Tattered nerves

I am incredibly thankful to have the water detectors Justin gave me for Mother's Day, and have, in fact, pressed one into service in his former bathroom. It seems that periodically I hear water running in his toilet, though nothing in the bowl nor in the tank appears to be moving. Oh, now what??? The works were replaced just over a year ago around the same time we had the leaks from the broken water softener pipes on the 5th floor (the first time it happened!) so it's not worn out yet. I wouldn't think they wear so quickly, right? I wonder how long this has been going on....

                                              

Thankfully Justin will be here tonight, right after work, to finish cleaning out his rooms so I won't be too hesitant to attend my church meeting. My tummy is in a knot from this, as is expected under circumstances such as this for me. Besides that, now my dryer is making a strange noise as it attempts to dry my clothes. Perhaps a coin or something is caught in the drum thing but I cannot see it nor make it stop. 

We have a building committee meeting tonight and it wouldn't be life or death if I did not go, but since I take the notes for it, should be sure to go. Also, I might be a distraction to Justin who needs to be entirely focused on his project of emptying the room. Oh my! When I expressed to him that I would not be here to "help him", Justin said, "That's okay...." I am sure it is! By the way, the dryer has now stopped making the racket so whatever it was scraping has worked itself free! (Just dug everything out of the dryer and found a quarter...mine!)

The same weekend as the big storm, I noticed a problem with my light switch in the kitchen. One is next to the fridge and one by the door, a three-way switch. I sometimes have to wiggle the switch to get the light to turn on. Oh, great! In order for an electrician to access the electrical box, he has to move the fridge out. Problem? There is a water hose connected to the ice maker, which I do not use for fear of a problem. Yikes! As I told Mike Kelley yesterday at church, "I don't really need a light in the kitchen....." We shall see what I do about that.

Closer to the pole is the alligator, and further out by the sandbar are the manatees

On Facebook the other day I noted that our resident alligator has become a regular visitor to the basin, keeping company, or not, with the manatees. They sort of keep themselves apart, which is probably a good idea. I looked out a bit ago and saw the gator had moved to the area usually occupied by the manatees and they have moved off to the center of the basin. By agreement, I am sure.

In other water news, I don't think I ever mentioned the damage experienced on this property during the huge storms the early part of May. My place and those above me were not the only problem areas, as others in the building experienced intrusion. The force of the wind-driven rain caused the problems to become evident in several other units in my building. This does not please me but does bring to light future problems we might have during the official hurricane season.

In the building next door, the condo garage and storage cubbies were flooded. There is a four inch curb the water had to breech to the storage area, and it did so that Saturday night. Over at the hotel, guests on the first floor had to evacuate as a waterfall of rain water gushed down the driveway to the hotel, over the edge of the flower bed and into the rooms. Karrie reported as much as 10" inches of water in the rooms at one time. 

The guests were NOT happy to have this happen, but hey, what can be done? Karrie was lamenting to me a couple Fridays ago about the tangling with the insurance company. The night security man told me that some people were VERY upset about having to move out, being relocated to an area hotel (above water level!). Harry told me that one lady was terribly upset, calling him "everything but white!", an expression I never heard before, but made me laugh. I feel badly for everyone involved, in particular those who have to try to put things back to right again. 

Karrie has to find invoices for the purchase of the carpet, bedding, and other items used to furnish the rooms. No wonder her staff is pulling out their hair, trying to scare up the receipts. I think the insurance company is a bit nit-picky as they will likely only reimburse the pro-rated amount anyway. I would like to ask her how it's going but hate to open that can of worms. What a storm system that was!!

Angry skies today

We had some very angry skies here for a while today. They did not produce rain on this side of the river, as far as I know, but the thunder was sufficient to rattle the lanterns which over my head. It moved down the river, chased by blue skies..

                  

Summer has arrived

Actually it is still spring but the temperatures have at last broken the barrier and warmed us up. I am in the minority when it comes to liking the hotter air but I don't mind that one little bit. 

Last evening and again tonight several of us enjoyed time around the pool. The poor cabana attendant tonight was wanting to go home just when some were coming out to sit. I think he didn't mind terribly, especially when they put tips in his jar. First, on the way out and then back in again, I had to stop at my downstairs neighbor's house to turn the A/C off and then back on again. Someone was having problems with their unit which required the water to be shut off to the A/C pump. Good thing I have keys for the place!

                                       

Some brave souls, yes, kids, were in the pool on that end of the area but no one dared dive into the adult's pool. Still a bit too cold. Much to my delight, my former neighbor, Jessica, was sitting poolside with her iPad, enjoying some quiet time without her two sons. Travis and she had originally planned an evening out, but then had a plumbing problem on the exterior of their house. Nothing changes but the address, it seems!! Instead they were getting some take-out food and having date night at home.

Kathy H. and I had a nice visit poolside catching up on the news of the week, which we had not discussed last night due to the mixed group we had there. She and I like to hash over the goings on in Washington and our nation, and did that this late afternoon. Loved it! Her mom came out and joined the conversation as well. It turned cool, in my opinion, so I came back upstairs.

This afternoon I made some pretzel rolls which I found at Winn Dixie in the frozen bread dept. They are simply delicious, tasted great when I added my leftover roast beef on them. Made for a good dinner. Linda had told me about how good the Rhodes brand of rolls are but I could not find them at WD. Since Publix has Diet Coke on sale, I will stop tomorrow and see if they carry the brand Linda recommended. 

I hear fireworks going off up and down the river, I wonder what the occasion is...Oh, I bet it's for graduations!  How fun is that?!

Even more news!

How do the political folks in the arena keep all the balls in the air? I watched a good deal of the hearings today where the acting head of the IRS is facing the music. Apparently all that these guys can say is "I don't know..." The rest of that sentence is "...how we got caught!" or "...how this came to light." Funny that PresBO is acting all incensed over this even though this activity has been happening and been reported for several years already. And, he demanded the acting head step down, even though Mr. Miller was leaving his role in June. Emptiness...

Hollywood is strangely quiet these days, other than reports of who is getting braces and who had a double mastectomy. One would expect the liberals would rally to the defense of their leader but all one hears right now is crickets chirping. The emperor has lost his clothes, it seems. Now that the press has been violated, those who had been in his pocket all this while, it's every man for himself. 

My younger sister has read all the released pages in regard to the Benghazi debacle, those which came out on Wednesday late afternoon. According to the pundits, some of the e-mails are telling, some just confirm what the witnesses testified, and others indicated the Press Secretary is a stranger to the truth. There are thousands more somewhere which will likely be released in dribs and drabs, as the gov't. really wants this story to go away. It won't and hopefully wishing won't make it so.

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Thursday I had lunch with my friend, Lee, at The Club, on meatloaf day. They have a mini-buffet on Thursdays and sometimes the menu really appeals to me. The fried chicken is supposedly the best but the only time I had it there, the chicken came from Publix! There was a gas line problem in the neighborhood so The Club could not make their own chicken. 

                                               

Anyway, Jacquie could not join us for lunch as originally planned as she was house-bound with repairman, fixing things which leaked during the huge storms a couple weekends ago. The more they did, the more damage was discovered. Evidently the leak had been at work for a while, causing wood rot inside and out. She is soon done, as she is keeping me updated. Hates the mess worst of all!

Lee's son left her home last week, having been there a few months, gone to work with his cousins and uncle as a deck builder. He is Justin's age and had been in college in South Florida for a few years, studying accounting. I hope he finds something in his field eventually but for the time being, he is a deck builder! She likes having her space back, just as I do.

When Karrie, the owner, stopped at our table, she laughed when she saw my plate. She said, "You really are a meat and potatoes girl, aren't you?", as I made a face at Lee's calamari salad. Yup, meat and potatoes girl here! By the way, Lee told me she got in the pool last Friday and heard herself shriek--totally involuntary. The air might be warm but the water is not! 

                                   

This morning I had breakfast with Tina and little Gracie at The Club. Pat had let me know the night before that she was not going to make it this week but I made sure Tina would be there. This is their last time until school starts again in the fall, as she will redirect her funds to the cabana for the summer. l will see Pat for water exercises but am not sure we will still do breakfast. I will leave that up to her. We still have Happy Hour and the occasional Thursday buffet of meatloaf or fried chicken! 

Not as bad as we expected

We Palace dwellers were cautioned about the pungent aroma this water proofing material would bring, but so far, it's not that bad! This fellow had a tiny roller he used for cutting in, but I hoped they had a more substantial method of spreading the material. They did---actually pouring it out and pushing it into place with a giant squeegy. Made quick work of the open areas.

 No wonder they did so much grinding---it looks perfectly smooth now!

This is the north end of the sundeck. Under those stairs is the doorway to Hugh and Maureen's condo. Who needs a door when you have a ladder, right?

It's busy around here

A few moments ago Connie called me to see if I was watching the manatee activity in the basin. They are just having the greatest time out there, diving and snorting. It is quite entertaining to watch, as you might imagine. She also spotted two ducklings paddling along the bulkhead. I am tearing up English muffins to throw out to the wildlife.

The sun is glorious today, still not as hot here as it was in MN yesterday. What is up with that??? Hopefully it won't be so hot to cause the guys doing the sundeck to suffer. That has to be miserable work on a beastly hot day. 

Justin is likely quite pleased with the more temperate weather since he is now out there 5 days a week for pay, plus whatever he does at home to fix up the yard. Last weekend they put up a brand-new PWT pool. (His word for it--stands for poor white trash). It is inflatable and quite good sized, like the one they had at the beach house. 

                                  

In chatting with Linda this a.m. we discussed our dinner plans. I have choir rehearsal tonight so no Happy Hour for me. It's Trivia Night too but I expected to not be able to attend. They can muddle through without me. Sniffle, sniffle...

Anyway, if I make the roast, it can cook until I get home from choir. I can taste it already...She is going to make a homemade pizza for her dinner, which also sounds wonderful. It's so tempting to simply order in but why not use the slow cooker and see what happens with the roast?

Since she had an eye procedure or two done on Monday, Linda is under house arrest for the remainder of the week. Both Tommy and she are working from home today, her vision now good enough to do some computer work between resting her peepers. Her friend, Debbie, took her for the surgery Monday. My sister, Lynn, took Linda for the follow-up yesterday. Tommy still cannot drive after his shoulder surgery. Such a pair! Thanking God for friends to pitch in when needed!

Weather or not....

...we are talking about it! Today is a bright, bright sunshiny day, like the song goes. But it seems our area also broke a record overnight for the lowest temperature on this date. The high today will add 30 more degrees to the record low of 47 above zero from when we woke up. I only know this because I read it on the radio website, as I was snug and warm in my house.

The weatherman pronounced this as being a picture-perfect day and I have to agree. Other than the cooler than usual temperatures, the cloudless sky and soft breezes make for a very pleasant day. In fact, as I waited in my car at the restaurant for my friend, Brenda, to arrive, I got warm!

Let me back up a bit---I wrote yesterday about what happens when the TV goes off, for some reason, when I am sleeping. Well, sure enough, something happened with the cable connection at 3:17 a.m. and my room got quiet. The banner on the screen indicated I should check my connections or call a certain number...

In a few moments it came back on, and back to sleep I went. This brought on some wild dreams involving my attempts to take pictures of the kids at the preschool. My subconscious was busy, as this is exactly what I was doing today! The actual project was flawless, contrary to the episode in my dream!

While I was at church, I was going to make copies of the Alzheimer's seminar materials as several had asked to see the handouts, etc. It is like launching a missile to operate the copier these days, though, so eventually Lisa, from the preschool, who knew the launch sequence needed to operate the machine, helped me out. I like the old copier so much better, this old fashioned girl.

At 10:00 a.m. we took the kids into the adjacent classroom to pose them in front of a black sheet of paper. Lisa had ordered one cap and gown, in green, so each of them took a turn putting on the cap 'n gown. I hope the pictures turn out good enough for their purposes. Will work on that later...

Upon getting my copies made, I went to Steak 'n Shake to meet my friend, Brenda, for lunch. I was a bit early so listened to the radio in the car until I got too warm to do so. The restaurant was cold, ironically,  after I was so warm in the car where the sun was shining on my legs! There is no pleasing me, it seems.

Brenda and I sat in our booth, tearing coupons out of the flyer we use when we get together. I know as soon as it comes in the mail, Kim and Brenda are having lunch! We shared the buy one/get one milk shake coupon, which we took to-go, as they are incredibly filling. She told me how she must sneak her Diet Coke at work as one of her co-workers is a militant health food nut who harasses her about what she eats and drinks. He is, otherwise, a nice man, she claims.

                                     

Once home, an e-mail came announcing that tomorrow and the next day will be a stinky one around here. The undercoating/water-proofing of the sundeck is being applied, and apparently quite pungent. Hugh suggested we keep our doors and windows closed (that would be me!) and run the A/C to freshen the air in our homes. We shall see about that, as I am guessing I will be okay here. 

                          

Those on the 2nd floor have to either vacate the premises or be prepared to remain in the house for 18 hours. Maureen already told me they are going to use the ladder again to get in and out of their home. Those rascals!