The Villages and running an electrical raceway

Mary and I were awake by 5 am, so we did our language lessons on Babbel until we heard Mark and Cindy moving downstairs. We had Wheat Chex for breakfast with yogurt and banana. The morning was warm but a little foggy when we walked the dogs around the neighborhood. We wanted to take the longer walk early before the rain that was forecast for later in the day.

Electrical raceway

Mary and Cindy left for The Villages at 9 am. They planned to take Mark’s sister, Jodie, to the beauty shop then shopping at Costco and out to lunch together. Mark and I went to the Crystal River Home Depot to get supplies for adding a receptacle for the television in Cindy’s office. We ran metal surface conduit from an existing receptacle to a new outlet behind the wall mounted television. Since the television had built-in Roku, we didn’t need to get a USB receptacle. The project went well until we tried the television as we were finishing. A light came on in the rear of the television, but we were unable to get it to turn on. No matter what we did the television didn’t come on. Mark suggested that we check to see if the batteries in the remote were dead. When he popped up the battery cover, we were surprised to find that there were no batteries in the remote control. After swapping the batteries with the remote in our room, the television worked as it should. Mark texted Cindy to pick up AAA batteries from Costco.

After finishing the installation, we had cheese and Canadian bacon quesadillas with tortilla chips and salsa. I called our friend, Joann Potter, to confirm their visit to Homosassa on Monday and Tuesday. We took an afternoon break until Mary and Cindy returned. Mark watched ESPN and napped while I caught up on this trip journal and napped. The weather stayed warm, but there was a very light rain. We took the dogs for a short walk before the rain picked up.

Mark has been wanting to get into making sourdough. I brought a jar of starter from my sourdough to Florida with us. Mark some of the starter in a bowl with water, flour, salt and a little oil. The sourdough sat in a warm place to be kneaded and eventually baked tomorrow.

Mary and Cindy arrived back at the house around 5 pm with Cindy’s new haircut and items from Costco. We warmed up the Schmitt’s meatloaf, cooked some sweet potatoes and broccoli for an excellent meal.

Whittington’s friends, Kenny and Jodie, came over at 7 pm to play cards and visit. I went upstairs to do a few lessons on Babbel, read a little, then watched an episode of Landman on Paramount. After the card game was over, we turned in for the night. We were considering going to Homosassa’s mullet festival tomorrow which is always fun.

Assembling the sauna

We woke around 5 am this morning and did our morning language lessons and had our hot beverages. We took the dogs on a walk along the canal and met the project manager for the decommissioning of the EWEB (Eugene Water and Electric Board) canal. Jeremy told us that the EWEB property would be returned to a more natural state with a winding stream and gentle slopes. He was very pleasant and informative. After returning from our walk, Mark & I loaded a huge amount of cardboard (mostly from the sauna) for recycling as well as several bags of trash (mostly Styrofoam from the sauna) to take to the nearby transfer station. The older lady checking us into the transfer station was very friendly and helpful charging us $13 for our large load. Mary & Cindy worked on removing English ivy and Asian blackberries from the slope going to the McKenzie River,

Assembling the sauna

We continued on to Home Depot in Eugene to return the damaged fence gate. The person at the customer service desk told us that since the gate was part of a larger kit, we would have to return the entire order for exchange. Since most of the materials were already in the ground with concrete, that was impractical. However, Mark has an additional gate on order and the damaged gate could be exchanged using that order. While at Home Depot we got some Christmas lights for Cindy, a section of 1 inch PVC and fittings to repair the irrigation line that I cut into while digging a post hole. We also picked up a few pavers to place under and in front of the sauna. This would made a stable base for the structure.

We made a quick stop to pick up dry cleaning for Cindy then returned to the house for a lunch of turkey sandwiches and potato chips. After lunch Mary & Cindy went into Eugene to shop at Costco, Walmart and Albertsons. Cindy is hosting a holiday party on Saturday and needed to get supplies. She contracted a chef to come to the house and prepare beef wellington for the 8 people expected.

While the ladies were gone, Mark & I started assembling the sauna. It took over 30 minutes to place and level the five pavers under the sauna. Assembling the sauna was fairly easy attaching the four walls and roof to the base. Connecting the wiring between wall panels was straightforward. The only mishap was when attaching the right wall. In the process of lining this panel up, we inadvertently disconnected the left panel. While grabbing the left panel, the right panel fell to the ground sustaining some minor damage. Once both side panels were in place, the front panel with the door was attached and the roof was added the structure. We connected all of the wiring and added the door handles completing the build. Once the base was in place and level, the assembly took only 40 minutes. We blew leaves from the bigleaf maple tree off the driveway then came in to relax.

Ike's Pizza & Broasted Chicken

Mary & Cindy arrived around 5:30 with a large load of groceries and supplies from Costco, Walmart and Albertsons. After we helped them bring the supplies in, we went to dinner at a local favorite called Ike’s Pizza, known locally for their “broasted chicken” and potatoes. There were only two older ladies working and they appeared to be moving slowly. The menu in chalk above the counter amused us with the grammar and spelling errors including “potatoe” wedges, 4 “peices” of chicken and “Ceaser” salad. Everyone except me had the broasted chicken but I ordered a Canadian bacon and cheese sandwich. The chicken was fine but not exceptional. It was moist and tender but the coating seemed odd. Cindy ordered a to-go order of 4 piece chicken dinner for Robert. After we finished our meal, we waited for Robert’s dinner to come to our table. Around 7 pm, music started playing loudly and we asked the waitress about the meal. She told us that it was being held in a warming oven for us and that the restaurant closes at 7. The music is a signal for diners to leave.

Back at the house, we sampled some mixed drinks that Cindy would prepare for her guests on Sunday evening. She was wanting a tasty bourbon or gin based drink with a fall feel. I preferred the whiskey sour with a little apple but we all had varying recommendations. Robert came in from work and enjoyed his chicken followed by his usual large serving of popcorn as he watched television.

Hanging wainscoting panels

I woke up before 4 am and went to the office area to read and do my morning language lessons until 5:30. Mark and I went out early to get 64 more feet of baseboard and some painting items from Home Depot. When Mark was cleaning up after the three feet of saltwater had left the house, a little of the grout for the tile in the living room was lost. This left a gap in the floor between the tile and the baseboard, so Mark got a tube of grout caulk in a dark color to match the grout.

We had oatmeal with craisins for breakfast which was filling and tasted good. We listened to a little of the Lexington classic country station streaming through my telephone. We enjoyed the daily Florida Man story on Broadway and Friends as we discussed how we were going to get started on the day’s work.

Mary and Cindy continued painting moulding and wainscoting panels in the garage. They had bought a 5-gallon pail of white satin paint from Home Depot and were covering the preprimed panels. They put two coats of paint on the chair rails over the primer that we applied on Sunday.

Mark and I replaced several sections of door and window moulding then started repairing a windowsill in the living room. The original sill had a large chunk missing on the right side and an extension was broken off on the other side. We used an oscillating saw to cut a rectangular opening in the damaged area the shaped a block of wood to fit the repair. Long screws held the replacement block in place and wood putty filled and gaps and voids. After a couple of coats of paint, the windowsill looked as good as new.

Lunch was some of the smoked turkey that we brought from Kentucky with us. We used our sourdough bread and some horseradish.

After lunch we started putting wainscoting panels up in the dining area. It took a while for us to get the hang of what we were doing. The panels were glued with tubes of construction adhesive then we nailed them with 18-gauge brad nails with my smaller nail gun. We were pleased that the gaps between the panels were very small and that the chair rail covered the nails at the top of the panels. We touched up any marks in the paint and made sure that everything looked as it should. Cindy and Mary approved the job, so everyone was happy. Cindy used brown paper to make patterns of the stones along the fireplace so we could cut the wainscoting panels to fit correctly. We felt confident that we would make more progress tomorrow although two tough walls were next on our plans.

Dinner was baked penne pasta with chicken and apple sausages. The vegetable was steamed broccoli. Everything was delicious.

We took the dogs on an after dinner walk around nearby streets then back to the house. We watched a little television and snacked on some buckeyes that we brought with us then turned in after doing our evening language lessons.

Hanging doors and baseboards

I woke a little before 5 am and went downstairs to heat water for tea. We watched local Lexington news through Zeam on the Roku television in our room.

After a breakfast of cold cereal, Mark and I went out to get materials and supplies for the repair jobs at the house this week. Mary and Cindy went to a reformed Presbyterian Church a short distance away.

Mark and I went to Home Depot and bought 64 feet of baseboard which we thought would be about half of what expected to need replacing the baseboard on the first floor.

Mark and Cindy had picked out some simulated batten board paneling in sheets that are 48 inches wide and 32 inches tall. We bought 17 panels of the product. We bought 64 lineal feet of chair rail and 12 feet of corner moulding. All the material we bought except the chair was pre-primed. We bought paintbrushes, rollers and pans for painting. We bought several tubes of construction adhesive and other small items we thought we might need.

At Harbor Freight we bought a 10 inch miter saw by Chicago Electric which was the lowest priced miter saw offered at Harbor Freight in this size. We also got some low priced sawhorses for painting the interior doors as well as the mouldings.

We called Cindy and asked that she and Mary stop at Home Depot to pick out the shade of white satin paint they wanted to paint the woodwork. They also got some paint containers to help them with painting the doors and trim.

Mark and I primed the chair rail with Kilz 2 primer before Mary and Cindy returned from church. After they got in, we had a lunch of the leftover meatloaf and potatoes. The ladies changed clothes, and we helped them move items to be painted as we did repairs around the house. As baseboards dried, we cut them to fit around the dining room, living room, hall and closets. We used one of the nail guns that I brought from home to fasten the baseboards after we cut them with the new miter saw. We got a few sections of baseboard down in the dining room and living room before dinner.  Since the wainscoting panels weren't dry yet, we put the baseboard in the areas where the tongue and groove planks were on the walls.

Dinner was provided by one of the neighbors, a man from Minnesota who winters here in Homosassa. He caught more redfish that he could use so he shared some with us. We had fish tacos from the poached fish along with chips and salsa. Mark’s boat was in the shop to be coated with an anti-fouling paint. We were hopeful that the boat would be finished and the weather would hold while we were here.

After dinner we watched some television and relaxed before turning in a little before 10 pm.

Starting on repairs to the house

We woke up early as usual. I went downstairs and made tea for Mary. I used Earl Grey since I didn’t want to dig for regular tea and wake Mark and Cindy. We read for a while then went downstairs after we heard that Mark was up.

Mark made a very good breakfast of scrambled eggs, bacon and toast before we took the dogs on a walk. Because Sage has been limping on her left rear foot, Mark and I took a shorter walk than Mary and Cindy.

After we got back from the walk, Mark and I started replacing interior doors that were ruined during flooding in the house from Hurricane Helene. We put prehung doors on the broom closet off the kitchen then the closet door in the first-floor bathroom where the HVAC is located. Mark had a lot of shims which were helpful, and I brought two pneumatic finish nail guns to Florida with us.

We had a lunch of some turkey that I had smoked on sourdough bread that we brought from Kentucky. I had made quite a few loaves before we left so we could stock the family with bread while we were gone as well as giving us two loaves to bring to Florida.

Grant and Jodie had planned to come for dinner in the evening, but Jodie had the flu and decided that they would stay home. We always enjoy visiting with them and were sorry that they had to cancel.

After lunch we replaced the bifold doors over the laundry area. When three feet of saltwater was in their house during the Hurricane, the washer, dryer, range, and refrigerator were all ruined. A stacked washer-dryer combo replaced the previous washer and dryer. The whole time we were outside preparing materials we were fighting the no see ums so we kept ourselves covered in Skin So Soft which seemed to help.

Mary and Cindy took the Christmas tree down and worked outside in the gardens and lawn. Mary was pleased to find lots of monarch caterpillars on one of Cindy’s milkweed plants. There was poison ivy in several places that they pulled and removed.

We were all tired by dinner time. Mary had made a Schmidt’s style meatloaf before we left home and brought it for meals. A mix of white and gold potatoes were on the side.

We needed a few things from the grocery store and wanted to explore options for the replaced walls in the living room, kitchen and hall of the first floor.

At Home Depot in Crystal River, Mark and Cindy found some batten style panels that they liked as well as a chair rail for the top. We brought a short section of the chair rail and one section of panel back with us to see how it would look. Cindy and Mary got a lantana to replace one that was killed in the flood.

We didn’t get much at Publix since we didn’t really know our plans yet.

We made a quick stop at the Twistee Treat drive through for cones then came back to the house. Mark and I measured to get an estimate of the panels, chair rail and baseboard that we would need and took a few photos to help us when we go to Home Depot in the morning.