Almost Home

When we left California it seemed that our trek across country would never end. Now, as we approach our final destination in southern Florida, it doesn't seem so bad. We have certainly taken a leisurely route. We refer to it as the "Three Thirty Rule" meaning we will travel no more than 330 miles or arrive no later than 3:30 PM. Certainly our trip has taken more days than it could have, but the quality of our days has been so much better. (IE... we aren't bitching at each other ...... as much!!!)

Our travels up to Jacksonville

We arrived in the Jacksonville area on Friday, and spent the weekend with family before moving on to our home near Labelle, FL. We were anxious to see the resort, as Hurricane Irma went right over it. And everyone had reported that although there was damage, it was not anything like it could have been. The staff of the resort has been (and remains) very busy cleaning up debris and broken limbs. The pines, oaks and palms are all a bit thinner than they were, and limbs seem to droop a bit more than in the past.

Last year I took a picture of the palms reflected in the mirror of our motorhome. I took a second shot of it last night. It shows the impact of the hurricane on the palms. They look so sad.

Here is another before and after shot. The first is a picture of our lot with the huge oak at the back and a pretty Bismarck Palm in the front. Compare this picture to the one I took this evening.  What a difference.

   

It's Not the End at RiverBend!

I haven't posted in a while due to Internet issues we experience when we are on the road. Most campgrounds now have WiFi, but all of the campers collectively are trying to suck a swimming pool worth of connectivity through a garden hose. We get a trickle at best.

However, now we have Internet at the new house. We don't have much in the way of furniture... but we can get online!

So, I will go back in time to a few days following Irma's landfall in Florida on September 11. There were 13 residents of the RV resort who weathered the storm in the resort's clubhouse. They soon were without power and water, and cell phone connectivity was sketchy. However, we did get reports that all was well. There was little structural damage throughout the resort, no flooding and only the plant life was damaged by the storm. Within a few days staff from the resort took pictures of each of the 315 lots and set up a drop box online so that residents who were far away could see their property.

These are pictures from our lot:

 

The Royal Palm (on the left) lost most of its fronds. However, one of the onsite managers said that within a few days he could see new growth coming up on the Royals. Our Bismarck Palm (center) is very droopy and looks like it lost fronds. The fan-like palm on the right has some fronds broken in the middle. I wish I could have been there when the picture was taken. It would have been interesting to see if straightening the bent fronds and splinting them would have kept the fronds alive. 

The center part of the picture with all of the leaves (and a stray pot) was actually just sand. This area used to be grass and we had pavers installed in all but this one area, where we planned to put in some fake grass sod. We may have to add some more sand before we get around to adding our "grass". 

Considering all of the trees that are behind us, this pile of limbs is not all that impressive.  I had nightmares that the tree would fall in the storm. The tree was one of the reasons we picked this particular lot. We like the shade it provides!

This view of the back of the lot shows more damage with fallen limbs in the foreground and by the oak. That oak 3' or more in diameter and it seems to have lost a lot of smaller limbs. It isn't on our property, and may not even be on the resort's property. We had intended to clean up around it anyway, our cleanup just may be a bit more extensive!

In June we had pavers installed on our property wanted a paver walkway behind our "coach house" (storage building). The original shrubs were removed as they had grown tall and leggy, and were in the way of the pavers.  We replaced the shrubs with Podocarpus. This one is leaning. It looks like at least one of the shrubs was broken. 

Our coach house sustained no visible damage. But, it is strange to see the neighbor's coach house. We will have to give the podocarpus some time to recover, grow and bush out.

This is a shot of our neighbor's property and his storage cabinet. It is possible that the cabinet caused some of the damage to the shrubs we had planted in the spring. 

Our 

Looking Up

This is out of sequence, but might be interesting to read later on.
We had an adjuster from the insurance company inspect our roof. We were not exactly happy with his report. Oh, yes. Look. There is hail damage on the hot tub cover., he reported. But... oh, no... there is no evidence of hail damage on the roof. All he saw up there was normal wear and tear. BS! But, he knew we were moving and why should the insurance company pony up for something that we won't enjoy. We objected and asked for another inspection. Sadly, they could not get an inspector here in time to get the roof replaced before closing. We did not want to extend closing, so.... $$$$ We'd rather spend some of the profit from the sale of the house to have it sold than to wait and perhaps have something happen to the deal.

On Wednesday the truck rolled in with the materials:

I wouldn't want to be a shingle delivery person. They off-loaded each and every square by hand.

We were intrigued by the process of estimating the material requirements. Our roofer has a program that downloads a satellite image of the house. He can then plug in information about the pitch of the roof, dormers, etc and it yields the number of squares of shingles he needs for the roof. 

On Thursday the roofers woke us shortly after 6 AM as they walked around the house and put tarps down. The dogs were caught napping! They didn't bark until they heard voices outside the window!

The roofers made quick work of stripping the old shingles off of the roof. I worried about their slipping and falling as our roof is rather steep. My worry monitor was in high gear anyway as when I stuck my head out the back door first thing in the morning a roofer, on his way up the ladder, had the ladder slip and he fell off, landing half on and half off the concrete walkway. He lay writhing on the ground until a fellow worker helped him up. I have to give the guy credit. After about an hour of relaxing he was back on the job. Ouch!

We had a crew of 6 laborers. It seems that our roofer has connections with a fellow who manages several crews of roofers. Each crew has one worker, at minimum, who speaks English. Our crew had another fellow who spoke and understood a bit. The guys worked until 8 PM Thursday evening and finished the back half of the roof.

Friday was a bit hotter and the roofers found they had to take a few more breaks under the trees, so they needed to come back on Saturday morning to finish. 

There were nails and bits of shingles all over the place. Not to mention bottle caps, food wrappers and food. Gypsy scarfed up all of the food! She was in seventh heaven! The guys picked up most of the detritus that was left, but I find bits of things each time I step out into the yard.

We now have a new roof to enjoy for a few days as we move the last bit of stuff and clean up the empty house. Oh, and the new owner will enjoy a new hot tub cover! This was one of the rips on the hot tub cover from shingles hitting it, or being pulled off of it. The roofing company is making the arrangements to get a new one. However, the crew will end up buying it. They weren't exactly happy, but they might have felt a bit better when Mr. Dreamy later proffered an unopened bottle of Tequila he found in the back of the liquor cabinet!

Other collateral damage included a broken "lens" for the upstairs bathroom light and fan. I guess some of the thumps and hammering wiggled it loose and it fell on the tile. A replacement will be on its way soon. The shingles also smashed a solar post light we had on the banister for the front stairs. And wouldn't you know, I just figured out how to get those lights to work?! Well, that will be replaced, too, but the new owner may have to paint and install it. 

Quack, Quack, Quack... I Want My Money Back!

As a student of Early Childhood Education, I was required to take Children's Literature classes (and to be honest, I loved them!) Among the tales that I enjoyed while studying classic tales was Drakesbill, where Drakesbill goes to see the king, and swallows animals encountered on the trip, who later help him out. All along he repeats, "Quack, Quack, Quack, I want my money back!"
I think I am a modern-day reincarnation of Drakesbill!

And, here's the back story!

Among the objects I collected  from my father's apartment for the estate sale was this ceramic piece that we called "Italian Ducks". These were on the list of my grandfather's possessions at his death in 1990.

My cousin happened to see the picture on a blog post I put up about the Estate Sale.  She asked about buying the ducks. No problem. She deserves them as much as I do. Later, she was watching Jeopardy and the image for one of the questions was similar to the ceramic piece, and the correct response was, "What are Grebes". So, now we know the name of the weird looking birds.

After things slowed down around here I took the grebes and headed to a local FedEx office. I had all of the packing material needed, but, life was still rather hectic and I'd just as soon have the pros manage the packing of this piece.

After weighing the pottery it was whisked away and packed. The piece was swaddled in bubblewrap and plunked in a carton surrounded by crumpled paper. I paid the bill, while swallowing hard in disbelief at the cost (in excess of $86!!) But, heck, I didn't have to find a box, find packing material and put it all together. In hindsight, I sure wish I had taken care of things!

My cousin reported that the grebes had arrived, but were broken. What? Yikes! How tragic. The picture my cousin sent makes me want to vomit. What a travesty. 

Tomorrow, with receipt in hand.... with pictures in hand... I'll be heading back to the FedEx office... 

Quack, quack, quack.... I want my money back!

PS - Cousin has found a restoration company on the east coast and will be sending the grebe pieces to be put back together again. The bill will be handled by FedEx.... or else!