This and That

Although we do not have any major projects to do at this time, that does not mean that we have been idly sitting around watching the grass grow.  Well, actually, that is not true.  Since we planted grass both in the front and the back yard, we ARE watching the grass grow to make sure that it fills in the lawn.

We now are into the "maintenance" mode of home ownership.  With major projects completed, we can turn our attention to the minor maintenance issues that are a part of any house.

A couple of days ago, we took advantage of the cooler morning air to wash every window in the house.  Rick took out the screens, and while he soaped and squeegeed the windows, I hosed down the screens and washed the window frames and sills.  Once I toweled off the screens, Rick reinstalled them.  What a difference!  The windows were filthy and the screens were full of dust and pollen.  Now the windows are clear, the screens have "disappeared" from sight, and we actually can notice more light streaming into the house.  Of course, that condition will not last, but for now we are enjoying the view.

We are starting to check off the items that we need to complete before we leave for the summer.  One big decision was what to do about the cable/ internet service.  We used to just put it into "seasonal" mode with Brighthouse, paying just a small fee each month to stay connected while the service was not in use.  Sadly, Spectrum has bought out Brighthouse, and we are reading nasty things that this new company is doing to people who try to use the "seasonal" feature.  They start charging fees for the time they are gone by starting the service early, and when people complain, the company just says, "Too bad.  You had the service, so you owe us the money."  Also, Spectrum will not let anyone cancel their service if they supposedly owe them money, so they keep getting charged until they pay up.  I foresee a class-action lawsuit in the not too distant future.  To avoid all of that, we will just cancel our service before we leave, and take all of their equipment back.  They cannot turn our service on early if we have no equipment and no contract with them while we are gone.  We will have to sign up with them in the fall when we return.  Too bad that a company cannot act fairly with their customers.

We continue to work a bit on the yard.  This morning I raked half of the back yard again because our neighbor's camphor trees are starting to drop leaves which blow onto our patio.  I bundled up one whole large garbage bag of leaves again that will have to go out to the curb for Monday pick-up.

Watering the grass and the palm trees has slowed somewhat, but we occasionally throw a little water on everything.  Since we did not hook up to the reclaimed water system, our front lawn especially (which gets more direct sun than the back) is really dried out.  Florida is in a horrible draught right now.  The state has declared an emergency once already due to the numerous wildfires that are engulfing acres of tinder-dry land.  At least no one has been killed yet due to the fires.  But we need rain, and none is predicted for the next week.

We have tried twice recently to spend a quiet afternoon at the beach, but both times we encountered brisk winds coming onshore across the cool water, so the air became uncomfortably cool.  We would have been fine had we been like most people lying in the sun courting skin cancer, but we tend to stay in the shade, so we felt the temperature difference.  In another couple of months, I am sure that the beaches will be a welcome refuge from the heat, but for now we will wait for more calm winds or a warmer day.

Rick also spent one morning recently washing both vehicles.  The pollen is terrible right now, so within a day the cars are covered with a fine, yellow dust.  They looked good for a little while, but I am sure that we will have to wash them down before we put the Honda in the garage and drive the truck north.

As noted above, the problem with maintenance is that it never ends.  The bathrooms need cleaning each week, the trees keep dropping more leaves on my freshly-cleared lawn, the pollen resettles on the cars, the windows will collect all matter of debris, and we keep dragging dirt into the house each time we enter.  Ah, well, at least now we have  the time to DO something about these little nagging tasks that never seem to end.