The house - the good and bad

I had hopped that we would be well settled by now.  It has been about a year since we moved down here and there has been lots of change that was difficult for everyone to adjust to.  I had hoped that getting into a house and having some space again for everyone to get some "quiet" and "alone" time would help. I guess it has in some ways but I know I still just feel a bit overwhelmed.  We have been trying to get the house in order since we moved in and have had more challenges than expected or hoped.

We realized a bit before Irma that some of the "might be old water damage" indicated on our home inspection was really "ongoing water damage". I did know about some siding damage and that is on my list to fix - was trying to hold off until it cooled a bit.  My thinking was that it has been there for some time so a couple more months..  anyways..  probably will make sure I stick to the priorities instead of letting other things bubble to the top of the todo list going forward.

After about 6 or so roof quotes we decided on a company.  We decided to replace instead of patch - it just doesn't make sense to spend a substantial sum to patch just to replace in maybe 10 years.  We are waiting on a home equity line of credit (HELOC) though.  It would have been ready by now if not for Irma - can't image why a bank would want to do an appraisal after Irma before handing over money? Anyways, it appears they just did a drive-by to make sure the house was standing without any tree sticking out of it and it wasn't wrapped like a fairy tale moat.

So we should be able to give a date for the roofers soon.  I'll have to find the name of a guy that came out a while back regarding our "dryer vent" issue - seemed ok so I'll see if his company can fix up the siding.  My whole family seems to think I shouldn't try dealing with the siding (upper portion of gable) nor roofing myself.  Part of me REALLY doesn't want to admit how hard some things are on my back and knees. Hoping to get out of the "exercise through home projects" state and back into the exercises that actually do strengthen the back.

Hoping that getting through the roof, siding and hopefully finishing the master bath remodel will make it feel "worthwhile".  Ok, so there are a few other semi-related projects floating around that I have to complete as part of that (like getting the old ceiling fan off the floor in the master bedroom and getting the new one with lights installed).  I guess installing the new light switches will make things more complete.. I don't think my wife is buying the "but honey, I just like the open look of the light switches and the retro wiring".

[2017/10] Roof is fixed!  Big load off my mind.  I still have some work to do on the chimney though. I'm seriously considering Hardie Board even though vinyl siding wouldn't need painting.  I still feel that the vinyl is too likely to loosen and blow off without being noticed. 

[2017/11] Have some siding companies coming out to give quotes. Just need gable areas done - T1-11 siding there is rotted, swollen and falling off. I would prefer Hardie Board here but will likely do a quality vinyl.  Had planned to do it myself but am going to try and save my back and that of my overly eager father (gotta love him but .. ).

What we both do like is how the bathroom is turning out though - with a bulk of work by my mom and dad.  I'm completing a good amount of it but my dad did much and showed me how to do "rag rolling" painting and work with tile which I had not done before this.  There isn't much I can do to repay them for all they have done.

The main work remaining is the grout.  We picked up some and I am going to take some scrap tile and do a small test to make sure we like the color before I do the whole floor.  We really liked one of the grouts where we got the tile but it only comes in the sanded variety and we have some pretty small grout lines in places which are better suited to unsanded grout.

I've spent an awful amount of time on the floor and even laying across the toilet (yes - lid down).  It is almost funny the shape of the bruise that caused.  I had to tell my wife that in that whole bathroom - there are only 4 full size tiles that didn't get cut and those are the 4 in front of the toilet.  I did have to laugh a bit at that - just seems a bit "wrong".  Hopefully just one day of grouting and then a half day of mouldings - once we find the mouldings we want.

The theme in this post is "hope" and the happiness expected at the end if one endures the unpleasantness. Ok, so I crafted the theme from a different book (want to make a guess) and took liberty in its use - similar to some news organizations and most movies based upon books.

Hope you enjoyed this post.
Scott

Irma

Well, we had only minor experience with Hurricanes in the past.  While Irma was expected to go to the east cost of Florida we were not really too concerned but once it decided to go across us we became a little more concerned.  Not frightened but concerned - mainly about the 3 largest trees around the yard which shed limbs without a breeze.

Initially we did do any drastic planning - just made sure we had extra food on hand and a plan to fill spare containers with some water.  Up north we didn't have city water so no power = no water, at least on the city water now it seems more likely to maintain some sort of water supply without power.  By time we were pretty sure Irma was going to go across us - stores were pretty much sold out.  Plywood was gone, bottled water gone, fuel was already in short supply, generators were way gone.  At this point we were a little more concerned - somewhat because my parents live in a manufactured home about an hour south of us - closer to the storm.  I also use a CPAP and the idea of being without power for maybe a couple weeks was not pleasant.  Up north we ended up without power one year for a week or so but before my sleep apnea was bothering me - since then we had been very fortunate.  It also turned out that 2 of my neighbors use CPAPs as well.

My parents decided to come up to our place well before we knew the storm was heading closer to us.  I was very very happy they made that call. As Irma was getting closer, we briefly thought about trying to leave the area but the traffic jams shown on the news pretty much made it clear that wasn't a great option at that point.  We even considered going to our local high school which was a shelter but we had some concerns about that along with my CPAP need, etc. We decided to stick it out and batten down the hatches.  We got to Lowes the morning before the storm and were able to about about 60ft of 1"x10" pine boards and combined that with "junk" laying around the house/yard we were able to board up the windows pretty well.  We stripped the pressure treated sides of our utility trailer, took the "ugly" paneling out of the sort-of office (wife prompted this one a bit just to get rid of the paneling I think..), found spare chunks of stuff I moved down from Virginia, etc and cut it to size and screwed it mostly into the frames of our original 1985 vintage single pane windows.  We took a few passes and packed all the stuff outdoors into either the garage or onto the lanai.  Garage was packed..

My wife was a little unhappy when I told her that putting the cars in the garage was probably only temporary for now..  still need a workshop.. until then.

We started thinking about where to stay in the house if things got bad  and finally decided that the half done office was the best bet.  More concrete around it and it is sort of between the garage and master bedroom area.  We move a bunch of stuff from there and started to make what reminded me of 1950's bomb shelters I had read about.

I was still concerned about my CPAP need but then I remembered that we had a small "inverter" - a small electronic device that can hook up to a DC power supply and produce AC.  I went over to the autostore and picked up a couple decent size deep cycle marine batteries. A quick calculation indicated that those should keep my CPAP running for maybe 2 weeks.  I figured we might even be able to charge phones off them if needed.  After this, I was feeling a bit more relaxed.

I did feel really bad for my parents - I know my dad was pretty convinced that their place wouldn't make it.  Sits within a stones throw of both a pond and river and it was looking like the storm would roll right over it.  My mom saved a few small items - pictures and such just in case.  I think some of our faith in Jesus did leave us feeling less stressed over the whole deal.  It was still really hectic though since I had hope that there would be little damage especially since we still are not fully "unpacked" after moving in.  It wouldn't have been the end of the world but I know I was already very tired before all this.

To make a long story shorter, we did lose power but only for about 2 days.  The only real storm damage was a section of fence blowing down.  It was probably 25 years old and way past prime.  My parents didn't have any real damage although some homes in their area did lose their roofs or had other severe damage.  We ended up sleeping in the house instead of the office (but not in the bedrooms near the big trees).

We have some really awesome neighbors and a number of them all came out and helped cleanup the large mess of debris (mostly from our trees..).  I still have to take apart the broken fence but other than that and the pile of brush by the road still - you wouldn't know the storm came through.

When we moved down here, I told our kids "it will be an adventure".  I think we do hope for a bit less excitement for just a little while now. But if that isn't how things turn out then..

Nahum 1:7New International Version (NIV)

7 The Lord is good,
    a refuge in times of trouble.
He cares for those who trust in him,

I do pray for those that lost lots more - both around us, in Texas, Puerto Rico, etc and then the earthquake in Mexico.  It is a reminder that this life and associated belongings are not permanent.  We should remember that life is precious and can't be restored by us though - the place that we lay our head can be.

Goodbye Herbie Jr, Long live Herbie Jr.

Herbie Jr is the affectionate name we gave to our 2015 F250 4x4 with 8ft bed, full size topper and commercial roof rack. If you are familiar with Herbie, "The Love Bug", you will likely understand the humor in the name.  We bought Herbie after we towed home a good size travel trailer a few years ago with a 2002 F150 4.6l V8 and thought we were going to get stranded as it struggled down flat sections of road.

Well, we ended up selling the travel trailer here in Florida for a few good reasons and since then I had been commuting to work with Herbie. Unfortunately, Herbie does not make for a happy drive during rush hour around Tampa (or any place else likely).  The wife and I had discussed getting rid of it but is just seemed like there was always something going on.. work, family, etc.

Anyways, just about the time that the Irma hurricane was announced my wife prodded me one day to go for some test drives while we were going out for other stuff.  I purposely left the truck at home.. I wasn't feeling all that well that morning anyways due to back pain and planned on just getting our errands done and trying to come home.  Well, we ended up at the both the Ford dealer and Toyota dealer and started asking about trade-ins (again).  The Ford dealer made a pretty insulting low offer for which I responded - "Toyota here we come" and off we went.  I really just needed a small fuel efficient commuter car to deal with the Tampa area traffic to/from work.  We ended up test driving a Corolla and a Yaris; sat in a Prius but we didn't really like the odd feeling dash/cockpit layout.  Toyota made a reasonable offer on the truck and the wife prodded again so guess what.  We made the drive back home, cleared out the truck, went back and came home with a Yaris.

We named the new addition "Gigantor" - can you feel the humor in that.  I will say that we agree that Gigantor has a more manly horn than the Rav4.  Other than that, there isn't much to write home about other than pretty good fuel economy (about 32mpg at the moment - compared to ~12mpg from the gas hungy F250).

When Irma hit, I did have some reservations about not having Herbie Jr.  In the past, I have always used our "big" 4wd vehicle to get around after bad weather - whether it was snow, ice or the tropical storm remnants from a hurricane.  We were fortunate we didn't need it after Irma.  We can always borrow my parents pickup in a pinch now if needed - at least until we get one more vehicle.  Thinking of a used Toyota Highlander - big enough to tow our utility trailer and enough seats to take one car when all of us and my parents, etc are together.

There are aspects of Herbie Jr I will miss but I must admit that it really wasn't a good family fit anymore. Hoping for many years with Gigantor now.

Hoping you know and love Jesus!
Scott

p.s. The out takes.

I have to say that I really felt it in the pocket when buying a car this time.

Yes Honey - I should replace clothes before I get to the point where the jeans split getting out of a car during a test drive and have to wonder around the parking lot and offices with my shirt undone to cover (most of) it while taking care to not lean over. On the other hand, it was a memorable sale for the sales guy and him and all the other workers had a nice laugh.  ha ha ha ha...  I will say that "Honey" did return home with a pile of new jeans not long after this.  Good thing because I lost another pair while laying more tile in the bathroom.  sigh.