TOADally Awesome

We have had a busy couple of days getting the yard ready for our patio and enjoying some time with family.

We took most of yesterday "off" doing a few simple chores around the house and then driving to Seminole for our nephew's fiancee's shower and his "groom's storm." Jon works as a teacher at a Christian school, and the people of his church wanted to throw his fiancee a shower.  Apparently, many years ago, a groom-to-be lamented that the women got to have a party, but not the men.  So one of the men of the church decided to throw a party, and since the bride has a "shower," the manly groom could do one better and have a "storm."  Yesterday while the women of the church wisely stayed inside in the air-conditioning and had a wonderful shower, the men gathered around the grill for some bratwurst, burgers, and beer.  Their gifts were all geared toward the man of the house, so Jon received lots of tools, yard work supplies, and Home Depot gift cards.  Rachel received tons of things for the kitchen and the bath for indoor convenience.

Rachel and I at her bridal shower.

This morning we rolled out of bed rather late and decided to finish prepping the area for the new patio.  We knew that we had to reroute and pound down the ground wire for the electricity so the pole would be buried at least four inches.  Rick started with that task.  I had exposed one end of the pipe and wire for him, so he started to dig up the area next to the wall to bury the other end.

One end of the ground post sticks up out of the soil. We
needed to bury it at least four inches deep so it will rest under
the new concrete patio. This picture also marks its location
in relationship to the wall and the drain pipe.

Rick works on the other end of the ground wire
where it comes down the side of the house.

Suddenly he yelled and jumped up like he was rocket-propelled. "What's wrong?" I asked.

"Look!" he said.  And then I saw the reason for his reaction: the ugliest, fattest frog I have ever seen. We were both shocked because neither of us even thought of Florida being a habitat for frogs (although I guess all 50 states harbor them), and Rick certainly did not expect to see one living in a burrow underground!  He got the shovel, picked it up, and flung it over the fence into the marshy, weedy part of our neighbor's back yard.  TOADally awesome!  We hope the little guy finds a happy new home among the ferns and weeds back there. And I hope someday that Rick's heart rate returns to normal!

A picture of rana areolata aesopus, better known as
the Florida Gopher Frog. The one Rick found was as big as
his fist.  Its croak is said to sound like snoring.  (And here I thought
that was Rick in the night!)

While he was digging in the area, Rick also found a buried old telephone cable.  When we bought Gladys, we found old telephone boxes screwed into her walls in at least three different locations.  As each new telephone company came in, they put up their own box and left the others hanging.  The same was true of their wires.  The old wires were just cut, and the new wires were connected for service.  Since Rick and I now only use our cell phones, none of the wires are needed.  We have removed all of the boxes and many of the wires, but this wire was undetected since it was buried in the back yard.  With a little more digging, we pulled up the wire beyond the area where the contractor will dig to put in the concrete forms. We will leave the rest of the wire buried.  We know that the other end is buried under the corner flower garden, safely nestled under roots, mud, landscape fabric, and stone.  There it will remain.

A mound of dirt is all that remains of where the telephone wire was
buried though the back yard.

We also removed the rest of the pavers that formed a path to the north side of the house.  We now are ready for the next phase of making Gladys beautiful by pouring a patio outside her back doors.

Patio Prep

We spent a very enjoyable Easter with Steve and Chris and with Jon and his fiancee Rachel.  The company was good, the food was edible, and the day went well.  We will have to try the same thing again next year.

Yesterday Rick emailed the contractor who is supposed to pour our new patio in the back yard.  He had not heard back from them yet this morning, so he checked online to see if they had pulled any permits to do the job at our address.  He found no such records, so we both felt that perhaps our patio pour next Monday and Tuesday would not happen.

Then later in the morning, we received a four-word email: "We are on schedule."  That let us know that we were, indeed, on their calendar.  They had said that they would come next Monday to prep the area and to lay in the re-rod.  Then, after inspection, they would pour the patio the next day.

We have drain pipes carrying water away from the eaves troughs. Since the area where the full patio will go is a couple of inches lower than the back of our lot, we want to make sure that the contractor installs drains in front of the doorways so no water pools and gets into the house.  Eventually that might not be a problem if we decide to add a lanai structure, but for now we need to be assured that the water will flow away.  We want to tie the drains in to the existing underground drain pipes so everything flows around the house and out into the front yard.  I hope that whole system flows smoothly with no problems from either the contractors nor the inspector.

This area will contain the patio which will be a rectangle that
goes from one corner of the Florida room out to the northeast
corner of the garage.

Today I started to prep the area.  When the house was built in 1960, a small patio was poured by the back doors.  Concrete barriers were added then or later to enclosed a "sidewalk" of paver stones around to the north side of the house.  Another set of pavers lead a short distance into the back yard.

I removed the remaining five pavers that led
into the back yard.  I think they were added because this
area gets muddy when we receive rain.

While we will let the contractor break up the original small patio slab, we have already removed the concrete barriers that held in the flower garden, and I removed the pavers that led to the back yard.  I will leave the other pavers in place until we take the garbage cans to the curb on Sunday night for Monday morning pick-up.  Rain in predicted, and when I take something to the garbage cans on the north side of the house, I would rather walk on the pavers than in the mud to get to them.  (I am so glad that we put in the concrete so the cans themselves are no longer resting in a mud patch.)

A ditch marks were the concrete barrier used to outline
the flower garden.  On Sunday we will remove the rest
of the old paver stones.

I cannot wait to have a full patio poured in back.  The area has been a weedy, muddy mess for a long time, and we will be happy to have a solid surface that we can use as extended livable space.  Yes, in her old age Gladys is starting to expand, but in this case, that is a good thing.  We look forward to using the area for many years to come.

Easter's On Its Way

I spent most of today getting ready for our Easter celebration tomorrow.  That included lots of cleaning, a little laundry, a bit of baking for our dessert, and just a touch more of baking tonight.

This morning we received a call from Owen who was excited to tell us that he went on an Easter Egg hunt and got to meet the Easter bunny who gave him lots of candy.  Apparently, the chocolate is good, but the Starburst candies and the Tootsie Rolls are something that is tasted and then spit out. He does not like the "chewy" kind of candy.  Must be a texture thing... or just being a two-year-old.

Owen also informed us that he was going to go to the Easter Bunny's "house" this afternoon.  Apparently while Santa lives at the North Pole, the Easter Bunny lives at Seroogies, a local candy store and chocolate shop that is well known in the Green Bay area.  Lindsay said they saw the Easter Bunny there last week, so Owen wants to go back to see him again today.  Ah, to be young!  I am glad that they can take him to all of those "little kid" adventures rather than me.  Crowds, and especially those filled with sugar-laden children, are beyond my patience level.

I have a fruit tray that I must get ready for church, but I will not put that together until just before bed this evening.  Church is early tomorrow, so I want to be able to just scoop it out of our refrigerator and go.  Tomorrow I also will put our meal in the crock-pot before church and bake fresh rolls as soon as we get home.

I wanted to make some cute egg "mice" that I saw on Facebook, but I could not come up with the correct ingredients.  These mice are just hard-boiled eggs cut in half, with radish ears, peppercorn eyes, and chive tails.  Sadly, the only radishes I could find were huge, and fresh chives were not to be found in the store.  Kudos to whomever came up with the idea, but these little guys will have to wait until perhaps this summer when radishes and chives are more in-season.

Egg "mice" surround a mound of freshly-cut cheese.

I mixed up another huge batch of cookies to use up some of the ingredients that I bought for the first batch-- oatmeal, chocolate chips, coconut, and Grape Nuts cereal.  The cookies are delicious, so I am happy to have a little extra to munch on tomorrow.  Fresh cookies always go over well.

Sadly, the only bummer of today is that Rick awoke with a terrible headache again.  He has been treating a migraine all day with little success.  The doctor gave him some new medication to try, but we both suspect that the headaches might come from the Clariton that he took last night.  I hope that he is feeling much better tomorrow.

Getting Ready for Easter

Yesterday I went back to the front yard to try to take out some of the half-dead weeds from around the paver stones to the front door.  I got about half of the work done before the sun started to get too warm.  It looks better, but far from perfect.  I paid for my work last night with a knee ache that would not end.  Hm-m-m.  That could not be old age setting in, could it?  After all, I did just "celebrate" another birthday.

That last sentence poses the question: at what age do we stop celebrating a birthday and just tolerate them?  I guess I should not complain; I am still younger than most of my friends and many of my relatives, and I should be thankful that I am alive to celebrate each milestone.

 We just heard from our daughters, both of whom were caught in the path of the latest spring blizzard.  Green Bay received six inches of snow (and Lindsay's snowblower died) while Rochester, MN, piled up 10 inches.  They can have it.  Rick and I took a nice walk around the neighborhood this morning before the weather got too hot and before the rain comes in this afternoon.

Rick spent most of yesterday trying to beat a terrible headache, but at least we know of the 13 different things to which he is allergic.  We go to the doctor this afternoon to find out what he can do to finally get some relief and to feel better again.

Around here, I am just slowly cleaning the house in preparation for our guests this Easter.  I also have to remember to pick up fresh fruit for the Easter breakfast at church.  I might try some creative arrangement for the breakfast table.

Easter lunch itself will remain simple: chicken rather than salty ham, rolls, green beans, cherries and blueberries, cranberries, and perhaps a simple salad.  Wine or milk will add the liquid libations, and we will end with key lime pie for dessert.  Not typical, but no one ever could put that label to what I create anyway.  I hope all will be relaxing and fun.

Weedy Woes

We have spent a fairly quiet week just doing some maintenance around the house.  The most notable project involved trying to get a little curb appeal back to the front yard.

In addition to watering the new grass for a bit of greenery in the lawn and watering the flowers in the front garden so they do not wilt away, we also paid a little attention to the patio stone "sidewalk" leading to our front door.

Next year we will cover this area with pavers, but
for now we have to take care of the ever-present weeds.

Weeds have a way of growing quickly as soon as the weather warms in Florida, and our sifted soil was a wonderful medium in which to grow.  The weeds made the front of the house look overgrown and uncared for, and a slight hump in the soil also made some of the pavers at the curve very uneven.

Once we weeded the area near the door, Rick removed all of the pavers. Then he took a board to level the soil in the area leading to the future porch area.  With the soil more level and sloping toward the driveway, he reset the stones, making sure that they did not rock in their new positions.

While the weather got too warm to pull every weed, we pulled enough to get the soil more level with the correct grade.  Today Rick sprayed the whole area with Bayer weed killer.  We used the same liquid last year with great success.  He also sprayed the stubborn weeds that are trying to grow in the expansion cracks in the driveway and in the bricks around the mailbox.

The weeded area looks so much better, and the
patio stones are now securely set into the soil.

Rick has been irritable and restless due to the medication he is taking to try to get rid of his sinus infection.  Yesterday he went in for an allergy test and discovered that he has a slight reaction to dust mites!  Next week he has a sinus scan and the second part of the allergy tests.  I hope we can finally get some results so he starts to feel better and can get back to his old self.  Being sick is no fun, and after nine weeks, our patience is thin.

We hope that in a few weeks we can get the patio poured so we can complete the projects for this year.  We again have discussed pouring a pad for a some-day shed, but that is on hold until we see if Rick's health and the weather both cooperate.

Three, Two, One

Three-- the number of shirts Rick sweat through today in an attempt to repair our air handler drain on our air conditioning system.

Two -- the number of trips we took to Lowe's to get the correct parts to repair both the outside problem and the inside problem on the system.

One-- the number of days (Yes, this took all day!) to repair the system so we are comfortable using the house now and leaving the house unattended for the summer.

The problem started last night when we were supposedly settled down for the evening and Rick noticed that the house felt rather warm.  "Damn!" he said because he knew the heat meant that the emergency shut-off switch had tripped on our air handler and that the air conditioner shut down.

So out we trooped with a flashlight to see what was going on outside.  For whatever reason, our fancy plumbing to drain the system had an air lock in it, and we had to come up with a new design with a smaller trap and run.  At 8:00 p.m. in the dark, we did a quick cut-the-pipe-and-let-the-condensation-drip-down-an-old-downspout-until-morning routine. With the condensation running again, we had air conditioning for the evening.

Rick cut off the old system and let the condensation
fall into the drain via an old downspout that we found
in the garage.

This morning we were off to Lowe's for the first trip to rebuild the outside drain.  For whatever reason, the first time that we put the new system together, it still had an air-lock problem.  We removed part of it, attached an alternate system for a while, and focused on the "inside" problem.

Our alternate, temporary "fix" until we could re-plumb
the system so it drained down the drain in the cement.

When we had the new air handler/ heat exchanger system installed, the installers did a crappy job of putting it all together.  (The original company has since gone out of business -- probably due to poor workmanship!)  The system is installed in the rafters in our garage, so our air handler has a drip pan under it to collect condensation should the regular drainage system not work.  The drip pan also has an emergency shut-off sensor to shut down the system if the drip pan fills.  That is what killed the system last night.

Upon closer inspection, we learned both that the pan was tilted away from the drain in the drip pan and that the drain itself was capped off rather than flowing away from the air handler system.  OK.  One more thing the installers failed to do correctly.

Our second trip to Lowe's was to purchase more pipe and fittings so we could install the drain to the drip pan and run the excess off toward the front of the garage.  Keep in mind, this drain is a last-ditch effort.  We installed it with the idea that we hope it never sees a drop of water and it never is needed.
If this drain is in use, it means the outside drain has failed and that we have to rid the pan of the condensation the air conditioning is taking out of the house.  In the summertime, that is gallons of water a day.  We set the drain up so it would drain near the front door of the garage.  If that system ever needs to work, the water will harmlessly drain onto the garage floor and seep outside under the garage door. Meanwhile, the air conditioning will continue to run in the house, both keeping the house cool and removing the excess moisture from the humid summer air.

A new drain leaves the corner of the drip pan
and is directed away from the center of the garage.

Rick works on gluing together the last part of
the drip pan drain so it flows out the bottom
of the garage door in front.

Once both drainage systems were reinstalled, Rick tilted the drip pan so any water would actually meet the newly installed drip pan drain.  Then he reinstalled the sensor mechanism in a place where it could actually detect and shut down the system in an emergency.

Finally he restored the new drainage system outside so that water from the air handler could flow down a pipe outside the house and into the new drain we put into the concrete we poured a couple of months ago.  This time, the drain worked fine, so his new design solved the old air-lock problem.  Whew!

The redesigned condensation drain has a smaller
trap so that water once again flows into the large
drain outside.

One -- complete system restored so we feel confident the air conditioning is working better than it did yesterday.

Two -- tired people who are grateful that the temperatures today stayed in the low 80s so working outside and in the garage was tolerable.

Three -- the number of extra parts we did not need for the repairs that we will return to Lowe's, but nothing ever gets returned on a weekend.

While we didn't get the raking finished that we had hoped to do today, we did take care of a more urgent need to keep Gladys a cool old doll this spring and summer.  This one-two-three job actually took us eight hours to complete, but we are happy with the results and will sleep soundly tonight knowing that the system works well.

Voting in Florida

Upon leaving the polls in Florida, we were each given a sticker
to show that we voted today.

Although small household chores took up part of our morning, we set aside time this morning to exercise our American right to vote.

Floridians, it seems,  are loath to wait until the actual voting day (March 15) to cast their ballots.  Perhaps that has to do with not wanting to stand in long lines in the Florida sunshine, or perhaps people are just so busy that they need the option of choosing when they vote.  For whatever reason,  thousands of Floridians have already cast their ballots.

Voting here in Florida is an easy process.  When we applied for Florida residency, we were counseled to register with a political party so as to avoid the harassment of emails, phone calls, and visits from people of all of the parties to join their particular causes and organizations.  We chose one party, knowing that when we actually had to vote on anything beyond the primaries, we could still mark the ballot in any way that we desired.

That political choice is tied to a person's name, address, driver's license, and tax records.  Today I walked into the courthouse in Clearwater, gave the poll worker my driver's license, watched as it was slid through a machine like I was buying groceries at Wal-Mart, signed my name on an electronic pad, and received a ballot designated by the party I had chosen five years ago.  I walked to a private booth, marked my ballot, and slipped it into the ballot-tally machine.  Five minutes, and we were in and out.

Three things to note.  First, I was rather disturbed to see an announcement on TV last night telling the audience that preliminary count of the early voting showed Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton leading their prospective parties. As Michigan recently showed us, those predictions are not always accurate.  However, I know from studying journalism many years ago that such announcements, although seemingly just "news-worthy," could indeed have the ability to persuade someone to vote one way or another or just to not vote at all.

Secondly, thank God that Florida has revised their voting procedures so that we no longer have to use Votomatic punch cards to punch holes in paper and have "hanging chads" that almost caused a revolution in 2000 until Bush was finally announced the next President of the United States.

Thirdly, with all that has gone on so far with the current political campaigns, I find myself in a familiar place: deciding how to cast my ballot not for a person in whom I passionately believe, but rather for a person who seems the least of all evils.  I took my ballot today into the private booth, glanced down at the names listed, searched vainly for a "None of the Above" box, and filled in the circle next to the name of the person who seems to be the least of all evils.

Update

Apparently, the road to Weaver Park was blocked yesterday due to a water main break.  I hope they have it fixed by today or the City will have many unhappy commuters on their hands.

We had a restless night and got up early today so I could get into my doctor for a bone density test.  I won't find out the results of that until I go back to see him next month.  I know one thing: a nap is in my near future today since we arose early.

It's fall/ springtime in Florida. The oak trees and the neighbor's camphor tree are dropping leaves into our back yard by the handful. We only have one rake and either need to get another one or buy a leaf blower.  I think we should buy a leaf blower because that way we will have something to use on the stone in the flower gardens also.  Rick is in the midst of researching online which machines are the best.

After lunch, I may go out and start to rake some of the leaves from our yard.  We already put one huge bag of leaves out to the curb last week, and I am sure that five our six more bagsful  await our attention.

Update: Rick and I were able to get this half of the back yard
raked.  Then we had to quit because we lost our shade for the day.

We continue to plan our back yard.  The ground-level deck I wanted to put in probably will not happen because Rick found that no matter what material one uses, it either rots, gets moldy, or disintegrates in the sun.  That includes all of the composite decking that supposedly lasts for 20 years.  Our only alternative may be more pavers.  We will have to see how labor intensive and exhausting putting in our front sidewalk and side pavers will be next year.  If they go well, we may continue with other parts of the back yard.

Rick seems to be a little better today, so I hope that by tomorrow he will start to be back to his old, well self.  Until then, we will lay low.  I hear the couch calling...