Lunch at The Freezer

Mark was making some of his excellent breakfast burritos when we went downstairs. We had finished our morning language lessons and had our beverages before going down.

We checked the weather at home and felt bad (a little) because temperatures were in the single digits and they snow and ice continue to pile up.

Mary and Cindy had a morning of shopping planned but would take the dogs on a walk before they left. They shopped for swimsuits at Lands End so Mary found three that were 70% off that she liked and put the order in to arrive after we returned home next week. Cindy was also expecting the cabinet installer to come for a final measurement before ordering the replacement kitchen cabinets. They hope to have a small dishwasher included in the cabinets and would like to keep their granite countertop.

Mark and I loaded the drywall scraps and old trim boards that had been flooded into the pickup. When we arrived at the Citrus County Landfill we were pleased that the line was short. We dumped the drywall and trim sections. When we weighed out we learned that we had over 200 pounds of material and the fee was less than $20 for the dump fee.

We stopped by Gulf to Lake Marine Sales so Mark could check on ordering a cover for his boat. From there we stopped at Lowe’s to see options for trim and moulding for the room over the garage. We found that the pine planks at Lowe’s were less expensive than the ones we bought from Home Depot. The boards were also in much better shape than the Home Depot stock. We bought some drywall corner bead, trim for the doors and windows and a tube of construction adhesive. Our last stop was at Crystal River Marine, the boat dealership where Mark had the hull of his boat painted with a coating to resist growth of marine organisms.

On the drive back to the house we saw Cindy and Mary driving out to go shopping. Mary had moved her car to the neighbor’s driveway so Mark could back the boat trailer onto the gravel pad. He was able to park the boat and trailer easily so we chocked the wheels and put the jack down to disconnect from the pickup. As we were doing that, FedEx arrived with a nightstand that Cindy had ordered from Wayfair. We carried it into the first floor bedroom so Mark could unpack and set it up. I moved Mary’s Camry back to the gravel pad where we had parked earlier but parked parallel to Standish Drive in front of the boat.

We put a skim coat on the concrete board that we installed on the garage partition and hoped to get it completed before we leave on Sunday. About the time that we were finishing, Mary called asking us if we wanted to meet them at The Freezer for shrimp. We didn’t hesitate to agree on lunch so we cleaned up and drove the short distance to the dockside restaurant. We had a pound of shrimp boiled for the four of us. Mark and I also had cups of their clam chowder. They were out of smoked mullet dip so the four of us shared a cup of salmon dip with crackers. Lunch was very good. We have always enjoyed our meal at The Freezer every time we have visited. We only wish the day were warm enough for us to eat outside on the dock where shrimp is brought to the restaurant by boat.

After returning to the house Mary and Cindy worked on genealogy. Both of them had some things on ancestry.com so they consolidated their research on familysearch.com, a free genealogy site supported by the LDS Church. Mark and I put a coat of primer on the inside wall in the garage where we patched the concrete wallboard.

I used some of the leftover exterior paint for the garage to touch up the wall near Mark’s sauna. Mark used the same paint to paint the mailbox post and an area where saltwater from the flood caused a short circuit in a power line going to the heat pump. A relay blew making a scorched spot on the wall that covered nicely with the paint.

Mark & I loaded the two kayaks and boating gear onto his pickup in anticipation of paddling on Crystal River or another nearby location in the next few days.  We knew that the temperature would be cool in the mornings but would warm up into the mid 70s each afternoon.  We have several things that need to be done but a trip to see manatees would be nice one afternoon.

Mark made chicken enchiladas for dinner but made them casserole style like Mary sometimes does. They were very good and we all enjoyed them. After dinner we went out to the garage to challenge Mary and Cindy with the MantisX Laser Academy shooting system.  Both did well once they became comfortable with the pistols.

We did our evening language lessons and watched two episodes of Vienna Blood on PBS before turning in.