November 30, 2017

Today was almost a holiday in Florida since November 30 marks the last day of the hurricane season for 2017.  I am sure that no one was sad to see the season end.  This one caught Floridans, and that is something that has not happened in this state for a number of years.  In fact, the last hurricane to hit this city happened in 1921... almost 100 years ago.  We were lucky that Hurricane Irma downgraded to a Category 2 by the time it reached the area; however, that was strong enough for our tastes.  Had I been here, I am sure that I would have been terrified.

Yesterday Rick and I went to the Nursery and purchased two crotons for the back flower garden.  Yesterday I took the shrub nippers and cut off the top three feet of the gardenia tree in that garden.  The top had not filled in well, had probably been whipped too much by Irma, and just was not particularly appealing to view.  By cutting the top off, we now have a manageable tree that I want to fill in at the bottom.  I can keep this plant a bush rather than a tree with correct pruning.

Today before the sun got around to that garden, I cleaned out some of the debris (leaves, sticks, and pine needles) that were mixed with the stone.  I really need to take all of the stone out to do a thorough job, but I got off the surface mess for now, and that will have to suffice.  The neighbor cut down the pine tree, so I am thankful that no more messy needles will fall into the garden.

Two new crotons flank each side of the corner garden.

Two plants that I had put into the garden a few years ago did not thrive, so I took them out when we first arrived this fall.  I planted the two crotons in their place for a little color in the garden.  The type of croton I planted are fairly slow-growing, so I should be able to keep them pruned to a manageable size. I also had trimmed the Ti plant in back, so that is starting to grow well again also.

The result is a tidy garden for now that I will enjoy as I look out the back windows in the Florida room.

A Little Key West...

We vowed when we came down to Florida that our house would be decorated in a tropical style, and we have tried very hard to support local artists by buying only things that either come from art fairs or from consignment shops.

Yesterday we went downtown to the Farmer's Market because Rick wanted to buy some honey with which he can make some home-baked bread.  While we were down there (since we actually scored some FREE parking at Pioneer Park), we also took a stroll through the Art Fair that was setting up.

We found a glass artist that had some cute little copper fish on a stained-glass background.  We purchased one small panel of fish and brought them home, only to find that they were way too small for the intended wall above the toilet in the master bathroom.  We took the fish back and somehow were talked into ordering a much bigger piece for the wall.

On the second trip back to the Art Fair, Rick mentioned a fun watercolor that really caught his attention each time we walked past the booth.  (Truth be told, I really liked the same print.)  The print was framed, and the artist wanted $75 for it.  We found a similar print in his batch of prints for $35.  When he asked if I wanted to buy that print, I told him that I really wanted the print that was in the frame, but I did not want to buy the frame. (The frame was too wide and not well made.)  He said that he would "swap out" the print I wanted for the print I was holding, so we bought the colorful print of three houses that we wanted to put on our kitchen wall.

The fun, Key West bungalows add some color to our
large, blank kitchen wall.

Rick did some research and found that Michael's had frames for up to 70% off.  We went to Michael's and found the perfect white frame, normally $39.99, on sale for $12.00 + tax.  Such a deal!  We came home, framed the print, and it was hanging on the kitchen wall that night.

This morning we woke up and discussed the fact that neither of us thought that the copper and glass work that we ordered would be right for our master bathroom. I could not figure out yesterday why it bothered me, but last night I noticed that all of the fixtures in that room are brushed nickel, and I don't think that the copper would look right with it.

So this morning, before church, we went back to the Art Fair.  We purchased a second print of a bright pink house with a hammock and a flamingo from the same artist, and we tried to find the glass artist so we could cancel our order.  She was not there yet, and we had to get to church, so we left.

After church, we drove back to Michael's to buy another frame.  Of course, the 70% deal was off, and the same frame was now just 50% off.  We still got a good deal on the frame, so we took it.

When we returned home,  I e-mailed the glass artist, cancelling our order.  We are much happier with the two bright, new prints that we have.  They make me smile, and both prints and frames still cost us less money than the one copper piece would have in the end.

Our new print brings a bit of Key West
even into the master bathroom.

The art is fun, original, and funky. Gladys needed a little color in her life, and if something makes a person smile, then it is worth the time and effort to get it in the end.

Subtle Changes

Although our yard does not look much different to the casual observer, some small changes have taken place as we went about "cleaning up" our landscaping.

In the front, that just meant cleaning out weeds around the mailbox, pulling a few weeds from the main garden by the house, ripping out a patch of pretty-purpled-flowered-but-still-weeds vegetation from the center of the yard, and trimming the front bushes away from the sidewalk a bit. That whole venture filled less than a full contractor's garbage bag of yard waste.

The back yard was a bit more work.  My little corner garden is under our neighbors' camphor trees both to the north and to the east, so Rick blew out a huge bag full of leaves and sticks from that garden alone.  I am glad that we put down the heavier red river rock in our gardens because we can blow off the leaves and not scatter the rock.  From that garden I removed two nearly-dead bushes, and I trimmed back two tall Ti plants.  The great thing about Ti plants is that if you trim them back, they will send out new stems and grow.  I had cut down one last year, and it is about a foot tall already. You can just see the red leaves peeking out above the front plants in the picture below.

While the gardenia tree does well, I had to remove
the bushes in both front corners and cut down the
overgrown Ti plants in the back.

My back gardenia tree needed some trimming away from the fence, but it looks full and good this year, and it has been rewarding us with gardenia blossoms since we arrived.

I have little left of the center lemon-lime plants,
but they should grow back out with new shoots
and green-and-yellow foliage.

The garden in front of the Florida room windows needed some drastic measures.  I had planted lemon-lime plants, and they had all grown tall which meant that all of the foliage was at the top with just spindly stems underneath.  Since the lemon-lime are the same type of plant as the Ti plant, they too can be cut back and allowed to grow new stems.  Right now, they look a little sick, but I have hopes that they will reward me with new shoots in a couple of weeks. (If I remember to water them!)

The bougainvillea towers above my head as
it fills in the gaps on either side of the tree where
we had to stop the back yard fence.

The bougainvillea that I planted around the back tree a couple of years ago is doing well.  (It must have liked the hurricane!)  I had to cut back some of the taller  branches and cut off one branch that was invading my neighbor's yard, but the rest looks healthy and good.  I tied one branch back onto the trellis and was rewarded for my efforts by driving one of the many bougainvillea thorns into the flesh of my right thumb.  Wow! Those things really hurt.

I really should not complain since the thorns are one of the reasons I chose the bougainvillea.  A former neighbor had a nasty little dog that was always trying to come into our yard, so by putting up a trellis and planting the thorny plant, I have successfully stopped any creature larger than a snake from entering our yard through the gap in our back fence.  Right now we see green leaves, but I see small signs that the bougainvillea soon will have red brachts to make it festive for the holidays.

Work needs to be done to form a garden around the
arika palm in the back corner.  The palm itself
was protected from Hurricane Irma's winds and
did very well.

The arika  palm that we planted in the back corner of the yard survived the hurricane well also; however, once again I raked out an entire huge bag of leaves and debris from under it.  We want to add edger pavers around that palm and to put down landscape fabric with stone on top, but the edgers that we have elsewhere in the back yard are discontinued.  Sigh.  Why is it that if one finds stones... or shampoo... or a particular food... that one likes, the manufacturer just HAS to go about either changing ("improving") or discontinuing it?  Now we have to hunt for another type of edger that will complement the gardens we already have set in place in the back yard. The fun never ends.

We would like to add some weed and feed fertilizer to our front yard, but we are just getting into the dry season here, so we don't know if now is the right time to do so.  I also need to add some plants to the back corner garden under the gardenia tree, and we would like to add some vegetation on the south side of the house, too.  We'll do that both for color and to keep our landscape people from chipping all of the paint off the bottom of the house with their weed-wackers.

The gardens and yard will be our main focus this year now that the interior of the house is complete.  This transformation will not take place all in one year, both because Rick's hand is still healing and because landscaping can be very expensive.  As I figure out what I want to put back there and what we can afford, we will start to make Gladys beautiful again.

Sparkling Clean

We spent this morning completing our cleaning project by pressure washing the south and the west sides of the house.  Then Rick and I went back and washed all of the windows.  I wish the windows in my Wisconsin house were this clean! The house does look much better, so the result was well worth the effort. While he was finishing the cleaning, I hosed down the screens so our views are clear again.

Rick uses the pressure washer to clean off Hurricane Irma
debris from the house.

The job took us most of the morning; however, as I mentioned before, mornings are our time to work.  We also wanted to get out early to wash the south side of the house before the sun got too intense on that side of the house.

We have a mystery, though.  We have noticed that the gutters on the south side of the house have mold growing on them on the outside. Now I could understand that if this were to happen to the elements on the north side of the house, but we cannot understand why mold would grow on the sunny south side.  If anyone has an explanation, I would love to hear it!

With the house all washed, we now have the opportunity to spray for bugs tomorrow.  We always forget how many creepy-crawly creatures inhabit the south until we have not had the chance to spray the perimeter of the house to keep them at bay.

After Rick finished the house, we moved on to the fence.  I was in the garage when he walked in carrying the damaged fence board that I noticed yesterday.  OK.  Apparently the board came out of the frame much more easily than we had anticipated.  We dug out a replacement board that we had stored in the rafters of the garage, and within 15 minutes we had the entire fence section back together.  Success!  We were very fortunate that our only storm damage cost us nothing and took us less than a half hour to repair.  I guess constructing the fence "the Anderson way" paid off in the end, as did our earlier efforts to reconstruct this house as hurricane resistant as possible.

The Schwan's man came today for the first time.  He was very happy we were back in town as we had ordered a literal freezer-full of food.  We now have enough meals to last us for months!  (And Owen, the Silvermint bar I had tonight was delicious.)

My last task of today was repotting my plant in the pot on the front porch.  The pot originally held two plants, but one died, so I had to repot and center the remaining plant.  It survived the hurricane nestled in the corner of the porch, thanks to my neighbor's efforts to tuck it away out of the wind. So I guess now I am obligated to keep it alive for the winter.

Perhaps tomorrow we can visit the nursery to see if we can find some plants to put in on the south side of the house.  The inside is complete; now we need to buy Gladys some flowers to make her pretty again.

Home Again

The great thing about owning two homes that we have remodeled to our tastes is that no matter which direction we travel, we eventually are home again.

Our trip down to Gladys this year in the new car was blissfully uneventful.  We flew to Gladys in October to pick up the old Honda and drove it home for our trade in on the new car.  Why purchase new?  Well, when we bought the last Honda CRV, we did so in a hurry because Lindsay needed our old Toyota. The Honda did not have many of the features that we wanted, but it was acceptable at the time.  The following year (2015) Honda came out with a Touring model that had all of the features we really desired.  As I age, pulling down the hatchback in the back is becoming more difficult.  I never totally will regain the strength I once had.  The Touring model has a power left gate in back. It also has a great navigation system for my lousy sense of direction, and it is loaded with a gazillion new safety features.  For a mid-priced SUV, the 2017 Honda CRV- Touring is rated one of the most safe and most reliable models on the market.

Rick wanted an all-wheel-drive vehicle (in case we want to bring it back to Wisconsin someday), so we purchased the new car in Green Bay.  I won't go into the hassle that we encountered trying to get it licensed in Florida; let's just say that too many hours from too many people were spent trying to get everything legally in place. Thank God for a wonderful woman at the Florida DMV named Ashley! At this point, the car is ours, it is licensed, and we are safely in Florida.

We left Wisconsin on Friday at 4:00 a.m. and drove as far as Tennessee the first day.  A violent line of thunderstorms was making its way eastward through the Plains, so we wanted to try to beat the majority of the bad weather.  Saturday morning at 4:00 o'clock found us driving in pitch dark with dense fog through Nashville and the mountains of Tennessee.  Not my favorite way to travel!  We had fog all the way from Nashville to Atlanta, Georgia.  Then the sun finally came out and the day cleared.  We never really saw any of the rain that was still chasing us eastward. Rick wanted to save money by not stopping at our hotel in northern Florida, so from somewhere he found the energy to drive all the way to Gladys.

When we arrived at Gladys on Saturday, she was so excited to see us that she peed herself!  Sigh.  Yes, we discovered on the "first flush" of the season that the toilet in the main bathroom was leaking. Off to Home Depot we went to get a new wax ring.  Just what Rick wanted to do with his injured hand: pull up a toilet!  However, between the two of us, we were able to get the toilet out and to reseat it onto a new wax ring.  Rick was concerned that when we put it back down, he did not feel it "squish" down on the ring; however, it securely bolted down and has not leaked since that repair.

We did discover that cock roaches like to live in the drainage sewer system, so as soon as we get the whole house power-washed, the bug spray is coming out!

Hurricane Irma did not do hardly any damage to our house.  We know that is mostly because we have spent the last six years adding hurricane resistant doors, windows, garage doors, and roofing materials. We noticed that the westerly wind (which was reported at 100 mph) tried to force its way through the front doors, but they held.  Rick was able to reseat the doors in the frame, and we found no indication of water infiltration.  A quick walk-around showed no other damage to our house.

The back of the house now is clean, and the windows once again
let in the Florida sunshine.  Our bottle brush tree survives (although
not well) and the bushes next to the house need some attention.

The house is filthy due to all of the debris that was flying through the air, so today Rick power-washed the back and north side of the house, including the soffits.  Then we cleaned the windows and screens, and he took the leaves out of the gutters. The rain gutters actually changed color as he washed them!

I discovered a small hole in one of the fence
panels on the north side of our property.  We'll
try to replace that panel if we can get it out.

Only when I was washing the screens (which I had propped against our fence) did I notice our first indication of storm damage.  What I thought was a small leaf plastered onto the fence turned out to be a hole that obviously was made by a flying projectile -- either a stick or a stone.  The hole is less than the size of a quarter, but it is something that we will have to address.  We'll have to see if we can bend the fence posts enough to get the broken panel out and then slip a new panel into the same place.  Thankfully, Rick said that he found a panel stored in the garage, so that task awaits us another day.

We'll try to finish washing the south and west (front) sides of the house tomorrow.  The task goes fairly quickly with house wash and the power washer.  We have lots of windows in the front, but they all can be reached from the ground or from a small ladder, so by tomorrow we should have the house, soffits, windows, and screens completed.  This job is taking a toll on Rick's left hand -- on which he had surgery this summer for ruptured ligaments-- and on his left arm.  Perhaps I can get him to let me use the power washer for a while tomorrow...

Washing the fence will wait for another day.  We are back into our old routine of working in the cooler temperatures of the morning, and then realizing (or feeling) our age and resting in the afternoon.

A little bit at a time.  We are so thankful that Gladys came through the hurricane intact and that the small tasks which face us are totally within our realm of possibilities to complete.