Repairing the sign on Standish Drive

We slept well back at Mark and Cindy’s then had our morning beverages, did our language lessons then went downstairs. Mark made blueberry and pecan pancakes with bacon for breakfast which was excellent. We took the dogs on a longer walk since Sage was feeling better and the wound on her ear was starting to heal after being treated with antibiotic salve.

Mark and I took tools and materials to repair the signposts at the corner of Mason Creek and Standish Road. There is a collection of signs at the intersection with the names or logos of families on the street. However, a 4x4 post had been broken during the Hurricane Helene flooding so we decided to replace it.

Signs at the entrance to Standish Drive

We photographed the signs so we could return them to their proper positions when we were finished. All the signs were removed, and the structure was disassembled, which was difficult since nails and all types of screws were used to hold it together. We dug around the concrete around the post hoping to be able to remove it. The roots around the concrete and the weight of the concrete prevented us from doing that. We were finally able to crack the concrete with a heavy hammer and remove large chunks of concrete.

Once the old post was out, we could put the new 4x4 in that place. We attached the supports and replaced the signs and even the solar light on top. Mark called his neighbor, Kenny, who was in town this morning and asked him to pick up two bags of Sackrete to anchor the post. I walked to the house to get a bucket of water, a wheelbarrow and a shovel for mixing the concrete. We needed a few lag bolts to better attach the cross braces to the posts but the deck screws we used would suffice until we could get to the Ace Hardware. Everything looked great so we decided to come back after dark to see if the solar light worked.

After a lunch of turkey sandwiches on sourdough bread, we took Mark’s pickup to Beth's Car Wash. There was a lot of road dust on the car from the unpaved roads in the Everglades and state parks. The automated car wash did a good job of cleaning the truck’s exterior and there were stations outside equipped with vacuum hoses, clean microfiber cloths, glass and interior spray cleaners to get the inside of the pickup clean. We were especially happy to get the sand out of the floor mats. Mark & I worked with vacuum hoses and cleaning solutions like a NASCAR pit crew and had the pickup looking clean. After leaving the car wash we went across the road to Walmart to restock on soft drinks and snacks.

Back at the house, we pushed Mark’s boat out of the garage. Since the driveway is downhill, it was easy to push but we attached the cable from the trailer mounted winch to an eyebolt in the garage floor. This would prevent the boat and trailer from going down the driveway too far and too fast. Kenny saw us working and came over to help. Once the boat was out of the garage, we chocked the wheels and attached the trailer to the hitch on the pickup. However, we allowed the trailer to roll backwards and break the plastic chocks.

Kenny drove the truck and trailer with the boat to the Mason Creek boat launch. Mark and I took the boat around from Mason Creek to the canal behind the house and tied up to the dock. Kenny brought the truck and empty trailer back to the house and unhooked the trailer.

We chatted with Kenny for a while then showered before dinner. Mark grilled some marinated chicken breasts and made a salad with leaf lettuce that was very good. After dinner we walked to the corner of Standish and Mason Creek to find that the solar light worked very well illuminating the signs.

We watched an episode of Clarkson’s Farm and a little of the Winter Olympics before turning in for the night.