Mistakes

OK, I did a lot of house repairs in my day but I must be getting rusty. We picked out floor tiles at Home Depot for the trailer. They were the type that you just peel off the backer and stick on the floor. I read the info on the box and it recommended that to get the best adhesion, the plywood should be sealed first. So back I go and I picked up some Thompson Deck sealer and treated all the floors in the camper. I snapped a line down the bathroom and kitchen to keep the tiles in line and started lay them. But after doing a few I realized that they weren't sticking at all. Puzzled I read the label on the deck sealer and found out it was silicon based. I had just made all the floors a non-stick fry pan. Well, just roll with the punches, and back to home depot and pick up some tile adhesive and tools to apply. I've used this stuff 10 or 20 years ago so I remembered how to do it. I smeared on a nice coating and set the tiles into it. I did the bathroom and thought I should wait before doing the kitchen just to make sure the adhesive held. After an hour or so I checked them by walking into the bathroom and the tiles slide around like they were on ice and the white adhesive squeezed up around the edges. I then read the directions on the adhesive and discovered that the adhesive had to be completely air dried before the tiles were applied to it. Not to be stymied, I pulled the bathroom tiles up and started the air cure of the adhesive under it. It was getting late by now (4 PM) so I applied adhesive to the rest of the kitchen so it could start curing. Now I figured if I coated the floor how would I get back in to stick the tiles down. The solution - coat myself into a corner right next to the bathroom and when it dries I can lay tiles and work my way out. I thought ahead and brought a glass of wine and some snacks so I would have something to do while I waited. Everything went as planned till I knocked over the glass of wine and had to walk back over the wet floor to get something to wipe it up out of the adhesive. So after that fix and waiting an hour and not seeing anything getting very dry, I walked across it again and got a heater to speed the process up. By now Polly has closed herself into the bedroom because it was getting cold outside and she couldn't stand the smell of the adhesive. By 8 PM it still wasn't dry and the temperature outside was down to freezing. I couldn't turn the gas furnish on since that would bring the adhesive fumes into the bedroom. In the bedroom Polly had donned two layers of cloths, two quilts and the cat and was still freezing. At 10:30 I gave up, set my alarm clock for 4 AM and went to bed to add my warmth. It was dry and I laid the tiles in it. My blurry eyes missed the snapped line mark and I had to recut all the tiles at the edges that I had down the night before.

What an ordeal but it came out OK.

Polly still says she isn't feeling well and the freezing temperatures last night required her to lay out in the sun all day and heat back up.

Allergies

Polly isn't feeling very good. It is either pollen from the start of spring in Florida or mold in camper. So I can't do anything about the pollen but the mold in the camper is attackable. Last summer I discovered a leak in the toilet flush system that probably had been there for years. I fixed the leak but didn't do anything about the water that had leaked into the chip board that was used for flooring in the camper. It was a little springy but it's an old camper. With water and wood to eat, a black mold started to grow and travel. First in the bathroom and then out into the kitchen. You could see it under the clear finish of the linoleum. Polly was sure that this was where her allergy attack came from. So the last two days I've been tearing out the linoleum, removing the water soaked wood, and getting ready to replace a floor section (see photo of stripped floor and then replywooded). I'm going to put tile squares back down instead of the linoleum since the original linoleum was installed before the cabinets were put in so it goes under most of them and now there is a lot of tricky cutting to do. So if I'm going to put the tile squares down why not take out the rug around the couch and in the bedroom - it could house mold also and is in pretty bad shape. I keep on looking around for the candid camera filming the record of how I spent my Florida winter vacation. Even a neighbor came over when he heard all the banging and offered to help. I thanked him but there isn't enough room for two people to work in the camper.

I'll show you the finished job in a couple more days.

Florida Home

Paul Curry figured out how to get the Realtor pictures into a format that I could put on the Blog. Here are three of the best. It has three bedroom, two baths and is nicely landscaped.

The three acres have several nature trails cut through it and all kind of flowers and shady spots to sit and contemplate the world.

It has a nice lanai in the back which might have to change in order to fit the further pool and screen room but that's next winters project.

There is a boat launch and dock on the Little Manatee River so people visiting can go kayaking and get lost in the maze of streams that make up the river while they look at the Manatees which winter in the river.

Settled

So I offered, they countered, I went up a little, they came down a little and we split the difference. The closing is scheduled for March 29th. Tomorrow Polly and I going to estate and yard sales to see what kind of overstuffed leather furniture we can buy. I'll probably have to rent a storage place to hold it all until we close. I thought I'd build bunk beds like those up in the cottage on Beach Pond but Polly wants one guest room to have a decent bed. Wait till my daughters enter the home decorating fray - I'm sure to lose every battle. The town where the house is has a neat name - Wimauma - pronounced "Why MaMa".

To celebrate, we went with the Curry's to Beanies on Rt 41 in Ruskin. They specialize in a potato chip that they make themselves. It's a thick crisp chip loaded with blue cheese, green onions, bacon, cheese and sour cream. It was all gone by the time I took this picture along with most of the order of 25 hot wings, garlic shrimp and fried fish - Great place.

More about the house when Paul figures out how scan the hard copy pictures into a JPEG format so I can enter them into the Blog.

Buyer Beware

We've been house hunting every day since we came down. We tried the center of the state - Bowling Green to Arcadia - it will be the last to flood when the sea level rises but it is really rural, a lot of migrant workers, and is the middle of nowhere - so it's out. Then we tried the old established towns of Winter Haven and Lakeland. Nice waterfront homes and established communities so no one will put a trailer next to you, but what traffic. Just bumper to bumper and that's not even rush hour - it's out of the running also. Finally we found a horsey development - 1-3 acre lots, nice houses, access to the Little Manatee River that runs into Tampa Bay and it has a lot of houses for sale (as does all of Florida). Anyway, after casing out about 18 houses by ourselves, we called up a broker and got to look at our top four homes. This morning I just submitted an offer on a house that both Polly and I like. Nice wooded 3 acre lot, fireplace, couple of out buildings and in mint condition. Negotiations will begin tomorrow.

Twinkle Toes

We went to the Valentine's Day Dinner yesterday. It was a roast beef dinner for only $5 and as promised they had the world famous line dancing troop perform as we ate. Here are a couple of shots of some of the fancy footwork performed by the dance master Paul Curry.

Look at his dancing boots. He got them at a yard sale

Feb 14

It's Valentines Day and Bwana snuck out to the store yesterday, wrote a romantic note on the flowers and surprised Polly with roses and her favor chocolate covered cherry candies. Polly though ahead and before we left bought me a card with a promise of what will come.

Today is a Valentine's Dinner and Dance. During the dinner they have various acts and entertainment - Guess who is in it? Yes, it's that twinkle toed Paul Curry in a Line Dance Show. I'll bring my camera and tomorrow you will see him is his cowboy boots and red suspenders.

No Snow in Florida

To start with there is no snow in Florida, rain yes but no snow.

The Curry's are still showing us the ropes. Today's tip is to buy your gas at Wal-Mart and use a Walt-Mart Gift Card. Wal-Mart has the cheapest gas and if you use the gift card you get another 3 cents off per gallon. And of course if you use your credit card to buy the gift card you get another 1% back on your credit card. I'm learning fast.

We went down to the Red Barn which is a huge Flea Market. Polly bought a watch for $5 plus a lot of ofter stuff. As always we visited a relative. Holly (the daughter of Sandra and Gary) has a permanent store there (Painted Gate). Isn't she a doll? She has her mother's looks and her bright smile.

On the way back we stopped at the Apollo Beach Power Plant which has a ton of Manatees gathered around the water outfall from the plant. This year has been a cold winter so the gathering of manatees is the largest ever. The shutter on my camera isn't fully opening so I had to crop this photo down to a couple of Manatees so you'll just have to take my word that there were hundreds.

We went up to Winter Haven to look at a couple of houses and on the way we stopped at Plant City where the Currys showed us a fruit stand that specialized in Strawberry Sundaes. These cost only $2.50 and were delicious. They had a tented garden with all kinds of alcoves for you to sit and eat them. Polly couldn't have one because of the seeds - and she complained about it all day.

Lakeland and Winter Haven look promising - houses on a lake for only $150K.

Checking Out The Area

We started checking out the area, looking at homes for sale. On the net we got the addresses of a whole bunch of homes on RT 17 for sale. We put in our criteria which included 1 acre of land or more. Some of the places that came up seemed perfect. 4 bedrooms, 2 baths, 2 acres of land fenced in, trees with Spanish Moss hanging off them, outside porch and only 150K - What else could you ask for? I know - Location, location, location. We found the place by driving through a migrant work camp and the fence needed watch towers, search lights and machine gun. And that is how the entire day went. We have since modified our criteria to less land so that it picks up housing developments, eliminated the inland Rt 17 which is mostly farming areas and will now concentrate on the more coastal areas that are populated with fellow Yankees.



On our way back to the campground we stopped by to see our local real estate experts, Cousin Sandra and Gary who live near the Gulf at Holmes Beach. Their recommendation for our target price range - a couple of miles off the beach area. While we were there they went to their backyard and picked us some fruit for breakfast - Now that's the Florida I was dreaming of.

It's Florida

Well, we finally made it. Got in at 7 PM and had to set the camper up in the dark but Paul Curry was here and, since this used to be his camper, he knew where everything went. The next day was just what Florida was supposed to be.

The sun, a beer or two and a beach chair. (Actually it was only the low 50's and I went back in right after Polly took this shot.

The last mission of the Space Shuttle was launched at 4:14 AM on Monday. Guess who got up to take this shot, me or Polly?

Still Going South

We made Atlanta and are staying with Cousin Ginny and John and it's still cool and rainy. We went for a walk around there neighborhood and low and behold there are daffodils coming up and there are buds starting on the trees. Winter is over in Atlanta, GA.

When we left Cousin Russell (Ginny's brother) in NC he gave us a sweet potato that he had grown in his garden to bring down to Ginny. Russell's wife Jean used a magic marker and gave it some eyes and a smile. Some size to it - he says this is usual for the sweet potatoes he grows.

We left Atlanta and stopped in Newnan, GA for a quick visit with another cousin Lois. Her husband is named Bubba and both have a thick southern accent (she was born in New York). Bubba is related to Brett Favre and asked if we were going down to Florida for the Super Bowl. We talked football (not my best subject) for a lot of the visit. Luckily I said I hoped the Saints won cause it turned out that Bubba came from New Orleans (that's where he met Lois) and was an avid fan of the Saints.

Back into the truck and ready for another 8 hour drive to the Masonic Campground in Wimauma, FA (near Tampa bay).

Walt & Mamie

We made it to South Carolina and Lake Hartwell. We're visiting my step brother/cousin Walter and his wife Marion. The last time I was here the Lake was down 14 feet. Everyone's dock and boat were on the muddy bottom. Now it's full again and they've had to open some of the flood gates to release water and stop the Lake from flooding

Walt was given a new (new to him) computer and was having trouble getting on line and printing pictures. So, moi, the computer whiz, helped dig in. Getting the computer to print was easy enough but going online was tougher. After several calls to India, the Internet provider said the drivers for the modem needed to be updated and he passed the buck to Dell. After several calls to Dell who didn't like the fact that the computer was registered on their books to a school and were more worried that they re-register to Walt they passed me on to someone else. After listening to music for 15 minutes, I gave up and suggested that we take it into a computer repair store and ask them to install new drivers. I figured it would take 5 minutes for them to install new drivers but in calling around one place though it would take 7 days. We finally took it to a place that offered to look at it within two days and give us a free estimate. I labeled all the cables I unhooked so Walt would be able to rehook it and it's in the shop now.

Having failed on that task, I tackled the recliner chair that locked in the reclined position and wouldn't go back down. All the mechanism was rivited together and I couldn't find anything to adjust. Another failed repair - suggested they call the furniture store they bought it from since it was only a year old or Marion will just have to sit sideways in it!

On to the wireless headphones that would allow Walt to listen to the TV at a higher volume and not make Marion suffer. They didn't have any manual with it but I went on-line and found one. Followed all the suggested repair steps and did get the lights to come on but never got any sound over the wireless headset. I finally saw some bare wires that looked like they were pulled out of the head set - diagnosis - tose them out and buy a new set.

Three failures and we're out of here.

We made it to Cousin Russell's in Rougemont, NC. Russell and Jean are an amazing couple. They have reduced their carbon footprint to almost zero. They have a garden which produces all kinds of vegetables which they freeze or can for the winter. They have a hot water wood fired furnace in a out building that Russell has piped into his house and through heater exchangers uses it to heat his hot water and forced hot air home heat. I pity the plumber that has to figure out his piping and electronic controls that he has put together to run this system. Of course he has solar panels on his roof to produce his electricity and is talking of putting some more on the barn to make him completely sufficient. He has a great woodworking shop where he has made almost all the furniture in his house and is rapidly running out of furniture to make for his kids. And the pieces he makes are beautiful with wood inlays and polished finishes and specially picked wood burl patterns. For dinner we had barbecued venison (you cut it with your fork) from the deer he shot on a 100 acre wood lot he has back North in the Catskills. Now in his spare time he's an avid letter writer. Letters to the editor, letters to government officials, letters to relatives and old friends. He recently wrote one to President Obama and actually got a return letter from him. What did I miss - oh, he raises grain feed beef, cuts his own logs, then cuts them into boards on his saw mill and drys them in his solar heated kiln before he turns them into furniture.

Question - Is this Connecticut or is this North Carolina? It's Rougemont, NC. When we left Connecticut there wasn't any snow on the ground and here we are 1000 miles south and they have 6 inches.

Almost on the way

Drat. We started out for Florida on Saturday night and got as far as Old Lyme when the people in a car passing us started waving their hands and rolled down their window. They said there were sparks coming out of the wheels on the trailer. I thought it might be just the safety chains hitting the road a little but pulled over the first chance I got. I was wrong, it was a wheel bearing. So I called AAA to get the number of a gargage to take it to. They gave us a couple but no one was open that late at night. So I used my GPS to get a telephone number of a towing service and, since they have somebody on duty all night, I asked them for someplace to leave my camper to get it repaired. His garage would fix it on Monday and they had a locked area I could leave it in till then. So I slowly drove the camper there and we left it there. We drove back to Polly's place in New London (only 1/2 hour away). So $500 and two days later it was fixed and we are back on the road and staying over night at my daugther Ina's in New Jersey.