A Garage no More

Our truck won't fit in our garage - even if it is empty!.The garage was built almost 30 years ago, and today's trucks are just a tad bit bigger. The garage wasn't really useful for vehicles, but I loved the idea of this space becoming a studio, or craft room, for my sewing and quilting. (Especially since we didn't have an extra bedroom I could use.)

Here's the garage before the movers brought more boxes and furniture!

We stored a lot of things that didn't fit in the house in the garage. We had already cleared a lot out when I thought to take a picture. We also have more stuff in the barn...and now, we've added to those piles!

We would not need the screen, so I put it out on local sale feeds and had several inquiries. The screen was gone the next day.

We have cleaned almost everything out. We need a bit of help with some of the larger pieces, but otherwise we are finished. 

Day 1

July 22, 2025

The guy on the floor is OK, he's marking the wall for the top of the concrete

A form is put up to hold the concrete to the designated level

Day 2

The concrete arrives. This sure looks like grueling work!

The floor is almost finished and it will be level with the floor in the rest of the house. 

After the concrete dried a bit, the men smoothed it off some more. 

(I asked if this was the time to let the dogs out!)

Day 3

A shelf is removed to allow the installation of a mini split AC

The garage door and controller are removed. 

The mini split is installed, and functional. It will keep me cool when it is warm, and has heat for when it turns chilly. The window for the new wall leans against the wall. 

The cinder block has been delivered.

Day 4

The wall is going in!

Day 5

The utilities are now behind bars, and will be walled in when the electrician has run wiring!

We have a window....

... and we have a door!

Day 6

We have electric wiring, partially completed,

and we have flooring waiting for installation when the time is right.

Day 7 & 8

More electrical. 

I have to give the electrician a lot of credit for hanging in there. He was in a car accident four months ago and shattered both ankles. He has pins and plates holding his ankles together, and it is evident that walking isn't very comfortable. Yet, he worked three short days (Saturday and Sunday too) to get the job far enough along that the contractor could move on with the next step. 

Day 9

We have walls. We have a utility closet! 

Day 10

August 7, 2025

The stucco guys came and textured the cinderblock walls, in and out.

The sheetrock guy played with his mud and tape. He wasn't feeling well and the contractor told him to go home to rest, and seek medical care. 

We are 10 working days into our project. I am thrilled and I'm counting the days until I can move my sewing things into the room and become truly settled in our house. Unless there are huge delays, I'm thinking that will happen in 10-14 days. Hooray!

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Blind Date with a Book

We ventured to Inverness, FL on Saturday to check out "Market at the Depot" at Liberty Park.  The city venue is fabulous. The property is located near a bike trail and in addition to the large pavilion, has a "stage" under the water tower and a café with a game room. 

A squall came through just after we arrived. The outside vendors, and even some of the inside vendors, had to deal with blowing rain. 

There was a large variety of wares being offered for sale. 

This was my favorite:

This clever lady acquired a variety of books of different genres. Each was wrapped and included a brief synopsis. For example, one synopsis stated:

Historical Fiction

- Contemporary  - Cold War 

- Troubled marriage  - Lies

- Kept secrets  - Love

- Twist  - NYC

Rating: 4 stars on Amazon

The pretty packaging also included note paper, a marker, some stickers, a tea bag and other ephemera.

Who doesn't love a brown bag mystery?!

Clever idea!

 

No! Stay Away!

When we discovered our new little piece of heaven we were thrilled with being back in the country, yet having some shops and medical services nearby. Evidently lots of other folks feel the same way and we will quickly (I fear) be surrounded by Everywhere Suburbia, USA. 

Truthfully, the writing was on the wall. We just chose to overlook it. For example, the road outside our development is a 4-lane highway, with practically no traffic most times of the day. Walmart, Hobby Lobby, Target and other shops/restaurants are only 4 miles, and 2 stoplights, away.  I guess they didn't build it just for my convenience! All I can think of is, "Build it and they will come!"

Key to the map

Yellow Star: our house on top, center, and shops on the right

Red Circles: existing stop lights. The entrance to our community is at the red dot on the left side of the picture. 

Green speech bubble above the highway: cute cows that were there five months ago, and have now been displaced by earthmovers and machinery paving the way for more big box stores. 

Green speech bubble below the highway: cute cows and donkeys, with a sign out front indicating that they are grazing on borrowed time on commercial property that is for sale.

Pink speech bubble labeled "Trouble": site of the exit ramp for the Suncoast Parkway with a new stoplight standing between me and the stores. It's due to open any day. 

Shrouded stop lights up ahead.

The boom truck on the left is installing directional highway signs

The Suncoast Parkway is a toll road that runs from our area to Tampa. Even though this particular exit hasn't been opened...yet... the toll road has been convenient to hop on and proceed to Tampa on a direct route with less traffic. I'm thinking lots of folks will appreciate the easy access to a speedier commute. The new exit will dump all northbound vehicles onto the four lane highway, until they construct the flyover and extend the toll road to the north. How serendipitous to have our development, with over 3,000 empty lots right at the end of the proverbial rainbow! Not to mention other communities in all directions. It reminds me of billboards I've seen, "If you lived here you'd be home by now!" 

Yikes! Traffic outside our area, including the main entrance/through road in our development, is going to be a snarl of cars and trucks in the future. Ugh! At least we are nestled in an area with larger lots, on a road that really isn't convenient to use as shortcut. There is some satisfaction to be gained from that.

The Farm Dog vs the Queen

Recall the theme song of classic TV show, "Green Acres" with Eddie Albert and Eva Gabor.

This is Kaitlyn and Vickie's take on the theme song.

Farm livin’ is the life for me,

Outdoors is where I wanna be.

Land spreadin’ out so far and wide

I don't like cities just give me that countryside.

I prefer to live my life inside,

Under the bed is where I like to hide.

On the couch is where I like to sleep

I'm the queen, and the countryside you can keep!

...the critters.

...give me the jitters.

...space to run.

...that's no fun.

Too bad for you,

This is what we're gonna do.

Life at the new place is surely a lot of fun!

Login With....

Hulu 

Roku

Disney

Sling

Fubo

Netflix

Paramount

Acorn TV

Max

Tubi

BritBox

HBO

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.

What happened to good 'ol TV? (Can you tell I'm getting old(er)?!) I struggle figuring out what show is where... and why do I need to spend oodles of money for this service, and oodles of money for that service to watch the shows I enjoy? 

Seriously, just think how much better off we oldsters were when we had 13 channels and UHF. We had plenty of choices of things to watch. 

We didn't spend hours trying to log in to a service, only to find out that the show we want isn't on that particular one, so we spend more hours logging into another service. When we were young (once our families had a TV), we stood up, walked all of the way to the TV, and turned the channel. (Additionally, we never lost the remote, had to find batteries for it, or had the dog chew it up!) 

We had to wait until the following week (or worse, the following season) to discover what happened next in the series we were watching... we didn't have the opportunity for instant gratification, nor the excuse to spend hours/days binge watching a series.  Moreover, we could go through the TV guide to pick out and highlight the shows we wanted to watch.

Families often had only one TV in the house, and enjoyed watching TV together. Did they realize at that time how rich and precious those experiences were? The shows (to my recollection) were wholesome and endorsed good clean values. 

I did embrace new technologies. I loved the flexibility afforded by our VHS player/recorder. Oh, and movies you could rent at a local store. And then, the variety of shows available on cable TV at many different times during the day. I was an early adopter of technology, having my first personal computer, a VIC-20, in 1980. Heck, I taught 6th graders who all had their own laptops in an innovative program in 1986. And connecting to the Internet become more feasible for more and more people, in more and more places. I've been riding that technology wave, trying to keep on top of things. But....

With respect to my TV options...I wish things were simpler!

PS: We live in a "hollow" amongst the ridges in this area of Florida. Thus, despite a TV antenna reaching over our roof, we can't pull in TV signals from either of the two larger towns near us. Thus, we don't have the option of selecting local channels. 

Sliding Puzzle

I used to love this sort of puzzle. 

Currently, I seem to be "living" that puzzle, and I don't find it quite as entertaining!

Out of necessity, our spare bedroom is doing double duty as my sewing room and potentially a guest room. However I challenge any guest to come visit...and feel that we have welcomed them! While we wait for the garage to be converted into a sewing/craft area for me, we have many things that for both rooms shoehorned into one.

If I need something out of the closet I need to roll away two carts, move a roll of batting and move two folding chairs. 

If someone wants to use the only bed that is made, they have to crawl up to the head of the bed. The other bed used to be in the garage, which allowed a bit more room, but once we started work out there, it had to come in. along with various lamps and lamp shades and stacks of IKEA shelving.

The good news is that even as I type this, the garage is slowing being transformed into my sewing/crafting room. A day-by-day recap of that transformation will be posted upon completion. 

How exciting is that?!

Come Walk With Me

 Our community, Pine Ridge Estates, has over 28 miles of equestrian trails. 

The trails are marked by the bold lines.

 Our house is the pink star.

Trail entrances are marked with the board fences, and cautionary notices

Trails are marked with color coded paint marks

Walking with the corgis can be a challenge. This one likes to be ahead of me,

the other lags behind. If we are walking on the edge of the road, one wants to be on the grass, and the other on the pavement. 

Yes, it's a pained look. It's hot, I'm sweating...

but the good news is we have only the rare mosquito. 

This is a sand ridge. We have no standing water, and rarely a puddle.

"Two roads diverged in the yellow wood...."