One year ago today: July 7, 2015, being smart is work.
Five years ago today: July 7, 2011, music, China, key lime pie.
Nine years ago today: July 7, 2007, twenty tunes per hour.
Random years ago today: July 7, 2014, cPod Mark II.
MORNING, NOON, & NIGHT
To the new place and back with a single truckload in one day is a leisurely 15 hours. We stopped for brunch in Clewiston, then on to Sebring and then Lakeland. That’s a long enough day for most. Here’s the highlights in any order. Two brains are better than one, and in a drawn-out discussion we’ve actually come up with a better way to level the floor. Cheaper and faster, as well. I’ll go over the plan, because it if doesn’t work, I’m up the creek. That would be news around these parts.
Here’s something. We drove there and back, as usual, I was the navigator, reading the road signs and pointing out highlights on this now familiar trip, but that would be passed except for the motorcycle. You just don’t see as much from a closed vehicle. And we saw a semi pulling a backhoe almost lose it on the curve seven miles from South Bay, the nothing town that was supposed to pass Ft. Lauderdale in size. Until the government built the Interstates and bypass central Florida. Anyway, what is blog-worthy was that until we got back to Hollywood, neither JZ nor I noticed I had forgotten my glasses this morning.
It turns out there is a full family of cardinals in the yard. I saw only one of the juveniles, but JZ, outside on a smoke break, saw the entire bunch. And one flew into the shed while he had the doors open. Next you know, he’s hollering for me to get outside to look at the big dead tree, the one slated for toppling. There was the biggest woodpecker I’ve ever seen. I’d guess 18 inches from beak to tail, I’ll look that up later. Along with what kind of diet the cardinals use and what type of structure they’ll nest in. The field book says they are a non-migrating species.
Ah, but are they an indicator species? JZ insists the presence of these specific types are a sure sign of a healthy environment. I say at best is shows a food supply and absence of predators. I told you those trees were huge and now it would seem the canopy is large enough to form a decent habitat or at least a sanctuary for these eye-catching birds. I had doubts when I learned there are some 30 feral cats in the neighborhood. It says here they [cardinals] frequent birdfeeders and often socialize with other species. They are fond of sunflower seeds. If so, their dreams are about to come true. I miss Memphis, but I’ll never keep a bird captive in a cage again.
Back to the crooked floor. A much closer examination of the situation shows that it is the joists bowed up, but it may not be necessary to lower them. I had that idea weeks ago because the various sources I use say trimming them back level again could ruin their strength. After much bantering over the amount of work involved, JZ says that trimming the crowns down is okay—but it is not his house that is at risk, is it? Then it hit me.
If trimming a joist weakens it, why not reinforce it first, not after? Put the sister joist in place first, then trim the crowns level. Better yet, sandwich the old joist between two sisters, since if that works, it is so economical that I could buy all the joists needed. We did not proceed with that, I still have to think that one over. I want to ponder the option of notching out the bottom of the old wood rather than trim the tops.
My family friend has an aversion to pilot projects, scale models, buying samples in general, and halting work just to think. Yes, we argue at times, but we never make major mistakes, either. I do not perceive the concrete items as "a waste of money", and no, I am not going to return them for $9 in credit. It costs more than that to drive a truck over there.
Also easy to see is the remaining green drywall and the slightly dusty floorboards. Behind the purple fan, you cans see how I’ve removed the baseboard. We also shifted furniture out of the room to make this the designated work area. I will still tar paper and insulate this area, because another topic on which we tend to disagree is I like a comfortable place to work and am willing to pay for it myself. I see no advantage to working out in the hot Florida sun just to keep the floors free of sawdust.
Another trip is required, I’ve decided to bring the red scooter and worry about transportation in South Florida later, since it looks like my next scheduled trip here (back to South Florida) is in January, 2017. I said scheduled, anything unscheduled will give me a lot of headache, but as I settle in, such events should taper off. It was still early when we completed offloading my gear, so we drove back today, stopping for a brew near the Zolfo Springs crossing. We got here just after dark. I did not see one pretty gal all day. Not one. And I was on the lookout.
Now, to JZ, they are all pretty. And getting more so as he gets older. Next, knowing I would not have seen the TV news, he tells me another orangutan just escaped from the Tampa zoo. Isn’t that a fine thing to say, my house isn’t just up the road. After a lively discussion of whether orangutans are people-friendly, the plan is to tent the place for apes if they are not. Hey, how do I know these animals are tame? Last time I saw one was named Clyde in a Clint Eastwood movie. JZ says if the Orangutan is holed up in my place, it is because I left that open package of peanuts on the counter. Instead of giving them to JZ, I think he means.
Last Laugh
(Ken, your date’s here.)
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