe's stores before the found the Suncast storage box that will suit our needs.  We need to add another small concrete slab in front of the other slabs we poured to hold the new storage box, but we will be able to add on to the slabs quite easily.  When we ordered the storage box today, we also ordered 13 bags of Sakrete... and we actually got it on sale at only $1.78 a bag.  That is even less than the concrete that we ordered a couple of days ago for our now defunct shed slab.

We both are sick of the red tape that this City uses to get money out of every building project in town. Do we really want to use a plastic box instead of our large shed?  No, but the smaller box on the north side of the house will not clutter the yard, will not be seen behind the fence from the street, and will not need the approval of either the the city permit office nor the inspectors of the city.

Disappointed in Dunedin

I am so disappointed with the events of today, that I could cry.  And if I were not so tired, I might do just that.

Last evening, I felt completely different.  We had watched the workmen complete our patio, and we started to make plans to pour the shed slab ourselves.  We were prompted to complete the shed slab because the concrete was on sale, and after watching the workmen pour the patio, we were confident that we knew how to finish it.

When we went for a walk last night, we ran into some of our old friends, Sam and Maude.  Stephanie, I am including their picture just for you!

Sam and Maude (far left) join some of their other feathered friends
in our neighbor's front yard.

This morning dawned cool and clear, a perfect day for digging the back yard up and forming the area for the slab.  We started early.  The frame took some time to complete, but we felt that we had the right level and pitch for the slab when we finished the frame by 9:00 a.m.  We had spent part of last night gathering all of the lumber and supplies that we would need to make today go smoothly.

The first part of the frame outlines
where the slab would rest.

Once that was in place, we started to dig out each section.  Each section was down the four inches that it needed to be, and Rick got a good start at digging out the eight inch deep by 12 inches wide footing. While he was doing that, I was working hard to distribute the piles of dirt as we filled in low spots in the back yard.

Each section within the frame is lowered by 4 inches, and
Rick starts digging out the foundation.

A trench shows where a large root had to be
cut out of the foundation area of the slab.

When we were about 90% finished, Steve (the contractor) came to take out the forms on the patio.  He asked what we were doing, and we told him that we were putting in the shed slab ourselves.  Then he dropped the bomb: the Inspector would be back in our yard to do a "final inspection" of the slab!  Rick had specifically asked about inspections when he talked to the contractor's wife, so we were not happy at all to learn that we were not done with inspectors yet, even though she told us that the preliminary inspection would be the only one we would have to pass.

So what is the problem?  Well, in this town, not only does a person have to have to pay for a permit to pour a slab and pay for another one to build a shed, but one also has to have the shed plans approved by an architect.  Add another $300 - $500 for that stamp of approval, even if Rick is the one who drew up all the plans.  We know that the plans work because we have been enjoying the shed that we built at our northern home using those plans several years ago.  We can pour the slab and build the shed for less than $1000 if we do it ourselves.  If we have to jump through the permit hoops, add about $2000 more to the cost of the shed.  We cannot afford that, even thought we would build our shed to specs and it would have been more sturdy and better-looking than 80% of the Home Depot pre-fab sheds in this town.

Steve then told us that although a shed had to be held back from the property line only two feet, a concrete slab under the shed must be at least five feet away from the property line.  Therefore, all of our hard work was for nothing.  The slab would not have been in the right place, and we would have had to rip it all out if an inspector ever saw it.

We both are SO SICK of the inspectors in this town and their never-ending rules about just about everything.  I am surprised that we do not have to get a permit to park our car in the driveway.

So while Steve finished cleaning up and getting the patio ready for inspection, Rick cancelled the concrete delivery for tomorrow, and we ripped out and filled in as much as the hole in our yard that we were able to do with what energy we had left.

The frame is out, and we have started to fill the dirt back into the
hole we dug to pour the slab.

Rick said, "That is it.  We have tried twice to pour a slab for this shed, and twice we have failed.  I am done with this.  We will not have a shed.  I don't know how much more effort I am willing to expend to do anything else at this house."

I agree with him.  I am disappointed, angry, sad, and exhausted.  I, too, am done with doing anything else for this house. I am out of energy to fight for anything anymore.

Step Two: Concrete

The Inspector came to our house on Friday and approved the preliminary work that had been completed to pour our patio slab.  The bug spray was in place, the rebar was positioned, supported, and wired correctly; and the footing was of the desired depth.  All was good.

We had a weekend that promised rain, but none materialized, so we did not have to worry about wash-out conditions.  We knew that the contractor would be here either on Monday or Tuesday. He originally had said "Tuesday," so I was not surprised when they did not come to pour on Monday.

Buds are ready to open on my little tree.

As we were in the back yard yesterday, I decided to give the vegetation back there a good watering. Much to my surprise, when I watered the corner garden, I discovered that the white gardenia tree is full of buds ready to bloom.  If the tree really blossoms, it should be beautiful.  I'll post pictures if it decides to bloom this year.  We have owned this house five years in June, and I have yet to see more than one or two blossoms per year.  Perhaps the weather conditions are just right this year for a spectacular display of flowers.

The concrete truck mixed the concrete on site and
then transferred it to the pumper.

This morning we planned at getting up at 7:00 so that we would be showered and dressed before the contractor arrived by 7:30 - 8:00.  Then we heard a truck pull up in front of our house-- at 6:54 AM!  Rick yelled, "Get up, Sher, and take a shower and get dressed.  They are here!"  OK, so much for a peaceful start to the day.

The workman directs the concrete into the corner
to the correct level to pitch the slab away from the house.

I have to say that the contractor did an excellent job.  The concrete truck mixed the concrete on site so it was fresh, dumped the mud into the pumper truck, and out it came onto our prepared site.  The slurry they used was very wet which made sense since it had to be pumped from the truck in the street through a four or five inch tube.

The rough, wet finish of the patio waits to dry before Kory and
Jeff came back to add the finishing touches.

They were done with the pumping by 8:30 this morning, and then two men, Kory and Jeff, stayed to work with the patio until about 1:00 this afternoon.  Of course, while they are trying to do their work, the wind picked up and the trees in the back yard decided to add leaves and small seeds into the mix. Kory and Jeff were perfectionists in what they did.  The edges are cut in, the patio was scored in the correct places, and the end result is a smooth slab with proper footings and a brushed finish.

We were glad that the experts were the ones working in the
sun to smooth the finish on the patio.

Of course, we have to wait a few days for it to cure, but the weather promises to be sunny but cool (high 70's to low 80's), so this should be perfect weather to watch concrete dry.

The finished patio will be a wonderful place to relax in the
morning or late afternoon shade.

Naturally, Rick and I are on to our next adventure which is digging out the area for the shed slab.  We were not going to pour the slab this year, but Home Depot put their SacKrete on sale for $1.88 a bag. Since it usually is over $3.00 a bag, we could not pass up such a sale.  Long story short, after a bit of hassle and negotiation, we are now having two pallets of concrete delivered sometime on Wednesday.

I have to say that we learned a great deal about putting in a concrete slab from watching the contractor the last couple of days.  We now know the proper way to dig the footings and to add the re-rod, and we have figured out a way to complete the shed slab in six pours.  Will we ever actually build a shed?  Who knows.  If not, we will have a nice little slab in the yard that we can relax on under the live oak tree in our back yard.

Step One

An early morning telephone call is not necessarily a good thing.  Many times such calls revealed  news of ill or passed away relatives, warnings about storms or other natural disasters, pleas for help, or other unwelcome news.  Today, however, our early morning call (which came just as Rick was getting up and as I was eating breakfast), was from the contractor who told us that he was coming a day early to dig out the area for our new patio.  The wait is over!

The area in our back yard where we want to place the patio.

The original 5 x 8 foot slab built in 1960 did not fit modern lifestyles.

He arrived as promised with his son and one other worker.  They looked over the area, took lots of measurements, and came up with a plan for our patio.  Although the concrete will go higher under one of our two back doors than we had planned, the contractor promised us that the pitch would be right and that the rainwater would all wash away from the house.  Pray.

Workers break up and dispose of the original slab.

Then they started with the digging.  The dirt itself was fairly dry and loose, but they did find the remains of the ear tree that used to grow in that area.  Of course, the large roots were right were they wanted to dig deeper to put in a bell footing for the corner of the slab.  The old concrete slab was supposed to be only four inches thick, but in some places is was 6 - 8 inches thick and very difficult to break up.  In the end, though, they broke, wheelbarrowed, and removed all of the concrete from the back yard.

The patio area starts to take shape as workers add forms to the area.

Since our yard has many uneven areas and low spots, we asked them to just pile the dirt in some of the problem areas of the yard.  Not only did they do so, but they also spread out much of the dirt for us.  Sadly, we raked the majority of it back up into small piles to sift since most of the dirt was filled with stone, grass, sticks, and other debris.  We finished almost all of that work today after they left.  What is left, we will finish tomorrow morning, hopefully before the Inspector comes to approve what they have done so far.

Plastic covers the area that the contractor had sprayed to keep
termites away from going under the slab to get to the house.

Rebar rests in the footing area of the patio.

We have to wait the weekend before we will get the cement poured  The contractor promised that he would be back on Tuesday with a truck load of cement to complete the work.

The excavated dirt fills in a low area on the south side
of the Florida room.

We are excited to finally get a patio slab poured in the back.  We then will have a clean area on which to sit and relax without having to worry about a mud patch each time we get a little rain.  Perhaps some day we will save enough to put up a lanai.  Until then, we will be thankful for what we have.

Waiting and Weight

Rick and I are in the waiting mode.  We would like to wash the Florida Room windows, but why bother when the contractor is *supposed* to come Friday to dig up the back yard?  We would like to do some more landscaping south of the Florida Room, but we cannot do that until the contractor moves the dirt from the patio area to the other side of the Florida Room.  We would like to wash the fence, but read my comments above about the contractor and dirt.  So now we wait for the sequence of events to occur.

In the meantime, we both are finding that inactivity leads to overeating and generally morphing into two sloths. I have lost and found the same four pounds all winter long.  We work on something around the house, I am occupied and exercising; therefore, I eat less.  When we are done, I am bored and excess food finds its way into my mouth.  Sigh.

Now don't get me wrong.  I am happy that most of the major work is completed around Gladys -- at least the work that we can afford to actually complete this year.  Along with the waiting mode, we also must enter the saving mode to have funds for "next season's" projects.

We did get out this morning while the weather was still cool and ride our bikes.  I knew I was in trouble when pumping up the three tires on my ICE trike left me winded.  What a sorry physical specimen I have become!  However, once we were on the bikes and headed for the trails, riding felt great to 98 percent of my body.  The two percent that wasn't so great was my right knee.  I had torn the meniscus in that knee a few years ago, and it has been aching the last few weeks.  This morning, on the bike, it felt bad, then OK, then bad again.  The question now: Have I torn something again, or is the knee just aching from arthritis?  The fact that it felt a bit better once it warmed up suggests that arthritis might be the culprit, but if it continues to hurt, I'll ask my doc what is going on once we go North for the summer.  By that time we probably will have fully met our insurance deductible, so a diagnosis won't cost us a mortgage payment.  (Maybe a week's worth of food budget, but not the whole house!)

Until we get the contractors in to pour the patio, we will have to keep walking and biking, keep cleaning the house and raking the yard, and keep busy with hobbies like weaving and reading good books.  Anything to keep me away from the 'fridge...

Flowers, Flamingoes, and Falls

At 4:05 yesterday afternoon, we finally received a phone call that we had been waiting for all day from the concrete contractor.  She told us that she had "calls in to the Permit Office," but that no one had yet returned her call.  Since the contractor did not have the permit, she told us that our patio job would have to be delayed until April 15.  We rather expected to hear this news.

Rick had been checking our permit online numerous times during the day, so he knew that the permit had not passed through the final office for approval.  He had told me early that morning that the City had until April 14 to make a final decision on the work, so we are both sure that is why our contractor said that they could not start the work before April 15. She also mentioned that the recent rain had delayed their work schedule even though her husband assured Rick last week that the rain had delayed nothing and that they were right on schedule.  My thought: Believe whomever you want.  She did, however, promise to call us if the permit came through earlier.  Neither Rick nor I are depriving ourselves of oxygen waiting for that call.  We have finally learned that where contractors and the Permit Office in this city are concerned, what will be, will be.

Since we sat around the house all day yesterday, Rick was antsy to get away today.  We decided to drive south to St. Petersburg to see the Sunken Gardens.  Historically, the Sunken Gardens started out as an ancient sinkhole that eventually filled with water to create a small lake.  According to the Garden's brochure, "In 1903, the four acre property was purchased by George Turner, Sr., a plumber, who was an avid gardener.  He drained the shallow lake, which had...dropped 15 feet below street level [but which provided] a rich soil to grow fruits and exotic plants from all over the world."  His little garden became quite an attraction, and although the initial 25 cent admittance fee has risen to a AAA discount of $6.00 for seniors, that is still quite a bargain as Florida attractions go.  The Garden is owned and run by the City of St. Petersburg today, and they have done an excellent job of keeping things green and lush.  The only aspect that disappointed us was that they did not do a very good job identifying with labels the names and species of most of the plants.

Bougainvillea towered above our heads to prove
a lush, beautiful backdrop.

This is a bromeliad, but I don't know which variety this one
represents.

With temperatures in the high 70s today, the stroll through the Garden was beautiful. In addition to lush plants, they also had parrots, flamingoes, a large tortoise, koi ponds, an orchid garden, a butterfly garden, and even a couple of waterfalls.

Although this is early spring, many of the plants were in full bloom.

I have no idea what this plant is named; however,
it is exotic and beautiful.

Since orchids like cool, shaded areas, several varieties were absolutely gorgeous.

Orchids were both light...

and beautifully colored.

Even the flamingoes were out to enjoy the sun.

We only saw two flamingoes.  Apparently at one time, the
flock of flamingoes was huge.

Waterfalls provided both sound and tranquility to the garden.

A small waterfall provided soothing background sounds.

This is a weekday, so not very many people were visiting the garden.  We did see two different hula-hoop exercise classes in a special paved, shaded area within the Garden.  Two different groups of children, one a line of toddlers and one "older children" in the 3-4 year-old range, also were walking through the foliage.  The toddlers looked bored to death, and the teachers of the older group already looked like they were ready to call it a day although it was not even noon yet! This Garden was much more interesting to adults than to children.

After we spent a couple of hours in the Garden, we drove down the shoreline until we came to a very nice park in a very, very upscale section of the city.  Rick looked up some of the house prices which ranged in the $1.5 - $4 million range with taxes that were anywhere from $35,000 - $80,000 per year. Yeah, right.  I guess they were a tad above our price range.  Thankfully, the park was free, so we sat at a shaded picnic table and had a very relaxing, enjoyable lunch.

The only problem with today is that Rick blames the palms and the dampness of the Garden for the raging headache he developed by the time we reached home.  He's napping on the couch right now, so I think he will survive.  I enjoyed getting out into the sunshine and the fresh air to see beautiful plants that I would never be able to grow in Gladys' back yard.

Waiting

The most irritating situation in the world is waiting for something that someone has promised.  That is the situation in which we find ourselves as we are "trapped" at home waiting for yet another Florida contractor.

Rick has always been a person who likes to take charge and to control every situation, so he is less than patient when a contractor tells him that he will arrive on a certain date and then does not show.  Granted, this is Florida and contractors seem to have a habit of making (and breaking) such promises to everyone.  We are far from alone in this matter.

However, that leaves people like us in limbo.  We don't feel we can venture too far from home, yet staying here will soon drive Rick crazy.  Thank God he has a book to read which really holds his attention right now.  If not, he would be driving me crazy.

This area becomes a terrible, muddy mess when we receive rain,
so we cannot wait to concrete in the whole area with a patio.

We are waiting for our concrete contractor to come to our house to dig out and to frame our concrete patio.  We want to remove the 1960's back slab and to pour an approximately 12 x 20 foot slab in its place.  Someday, we may even erect a lanai over the concrete.  For now, though, we would be happy with just the slab to keep us out of the mud that always seems to form in that area when we have a hard rain.

So why aren't they here yet (at 112:44 p.m.)?  Well, when Rick looked online this morning, our permit to have the work completed had only passed two of the three departments through which it must go.  Ah, our lovely City and its omnipresent permits!  So perhaps the City is holding up our construction.

Reasonably, since this contractor is uber-busy, I would think that getting the concrete trucks to pour in the morning for jobs which have been previously approved and framed would make sense.  They may be busy pouring someone else's foundation or patio and will come to frame our job sometime later this afternoon.  Perhaps previous work is holding up our construction.

They also may have many larger jobs than our small bit of work, so I could understand where they would want to complete the bigger job and then fill in with our little job toward the end of the day.  Perhaps that is why our construction is delayed.

For whatever reason, I only would ask for one thing: COMMUNICATION!  This contractor has an excellent reputation and is known for quality work which is why we hired him; however, like many small businessmen, his organization is not set up to efficiently and effectively communicate with the customer.  We know from experience that our phone calls are not returned and our e-mails sometimes take days before we receive a response.  Okay, he's busy.  I get that.

However, part of being a good businessman is having good communication with customers.  A simple, brief phone call telling us at approximately what time he might arrive -- or a message telling us he got delayed (or the permit got delayed) and he will not come until tomorrow -- certainly would go a long way as far as customer service is concerned.

Having taught communication for 30 years, I know the value of good communication, and sadly, that is one attribute this company lacks.

Pipes, Pooches, and Plans

Most of today was spent on indoor/ outdoor projects.  While I cleaned the house, tore apart the bed and washed everything (in preparation to put on dust mite resistant covers) and baked a banana cake to use up some over-ripe fruit, Rick spent the morning outside raking the last half of the back yard. (And we have a BIG back yard.)  We each took the morning to complete all of our tasks.

After lunch we ran a few, short errands and then relaxed a bit.  After dinner, we ventured downtown to watch the Bagpipe bands.

To celebrate its very Scottish heritage, Dunedin holds its annual Highland Games, complete with bagpipe competitions, Scottish dancers, sheepherding border collies, and caber and stone throws. They even throw bales of hay as a part of the traditional competition!  Our little town boasts one of the largest Scottish Highland Games in the entire United States.

We are going to the games tomorrow with our nephew, Jon.  Another big part of the Games are the concerts.  Each group plays something with a Celtic flair... be it contemporary music, traditional Scottish fare, and even hard rock -- complete with bagpipes as parts of the bands.  Although the weather promises mid-day storms, a little downpour may be preferable to the scalding hot weather we had at the Games last year.

The Highland Games celebration has been going on all week.  Tonight was the second annual bagpipes band parade.  The parade consisted of bagpipe groups, Scottish dance groups, and even Scotty dogs!

In addition to four bagpipe bands from Dunedin, we also saw bands from area communities as well as groups from Atlanta, Georgia, and New York.  The parade has grown from last year, and it was a fun (although still short) event.

We are looking forward to a fun day tomorrow as Dunedin displays that it is a unique place in which to live.