Clearing the Jungle

Although we have only been here for three days, we both admit that we feel like we have been here for a month.  We continue making progress inside the house in putting things in their place, so each day Gladys becomes more like home.

I forgot to mention last time that Chief Running Water made the trip to Dunedin as well.  The first time I did dishes, I also got my feet washed!  As I scrubbed dishes in the sink and dipped them in the other sink to rinse them, water was making its way out of both drains and onto the floor.  Rick came into the kitchen and said, "Where is all of that water coming from?"  Dah... since the sink was the only logical place, it did not take him long to find that both drains were not tight, thus I got my feet washed as well as my dishes!  A little attention with a wrench fixed the sink problem, but our woes were not quite over.  The drains were tight, but water continued to drip on the floor.  The secondary culprit was a new dish draining system I thought would work for Gladys.  Unfortunately, there was a weep hole by the silverware that drained onto the counter and onto the floor. Chief Running Water reigns again! Those in our family know that plumbing, water, and Rick are just not a good combination!

Today when we were out shopping for fun things like door knobs and paint, we drove through a residential neighborhood.  We both did a double-take as a huge male peacock came strutting down the driveway to check out the vegetation by the mailbox. A peacock! Only in Florida...

We had to pick up doorknobs today because Jeff, our contractor, said that he is only waiting for one more door to come in to complete our order.  He hopes to start putting in our new windows and doors on Thursday or Friday of this week.  He said the crew will take 3 - 4 days to put in all of the windows and doors, but when they are finished we should have a much safer and more quiet house.  We had to buy five doorknobs-- one for each of the two back doors, one for the not-yet-built door into the not-yet-built laundry room, and two for the new double doors that will replace the single front door and leaking floor-to-ceiling window in the living room area of the house.  We learned that with double doors, one door will have a working doorknob and deadbolt, but the other door will just have a "dummy" non-working knob. The problem: Schlage does not make a "dummy" knob, so if we want one to match, we have to buy the full $139.00 working doorknob and then just use part of it.

The giant cabinet that hopefully will fit in the bathroom!

Part of our job today was getting the doors on the giant white cabinet that Rick built for our master bathroom.  I have attached a picture to show how it presently looks lying on my bedroom floor. We need to add the handles yet and the "feet" to raise it off the floor.  Then we can pray that when we set it upright, we will have room to clear the ceiling when we do so.  We have to move it somewhere tonight because I do not want to have to walk around a giant white "coffin" in the middle of the room when I want to use the master bathroom in the middle of the night.

Clearing the bushes around the palm tree.

We also trimmed drooping fronds from the palm tree.

Our work after dinner was to "clear the jungle" in the backyard in preparation for the workers to take down the pepper trees tomorrow.  We had a huge growth of cuphea ignea, better known as cigar plant or cigar flower, under the palm that we have in the back yard.  Each year the bush spreads a bit more, so we had to trim it all out for the landscapers to get to the pepper trees. The pictures show that the shrubs were defeated in the end, but we both sweat out our outfits, and we both drank 32 ounces of water in and hour's time.  We had to wear long pants or the bugs would have eaten us alive.  I understand from Lindsay, though, that the bugs everywhere this year are super-sized.

Our gift from Gladys.

While we were clearing the bushes out, Gladys once again gave us a present.  This time it is a lovely little 4" glass bowl that we found buried in the dirt under the bushes that we removed.  I sometimes wonder if some mischievous children lived here and pitched dishes and flowerpots into the brush when they did not get their way.  I found a buried flowerpot last year, and now Gladys presented me with this little bowl.  Perhaps that is her way of saying "thank you" for trying to spruce up the back yard.

Taking Inventory

Yesterday (Saturday) started with rain as was promised by the weatherman on Friday evening.  We were able to get off to a fairly early start, although this time the sun was actually up before we hit the road.  As we drove south, we drove out of the rain. Once we turned onto Highway 580, we felt like we had arrived "home" again.

Our first view of Gladys was with the sun shining and temperatures in the low 80's.  She had three huge dead palm fronds lying in the front yard, and one was hanging from the front rain gutter, so "not lived in" was sadly evident. We were spoiled this whole last winter because Steve and Chris checked on the house often, taking care of the little issues that made it looked uninhabited.

We worked very hard and had all of the trailer unloaded by 12:30 p.m. Rick had sweat out his first shirt of the summer, and I have to admit that I was none too dry either.  The house was piled with tubs and boxes, but all was safely inside in case the weather turned on us.  We learned today that Dunedin has received six inches of rain in the last five days, but we have not seen any rain at all since we arrived.

We worked all day opening tubs and boxes and trying to find places for everything.  What was not in one box we found in another.  So far we had not noticed that we are missing anything that we intended to bring.  In fact, I found more kitchen items than I though we had down here, so I have now started a tub of items that I want to take BACK to Green Bay in May. I also have an abundance of shoes and underwear down here, so when I go home in August, I need to take better inventory of what I am leaving behind.

Today we awoke to a disaster of empty boxes and scattered items, but we spent the day trying to put things into order. The additional glass dishes, bowls, and casserole dishes I brought down have left me short of storage space on my kitchen shelves, so my new shelf unit I bought for the laundry room now is located next to the refrigerator, holding our food.

And speaking of refrigerators, ours has us concerned.  When Rick and Stephanie came down in October, they noticed that the refrigerator took a long time to cool down.  Today we noted that the thermometer in the 'fridge still was not down to 40 degrees after being on for 24 hours. We did a quick look at new refrigerators, looking for a white model with a bottom freezer and no ice water in the door.  OK, OK, I know that I am old fashioned.  I don't want to give up half of the 'fridge inside the door for an ice water distribution system.  I also don't want stainless steel or a side-by-said construction.  Give me a one-door upper door that does not leak because two doors are involved.  Give me a white box with a freezer in the bottom that is cabinet depth so it will fit in this old house's old kitchen space!

We came home at noon discouraged because what we were seeking was both scarce and priced at approximately $2600. Strangely enough, when we sat down to lunch, the temperature still read above 40 degrees in the refrigerator, but the milk and yogurt were cold.  Hmmm, maybe the refrigerator was not the problem.  Maybe we just need a new thermometer!

We know that the refrigerator will need replacing, but at least we feel the the food currently is safe to eat.  Side note: an outbreak of e-coli is in the news, so while the refrigerator may not be to blame, we still have to be careful what we buy and how we prepare the food.  So far... so good, but I do have second thoughts about buying much at the Farmer's Market this year.

This afternoon we did find a refrigerator at Lowes that I would be very happy with, and Rick likes the price-- with sales, we can buy it for less than $1000.

As I look around the house tonight, I see that Gladys is starting to seem like an orderly home again. Rick not only put together the small shelving unit for the kitchen food, but he also assembled our new cherry cocktail table for the living room.  We also have set up the white cabinet he made for the master bath, but that needs doors and shelves installed yet.

We took a truckload of broken-down boxes to the recycling center. Both bedrooms now have queen-sized beds set up, although the guest room still needs walls scrubbed and painted, new curtains, and all new woodwork. We still have to move the bikes from the Florida room back to the garage, but we need to put tools away so we have room for them first!  The weather was in the low 90's today, and the humidity is very high. That kept us from working out there today. Welcome to Florida!

As we walk from room to room, we take inventory of what needs to be done in each room. We know in this first week alone, we will make arrangements tomorrow to have every window and door in the place replaced with hurricane proof windows and doors. We have Boen Tree Service coming in on Tuesday to remove a termite-ridden, almost-dead tree in the back yard.  While they are here, they also will remove about seven other small trees.  We have paint picked out for five of the six remaining rooms that need paint, so perhaps this week we also will be able to paint the Florida room its new blue/green color.

Last year we spent the majority of our money trying to make Gladys' electricity and heating/cooling systems safe.  This year we will concentrate on making Gladys snug and secure. In the process, we also will be giving her new cabinets and a fresh coat of paint.  After all, what woman does not like extra storage areas and a new application of make-up to look gorgeous?

Weary and Weather

Exhaustion seems to be a common theme tonight, so this blog will be short.

We started the day at 3:30 and were on the road by 4:04 a.m. Rick drove first since we had to drive through Nashville.  While the weather gave us problems last time, our navigation systems gave us problems this time.  Before we left Wisconsin, Rick uploaded the latest maps on Victoria (our Garmin system).  In doing so, however, he erased her "memory"of the route that we like to take to get to Florida.  In Nashville, Victoria kept trying to take us on an eastern route so we would go through Atlanta. She "recalculated" so much that we finally unplugged her. While going through Georgia is the shortest way to get to Florida, we have been told by numerous people, including our friend Paula who used to live in that fair city, to avoid Atlanta at all costs.  In the middle of Nashville we got mixed messages and the physical AAA maps did not go far enough to give me clear answers.  Rick's demands of needing an answer on which way to turn two seconds before we needed to take a turn resulted in a minor melt-down on my part and a very, very, very crumpled map of Alabama.  Eventually Rick's sense of direction got us turned around and back on the main route, but our trip through Nashville is far more stress than anyone wants or needs before 4:45 a.m.

After Nashville, we changed drivers for a little while, but I was not feeling well, so Rick took over again and navigated through most of the state of Alabama.  Once again the weather was beautiful, although watching the sunrise through the bug-splattered windshield of a truck is not my idea of a perfect way to begin the day.

We did a quick diesel fuel stop in Dothan, AL, and then crossed into Florida.  We ate lunch at the Florida Welcome Center, and I took over the driving.  I actually enjoy driving Highway 10.  It is flat, straight, and  not overwhelmingly boring. Ironically, after a trip with wonderful weather, today is relatively cool (high 70's) and the only time true rain threatened is when we entered the "Sunshine State"! The rain fell before we arrived as evidenced by the puddles we see everywhere here in Lake City, but none has fallen since we arrived here.

Sadly, the weather is not promising for tomorrow when we make the last 3 1/2 hour journey to Gladys. Due to storms over the unusually warm Gulf of Mexico, rain is predicted for Pinellas County for the next 10 days.  Thank heavens we have a garage door that actually works this year.  We can, if need be, back the trailer up to the garage and unload the goods into the house through the garage.

After dinner at Steak and Shake this evening, we went for a short walk and then returned to the hotel room.  We turned on TV, and both of us promptly fell asleep.  I can hardly keep my eyes open, so I apologize for this rather bland entry.  With what energy I have left, I feel excited to finish this last leg of the journey so we can reunite with Gladys before noon tomorrow.

Time and Money

When I teach the unit on conflict to my Oral Interpersonal Communication students, we note that the definition of conflict includes an expressed struggle between two interdependent parties who perceive incompatible goals in obtaining scarce resources.  The students learn that the two most scarce resources are what the title to this blog alludes to: time and money.

Although Rick and I are NOT having a conflict, we do find ourselves concerned about both of these resources.  The most urgent right now is time.  My darling husband, the super-planner, had our U-Haul trailer that we were going to load with goodies and pull to Gladys set for pick-up at 9:00 a.m. on Thursday, June 7. (Side note: Happy Birthday, nephew Steven!) He has had this trailer reserved for June 7 since last October.  Did I mention he was a super-planner? On Tuesday of this week, Mr. Ants-in-His-Pants gets the great idea that we should get the trailer on Wednesday (since he did a drive-by of the U-Haul place and saw that they were loaded with trailers) and then we could get an early start on driving south on Thursday.

He went in Tuesday afternoon to talk to the woman behind the U-Haul counter who plugged his request into the computer.  Yup, he could have the trailer on Wednesday, and the computer said that it would only cost us $400 MORE to get it early.  Ha!  Note from the blog title that the other scarce resource is money. Thankfully, the U-Haul woman called her dispatcher, pulled some stings, and got us the trailer a day early at the agreed-upon October price. Rick's time-urgency was briefly satiated.

We spent all of Wednesday loading the trailer and setting the Green Bay household into "hibernation" mode.  As much as I tried to eat out the refrigerator, Lindsay and Chris still went home with a cooler full of food with our blessings. (I hate to waste food except for the mysterious bottle of something that expired in 2010 that Lindsay found lurking in the refrigerator door.  Thank heavens today was garbage pick-up day at our house!)

This morning (Thursday), we were up with the birds and on the road by 4:45 a.m.  We found that if we take three-hour driving shifts, we can make it to our destination without undo fatigue on any one driver's part. For those of you who have never done so, please note that Illinois seems to go on forever when one tries to drive it all in one day.  I swear that if a woman gave birth to a child in northern Illinois, the kid would be ready for kindergarten by the time she drove to the southern tip of the state.

Thankfully, we are now in Clarksville, TN.  We drove approximately 12 hours today with no problems.  The sun is shining, the birds are singing, but my butt may never recover from sitting in the truck that long.

The good news is that although we saw 7 dead deer, none of them died from direct contact with our truck.  We passed more police officers than I cared to count, but we did not make anyone's personal acquaintance on the way.  We changed drivers and took bathroom breaks every three hours, and (knock on cement) all of the tires on all of the vehicles are still inflated. We actually made good time in getting to our hotel for the evening, and although filling the truck with diesel always gives me heart palpitations, we actually could fill up for $3.69 gallon.  Putting in the charge card twice because the gas station had a maximum $95.00 charge limit nearly killed us, but then we reasoned that it could have been much worse had diesel remained above $4.00 a gallon.

Our hotel is conveniently located near the highway, gas stations, and blissfully, several restaurants within WALKING distance.  I think I would have rather starved than to climb back into that truck tonight.  We spent a little more money than we would have liked on dinner, but I have half of mine in a styrofoam box in the refrigerator for lunch on the road tomorrow.

Clarksville, TN, is next door to Fort Campbell, home of the 101st Airborne Division.  Helicopters, uniforms, and lots of people. There is more traffic here than in downtown Manhattan.  When we asked about the traffic, we were informed that one of the major events in the area this weekend was the Country Music Awards in Nashville.  Timing is everything!  We know that traffic is miserable in Nashville even on the weekends, so we had to come up with alternate plans.

We have agreed to get up tomorrow by 3:30 so we can be on the road by 4:00 a.m.  We have an hour's drive to Nashville which we want to traverse before the Friday morning rush hour. The last time we drove through Nashville, we almost drowned in a terrible downpour, so at least the weather is supposed to cooperate tomorrow.  Driving through Nashville will probably take an hour and a half, so we hope to get there by 5:00 and through the area by 6:30 at the latest.  Barring any major construction or major accidents, we should be on our way in reasonable good time.

Rick just said that with bathroom and lunch breaks, we will ONLY put in about 9 - 9 1/2 hours in the truck tomorrow.  Our destination is Lake City, FL, which will leave us with just a short jaunt to Gladys on Saturday.

So far... so good.  The timing worked in our favor so far, the money is slipping out of our accounts at an expected rate, and we are looking forward to a good summer in Gladys.  Our plans are ambitious... removal of eight trees in the back yard, all new windows and doors, a remodeled master bathroom, new paint in the kitchen, Florida room, master bath, master bedroom, and guest room, and (if the money holds out) perhaps new kitchen cabinets before we leave. We have nine weeks to make these transformations, so the question is what will disappear first: time or money?

New Year, New Opportunities

The last time I wrote (in October 2011), I did not figure that I would write again until we were either traveling down to or had already arrived in Florida this coming June.  Then the unexpected happened.

The story really starts two summers ago when we were camping in our Carriage Carri-Lite fifth-wheel tailer in Door County and noticed that one of the back windows seemed to be leaking.  After removing the window and resetting it with waterproof tape and adhesive twice, we were still plagued with a very slow leak during hard rains.  We took the camper into Janesville RV to have it fixed and put it up for sale.  Not a nibble.

It has been on the market for almost 18 months, and in that time we have watched it depreciate every month that it sat idle.  We moved it from Janesville RV last year to Burlington RV in the hopes that they would have better luck in selling it. They looked at the window, determined the roof was cut short and that is where the leak really originated, and they made all repairs.  We put ads out into every online site that we could think of, and Burlington also did a great job of putting up pictures and advertising it in various spots.

Unfortunately, then the economy went to hell, and no one was looking at any high-end trailers. We watched our hopefully $40,000 profit dwindle until we were offering it for wholesale price.   By December of this year, we were looking at the option of just keeping it and paying $1600 to put it back up in Door County. Since we now have Gladys, that was not a terribly appealing option.  Since the trailer did not sell during the time in the fall (September and October) when new Snowbirds look for trailers, Burlington put it in back to hunker down for the winter.  Strangely enough, we have not been hit with the predicted terrible cold and snow.  We have had a very mild winter both snow-wise and temperature-wise.

Not one person had inquired about the trailer in all that time.  Then, miraculously, in late December we received an e-mail from Jim and Barbara Cash, asking if the trailer was still available.  They had friends who owned a Carri-Lite, and they were willing to drive up from Arkansas to see the trailer if they could negotiate a price within their budget.  To make a long story short, on January 3 of this year -- our 36th wedding anniversary-- we took a terrible price beating, but we sold the trailer.  Our cut, after Burlington takes their share, will be about half of what we originally wanted (and $30,000 less than wholesale), but it is the best we can do in these economic times.

We now will have a little money with which we can continue to remodel Gladys.  We want to finish moving the wall in the master suite so that we have more room in the master bath.  We need to put in a new sink, new plumbing (no more leaky pipes), and a new shower in the master bath.  With luck, Rick and I will be able to build a small bathroom cabinet in the newly-found space next to the toilet so we can store towels, shampoo, toilet tissue, and a few other odds and ends. With the exception of the shower, the labor will be ours.

We need to replace windows.  Although we will not have enough money for them all, we know from a book Rick bought me for Christmas on the history of Dunedin that the majority of major storms (note I avoid the "H" word?) come from the southwest, generally traveling up the coast.  For that reason, we want to replace both bathroom windows (which face south), the master bedroom windows, and the kitchen windows.  Both the bedroom and kitchen windows are at the front of the house which faces west.

We also need to replace both back doors this year, and if money permits, we can perhaps put in a new front door with sidelights also.  (The front door also faces west.)

Neighbors using our yard as a dumping ground has prompted us also to look at replacing the fence that we took down last summer.  The old fence needed to go; it was rotten, full of nails, and a safety hazard.  We would like to replace the fence to keep our backyard a little more "off limits" and secure. Rick wants to put up a maintenance-free white plastic fence.  I am not sold on that look; I like the white but not the plastic.  We have few other options, and I must admit that the plastic seems to stand straighter than the wooden fences that lean like drunken sailors walking against the wind.

After all of that, if we have any money left over, we can order kitchen cabinets.  I could actually end the summer with a place to store my dishes, and perhaps even have a new dishwasher in which to wash them. If you remember, right now our kitchen has no cupboards, a sink held up by a cheap countertop from Home Depot, and a metal rack for dishes.  At least we have a new stove, and old microwave, and an even older refrigerator that we pray can make it through a couple more summer sessions.

I don't know what we will run out of first... time or money.  We have a tremendous amount of work to do this summer, and again, we must do it all within about a two month time span.  Oh, yes, and then there are the trees that need taking down in the back yard, and perhaps a couple of bathroom fans that will require yet another sweaty trip to the now fluffy, insulated attic.

I have been saving what little I make teaching part-time this year, and we also have been trying to save a little each month for Gladys if other bills do not crop up. (I won't bore you with the story of the Lexus' 90,000 mile "routine" service that cost a fortune.) We will never be rich, but we are slowly making some headway.

We certainly will not finish Gladys this summer, but we hope to make some real advances toward a more livable home.  If Rick can stand working one more year to keep us in full-time insurance, and I can continue to make a little money teaching adjunct and working for Cengage Learning, then perhaps we can save enough for remodeling in the following WINTER when we could finally become true snowbirds.

Dead Before Halloween

Rick and Stephanie got an unexpected opportunity to visit Gladys this fall, so they flew down on October 26 (which is teachers' convention for Rick) using some of the free accumulated miles we all had.  Since the Governor robbed Wisconsin teachers of bargaining rights in an effort to break the unions, (unfortunately, he was pretty much successful in doing so), teachers' convention was cancelled this year, but most schools had some semblance of a contract that allowed the teachers time off.  Rick figures this is the last time this will ever happen, so he used some personal days and the convention days to make a five-day trip to Gladys. Sadly, I could not afford to be away from my students for that long since the college does not have a teachers' convention in the fall, so I stayed home while Stephanie enjoyed a few days in the sun.

This was Stephanie's first time to see Gladys, and she got a taste both of beautiful fall weather and of some of Gladys' bad habits.  Rick had the water turned on for Gladys on Tuesday, October 25.  By the time that they arrived late Wednesday, Gladys had peed on herself again!  The water connection leaked where a bathroom sink will someday go in the main bathroom, and Rick and Stephanie arrived to a three-foot puddle.  Stephanie learned the first rule of visiting Gladys-- always know the way to Lowes or Home Depot.  After some work, Rick was able to pretty much abate the leaks although he said that he has a bucket installed under both bathroom sink connections.  Leaking sinks will not be a problem once they leave because we again will turn off the water to the house, but this certainly is a problem that we will have to solve once we return in June 2012.

Workman cutting trunk of the tree.

While they were down there, Rick and I decided that we needed to have the leaning tree in the back yard removed, hence the name of this blog.  The tree is down and dead before Halloween which is much sooner than we thought we would be rid of it.  The roots were half out of the ground, the tree was not healthy, and it grew around our electrical wires so that if it fell, the wires would go with it. It also dropped dirty, huge pods all over the yard.  We spent $500 to get it taken down, but it was certainly worth the hassle.  I have attached a few pictures of the process.

Grinding up the exposed roots and stump.

We hired a firm that was recommended to us, and they did a great job.  Rick said they very carefully dropped the tree, hauled the lumber away, and as the photos show, they also ground up the stump -- including all of the exposed roots that caused all of the problems in the first place -- and smoothed out the yard.

No tree! Now we have room for a lanai... someday.

Now that the yard is smooth, we can someday remove all of the stepping stones and pour a large slab foundation for a lanai.  We would like to have a screened porch that goes from the end of the Florida room to the end of the garage.  Someday...  Unfortunately, the other tree in the picture above also needs to be removed since it is 90% dead and fairly rotten.  We found evidence of termites near it in the summer, and it also will threaten the house if it falls.

Flower buds on the giant cactus

Stephanie sent a couple of other pictures just to show me what I am missing in the fall.  The first is of the 20 foot cactus in the back yard that has suddenly decided to bloom again.  Naturally, it will come into full bloom when we are gone.  It was just starting to bloom when we left in late July, and now the fall show of bright pink blossoms will again be enjoyed only by the neighbors.

Hibiscus in bloom.

She also said that my hibiscus on the south side of the house was beautiful, and she sent evidence of that too.  The hibiscus, at least, was kind enough to bloom all through the summer, so at least I got a chance to see those blossoms. The blossoms are usually quite large, and against the green foliage, they make quite a show.

They have had a fun time down to see Gladys.  Steve and Chris are down there also, so they have been able to see their house and to enjoy some time with them on this vacation.  Rick, of course, does not want to come home.  I do not blame him.  He said that the temperature should reach 77 today; the temp was 33 here in Wisconsin when I went to church this morning!  We can both smile though, because a very bad winter is predicted, and in the past two days, the East Coast has been hit with a terrible early snowstorm.  Parts of Massachusetts have received 24 inches of heavy, wet snow.  I'll take my future winters in Gladys any day!

I wish I could say that I would post again around Easter time, but I doubt that we will be able to fly down at that time.  Rick does not get much time off, and neither do I.  This will probably have to suffice until next summer.  I hope that Gladys has a safe, snug winter.  I cannot wait to see her in late spring!

A Tale of Two Homes

We are home -- in Green Bay, that is.  For now, this still seems to hold the title of "home" more than Gladys does, although as time goes on and we begin to split our year into six months in each place, that may change.

Our second day of travel toward Wisconsin began with a planned later start.  We were up at 5:00 a.m. (now in Central Time) and went down to the hotel lobby for breakfast.  Unfortunately, this was not a breakfast that Julia Child would have raved about.  The eggs were powdered, the formerly-frozen French toast sticks were reheated -- and now almost cold --  fossilized planks, and even the sweet rolls, according to Rick, were less than spectacular.  Ah, well... at least no one forced us to try the grits!

We got off to a good start from Athens, AL, and soon crossed the border into Tennessee.  We agreed that Rick would drive through Nashville, and I am so glad that he did.  On the way down to Florida, we were blessed with sunshine all the way, and up to that point in our return trip, the sun had also been with us.  Then Mother Nature remembered that she had not washed our truck in a while.  Just as we got to the southern part of Nashville, the rain started.  The more we got into the unfamiliar city, the harder the rain fell.  We soon found ourselves in the middle of a good, old-fashioned cloud-burst, gully-washer of a storm.  The windshield wipers could not keep up with the waterfall, so our visibility was approximately 2 feet in front of us.  The rain beat on the truck so hard, I thought that it would wash the paint off.  We could not hear the directions coming from the GPS system, and reading signs was impossible.  Naturally, we were in very heavy traffic since this was in the very middle of Nashville.

How we managed to navigate through that city still amazes me, but somehow we made the right turns, and we did not hit anyone or have anyone hit us.  Of course, once we were through the worst of it, the rain began to subside.  Go figure. An hour north of Nashville, the sun came out and the day turned hot.

We changed roles driving every few hours, getting out to stretch and to use the restroom, so by noon we were through Tennessee and Kentucky, and we entered Illinois.  Other than California, Illinois has to be the longest state in the nation to try to drive through.  (OK, I admit that Texas is large, too, but Illinois seems to go on forever.)  About mid-way through the state, our second "event" of the day happened.  I was driving, the sun was beating on me, and I mentioned to Rick that I was really hot.

"You're just having a hot flash," the smart-aleck replied.

"I don't care, " I said. "Turn the %$#& air conditioner down."

He obliged, but the truck didn't.  No matter what buttons he pushed, the air conditioner, which was NOT functioning, did not go on. He worked on the buttons and switches for about half an hour, checked the manual, and then began to fret about the fact that a new compressor could cost us a $1000 to fix.  None of this was making me any cooler.  We rolled down the windows and began to "enjoy" the 88 degree Illinois air.

When we reached Campaigne, we decided that since the GPS said we would be in Rockford -- our destination -- by 4:00 p.m. we might as well just push our limits a few more hours and drive home. The temperatures were not getting any cooler, and we did not want to face another day with a hot ride in the car.  We cancelled our hotel reservation, and continued on with Green Bay as our destination. With sore muscles and flat butts, we arrived home before 9:00 p.m. after approximately 14 hours in the car. 

I have no idea if the long drive left us so exhausted or if the bed really is that much more comfortable than the air mattress we have slept on for the past eight weeks, but when we hit the pillows a little over an hour later, that was all I remember.  The bed felt SO good that I was out cold for the night.  I am sure Rick snored, but even that did not keep me awake.

Side note: ironically, when Rick moved the truck in the driveway this morning, the air conditioning came on as if to apologize for its misbehavior the day before.  We hope that indicates that we just had a switch go bad on us.  We will find out when we take the truck in on Monday.

I beg Charles Dickens' forgiveness for altering the title of his famous work for the title of this last blog, but I now find myself trying to make a transition between two totally different worlds.  We have lived in this home in Green Bay for the past 21 years, and we have done extensive remodeling in that time.  I know every nook and cranny, I know where everything is stored, and we have worked very hard to make this home the best that it can be.  This home is a modest ranch house, but it seems like a luxurious palace after living in Gladys.  I have granite counter-tops in the kitchen and bathrooms, a dishwasher in which to place dirty dishes, Kohler fixtures everywhere, a Miele washer and drier in the basement, and beautiful tile in the newly remodeled bathrooms.  And this place seems so BIG!  We have a two car garage and a full basement that actually seems fairly empty since we took most of the furniture from there to Florida.  The landscape is green and lush (although a bit overgrown), and we each have our own home office from which to use our computers.

Gladys is a work in progress.  She shows great potential, but she also promises a tremendous amount of work.  We have only known her a couple of months in somewhat adverse weather conditions, but we know the true opportunity she presents.  We have made great strides in her infrastructure this year -- a new electrical panel and updated wiring in places, a new heat exchanger and air conditioner, all new insulation in the attic, removal of pests and termites, refinished terrazzo floors, and fresh paint in two rooms.  We know that doors and windows will be expensive upgrades that face us yet, as well as walling in a laundry room and moving the master bathroom wall.  All of those things must wait for a renewed budget and recovered energy.  She will be a beauty in time, and only when we finally have time to spend six months of the year in her (three years from now) will we really know what it is like to live in Florida. 

We hope that Gladys will become as much of a home to us as Green Bay is.  Right now Green Bay also means family, work, and responsibilities.  We have been blessed to have Lindsay and Christopher in town to watch over the Green Bay house, but since they just bought a home of their own, we know that we cannot keep imposing on them to care for our home next summer also.  Green Bay also means the responsibilities of work and paychecks so that we can maintain two homes.  This world is the familiar world of reality while Gladys still seems to be "playing house" without having to worry about the work side of life.  Gladys is "vacation" yet (even though we worked our butts off!) while Green Bay is structure and reality. 

We are caught between two cultures, so we will be interested to see how this will change as the years go on.  Will we reach a point where Gladys will be as much "home" to us as our home in Green Bay the more we make her our own?  Will both places become vacation homes after we both retire?  Will we be able to afford both homes once we retire?  All of those questions remain unanswered right now.

For now, Gladys is still an adventure with lots of unknowns.  Green Bay is welcoming, familiar security.  Eventually, I hope they both will become places that we can call "home".

I finish this blog with a bit of regret, but check on it again in June 2012 when we start Year 2 in our transformation of Gladys from a worn-out old lady into a grand old dame!

Greetings from Athens

I wish that the title referred to a sun-kissed city in Greece; unfortunately, the Athens we currently find ourselves in is in northern Alabama.  If you remember, the last time we came through this state, we followed a genuine horse's ass down the highway.  This time through we were spared the view of the equestrian behind, but happily we once again were blessed with sunshine while we drove.  Strangely enough, the sun is still brilliantly shining, but we can see pouring rain through our hotel window.

We spent most of yesterday packing what we wanted to take home into the truck.  Then we thoroughly cleaned the house, and we made sure it was ready to close up for 10 months.  We got to bed by 9:30 p.m., but I tossed and turned until after 11:00.  Rick was out cold and his snoring sounded like a full wood shop at peak production.

The alarm went off at 3:00 a.m., and by 3:30 we were out packing the truck.  We sadly left Gladys, but we got away before our goal time of 4:00 a.m.  After a couple of blocks we had to turn around and reset the thermostat from 79 to 80 degrees which meant that our new departure time was back to 4:00 a.m.  The City of Dunedin will come on Monday to shut off the water and to pick up our garbage can.

We made good time getting out of the Tampa area, although driving in the dark is not our favorite way to travel.  Rick drove the first 2.5 hours, and then we switched drivers as we reached northern Florida.  Getting around Tallahassee was painless.  We switched drivers again because I was having trouble staying awake and all went well until we crossed the state line into Alabama.

Then the phone rang. 

Since Rick was driving, I picked up the phone only to hear the voice of George K., our insurance agent for Citizens' Insurance.  For those who do not know, once Hurricane Andrew blew through Florida, all of the insurance companies abandoned the state.  People could not buy houses because they could not get any company to insure their purchases.  Finally, the state of Florida had to step in to insure homeowners, so they developed Citizens' Insurance.  George has already solved one small problem for us, but this time he delivered a bombshell.

"I just got a letter from Citizens', " he said, "and they have cancelled your homeowner's insurance."

"What?"  I said not too calmly. "Why did they do THAT?"

Apparently the inspector at the time of closing did not sign one form at the right place on our four-point inspection form, so Citizens' decided to cancel our policy.  George told us that we might have to have a new inspection.  I informed George that we were on our way back to Wisconsin, that he had all of the signed paperwork in front of him, and that we were not going to pay for another inspection on a house that was already approved.   He looked around our file and actually found the paperwork.  By that time Rick had pulled off the highway, took the phone, and reiterated what I had just said. George said that he would check back with Citizens' and would call us back.

This is hurricane season, and there is no way that a person can own a home on the coast of Florida and not have insurance. 

Thankfully, George called back and all is well.  He pointed out to the head office that our forms were indeed signed and he assured us that our insurance was intact.

If I started this day a bit sleepy and groggy, that jolt of adrenaline did wonders to wake me up. We made it safely to our destination in northern Alabama.  Tomorrow our goal is to drive as far as northern Illinois, and we should be back in Wisconsin, in our fully insured winter home, by mid-day on Sunday.