Scrubbing, Planting, Planning, Oh My!

Yesterday was supposed to be a "down day" since we did not have too much scheduled on our calendar.  Yeah, sure.

We hauled out the hose yesterday, filled a bucket with soapy water, and Rick took out the long-handled soft scrub brush that we had used to wash our last gigantic truck.  We learned last year that the brush also is just about the right size to reach the underside of the soffits and the peaks of the house (when standing on a ladder) so that we can give Gladys a bath.  And scrubbing she needed, indeed!

While I mentioned earlier that the inside of the house seemed to be critter- and insect-free, the same could not be said for the outside of the house.  Spiders had a field-day while we were gone for the summer.  We have webs and left-over spider lunches everywhere.  Since the front is the most visible, we decided to start with that side of the house.  Florida is sandy, so dirt and sand fly everywhere.  Rick spent the morning scrubbing while I followed with the hose to spray the walls, soffits, and windows down.  The result is a cobweb free front of the house that has clean windows and screens and looks about a quarter of a shade lighter in color.  Amazing what a bath will do!  Naturally, we still have the south, east, and north sides of the house to complete, and the fence needs a good bath also.  Another day...

Yesterday afternoon the Schwan's man arrived.  We love Schwan's food, so we saved the majority of our small freezer in the refrigerator for the food that we had preordered before we left Wisconsin.  We were happy to see him come, and he was very happy that we were back.  Let's just say that what we did yesterday was probably one of his larger orders of the day; however, the freezer is full and we will be enjoying the food for many meals.  In fact, I just baked some Schwan's Southern Style biscuits to go with our meal tonight.

This morning a representative from an insulated roofing system firm for a lanai came to give us an estimate.  His company usually builds the "cages" around swimming pools, but they do lanais also.  He was excited because our request for an insulated roof was a small, easy job set up on a square footprint.  This afternoon we received his bid.  Let's just say that we are NOT excited about the price.  His bid came in about $1500- $2000 more than I had anticipated.  His lanai roof system is not in our budget.  That might be all right, though, since we had never heard of the system he was selling, and it was not the system that Rick had researched this past summer.

We know that we can install the roof and the screen walls ourselves, and that is probably what we eventually will do.  We can get the materials for the lanai at a fraction of the cost of having it installed for us, and we think we can do just as good of a job. The gutters may give us a little trouble, but that, too, can be overcome with a little thought and planning.

Two workers start to dig the hole for the first tree as Rick sets
up his SawsAll.  A stake to the right marks the spot for the
second tree.

Right after the lanai roof man left, a truck from Palm Trees Direct pulled up.  We now have two new additions to our yard: two fairly good sized foxtail palms.  They are the start of the second phase of our front yard landscaping.  Rick and I took stakes, strings, and tape measures yesterday to plan where we wanted the two trees.  We had the stakes in place where we wanted each tree planted.

Rick saws through one of three roots that had to
be removed for the first tree.

As expected, since one of the trees needed to be near to where the old bottle brush tree had been located, the landscape people hit roots as they started to dig the hole.  Rick brought out his SawsAll, popped in a new pruning blade, and made short work of the three roots that were in the way.  The landscape workers who were digging the holes were very grateful for the saw and for Rick's help.  He made a miserable job much easier for them, and we ended up with the trees located where we wanted them to be.

I was impressed with how carefully the woman on the two-person crew positioned the trees and made sure that the berm around each tree was high enough to hold the necessary water.  The younger man of the crew cleaned up around each berm, and before they left, the woman showed us how to water the trees each morning.  If we follow instructions, we should have two healthy trees when we leave in May.

Now the front yard does not look quite so bare with two new
foxtail palms to adorn it.

Later this year, if our money holds out, I may put in the garden under the bedroom windows behind the trees.  I also want to plan a garden with the palms anchoring both ends, but I may not do that garden until the trees have had a year to establish themselves.  To everything there is a season... and I cannot be impatient with my plans.

We have made great progress this week, taking in bids, setting up Gladys, scrubbing her inside and out, and learning what we can and cannot do this year.  And as a reward for being a strong, sturdy, leak-free structure, we bought Gladys some new trees to make her even more beautiful.