Our Pretty Tree!!

Just after we had done a hard pruning to allow traffic to pass without having to swing out around it (and manged to keep the gorgeous shape intact) a utility truck has clipped a major branch (more like half of the tree) and there it lies in the street.....I think we are going to have to cut it down now....:-(  It had to stay closer than usual to the curb becasue there was a UPS truck parked on the other side of the street.

I remember thinking how pretty a shape the tree had when we were looking at the house and what a nice vista it provided out through the front door......

Tampa Old House Exchange

This is a new experiment for me born from my frustration in not having an architectural salvage yard here in Tampa. There are some cool stores like Sherry's Yesterdaze, Tampa Street Market and that place down by the bridge on Hillsborough I can't quite remember...and some funtional outlets like the Habitat for Humanity ReStore, and of course craigslist (and ebay), but nothing that quite fits the bill. What if there was an online clearinghouse for old house people here in Tampa where items could be offerred for sale or trade, items could be asked for, advice could be requested and given with regards to old house projects and experiences could be shared? Heck there could even be a plant exchange. Neighbors helping neighbors. I would love to have feedback....the new blog is located at http://tampaoldhouseexchange.blogspot.com/.

Happy Thanksgiving

Here comes another Thanksgiving here in Florida; I still expect to feel the harsh cold air, and maybe some snow for this day, even after 7 or 8 Florida Thanksgivings. While I can at this moment think of several things to complain about or feel sad about, I know I have so much to be thankful for. The budget is tight, but I'm thankful that I have a budget, many don't. My house is old and needs repairs, but I am thankful that I have a house, many don't. My job is all consuming and overwhelming, but I'm thankful to have one, again, many don't. I am thankful for my husband, my children and my entire family. I am thankful that I can put food on the table and clothes on our backs. Simple, everyday things, but in this crazy world, so many are lacking the simplest of comforts. I am thankful.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Finally, the Chill

Below 60 this morning, now up to 63; maybe fall is finally here! It is freezing here in our home office, the least insulated/protected room of the house....it's always super hot in here when it's hot outside and super cold when it gets chilly outside....not sure why it is worse than the rest of the insulation-challenged house, but boy...it's winter in here! I used to think that it got so hot because it has it's own roof as opposed to being under the rest of the house...but maybe it's just becasue it's so separate from the house....it was originally either a wrap around open porch or a porte cochere; there was something here according to the sanborn maps, but the porch is concrete and ends at the end of the exisitng porch; I'm not sure that they would have hacked away a concrete deck to enclose a room, they would have built over the concrete. Unless the concrete was a much later addition. It is now joists and light pine floors. The room has some structural issues, termite damage, wood rot, water damaged walls...the window sils are 90% dust and 10% wood....it's on our "list", we'll get to it! I guess it just doesn't have the protection from the elements of the house.
I'll just wrap a blanket around myself and don my LL Bean "Wicked Good Slippers" when I need computer time.

Tech Help, Please

OK, so I'm being an insomniac, playing with the blog....I changed some fonts and colors; nothing major. What I need help with is my account...I started this blog using one email address, and I am now one another, but I cannot change my account information to reflect that. I was able to add my new email address as a contributor (thus the two contributors listed....Cara & carasu....in case you have not figured it out...BOTH ME), so I can post while signed on to my current email, but any changes I want to make have to be made while signed in to my old email...very cumbersome. Is there a way to transfer the blog account from one email to the other so I don't have to continue this double identity thing?
**UPDATE**
HAHA! Lack of sleep breeds inquisitiveness! I have fixed it! Hooray for me! No more double identity.....

Beautiful Outside!

The weather has finally turned "autumny"....sunny, 75 and low humidity.....NOW we can turn off the ac for good until next spring...which is good, since I just received my electric bill - $412 LEVELIZED.....$318 non levelized....this house SUCKS UP ELECTRICITY. I wish we could get some solar panels to supplement the electricity. I don't know anyone else with bills this high. We peaked at $595 non levelized in August. Who pays that much?? Dumbasses who buy big old uninsulated houses with horrible windows and no subfloors, that's who.  (Ones who lost their shirt in investment property and cannot afford to reside, insulate and rebuilt in order to make the house more efficient).
This is the time of year our yard starts looking poor, because the weeds die down and it is revealed that we have no actual grass in the front yard....and I will start trying to "fill" in more yard with more of those purple things (oyster plants?) or aspire to put in some kind of hedgey plant to take up more space and lessen the dead weed area. Maybe it's happen, maybe not; maybe I'll just lose my mind and order up a new lawn one of these days...but I hate Florida lawns..they are "crunchy" and you need to know more about science than gardening in order to sustain one. Oyster plants, I can do.

Winter To Do List

Was outside yesterday clearing some more weeds and vines in the back yard; our winter to do list was born. Siding behind the A.C unit is in bad shape, that will be replaced up to the windows, same with a patch of siding on the deck; this work will most likely reveal rotted sill as well. Also an area above the front porch will be replaced. What I'm really looking forward to is rebuilding the deck....it is pulling away from the house and looked terribly skewed; will will tear it down and rebuild, probably lower to the ground, using as much of the existing "Trex" materials as possible. Depending on the level of rot found with the siding, we may not get to the deck until next year. There is a "Frankenstein" door (pieced together in a rather rough manner) on the side of the house off the office which needs to be worked over and painted; we can probably fit that in before it gets too hot again. We will also repair a few of the windows which are in the worst shape.

Phew! Has it REALLY been that long??

I honestly don't know where the time goes....here we are in October! Not much as changed in this old house...still have many outstanding projects. It was a hot summer, and our electric bills went as high as $600...if only we could afford to reside, replace the 40+ windows and insulate, we would save some money on the bill, but probably not enough to pay for the work in my lifetime. We will eventually need to work on some of the windows as they are about to fall off the house...silly old rotted wood! We had a year or so of hardly any work being done following the husband getting sick last summer, and my having surgery this past spring, followed by a horrible post op infection...no more details here, but let's just say I am happy to be sitting here, insomnia or not! 
My "hope list" for the cooler months coming up will include the replacement of some siding that I can't stand looking at anymore....I literally will not go on our deck any more because I can't look at the rotted state of some of the siding back there....just a few spots here and there...that's the way it will be unless we win Lotto and can reside the entire house. Also included on "the list" is some backyard work; this got really out of hand during the time where we could not physically do any work....the backyard is another spot where I would rather not spend much time....too bad too, it's a HUGE backyard and has...yes, I'll use that word...POTENTIAL. Right now it looks like the only thing it is lacking is a couple of old appliances and maybe a 72 Lincoln Town Car. We try to do outdoor projects while it is cool because we are not 20 and fit, so working too much outside in 95 degree weather creates a "drop dead in the yard" hazard. WE may pay some attention to the front porch as well, but we have some major work to do there, so that might wait until next year. We have tackled the deadly bougainvillea hedge along our driveway, we still are killing off the baby sprouts...as gorgeous as this plant can be, the 4 inch thorns which can easily poke you in the eye if you walk too close kind of puts me off. We will put some sort of kinder, gentler plant there...I didn't realize we had so much space between the driveway and the property line fence...the bougainvillea was over 5 feet deep! We also have a palm tree which has fallen over (one of the violent windstorms from a month or two back) and is laying across a power line...no ill effects thus far, but it looks HORRIBLE, and will probably eventually cause a problem; TECO won't take it down because it is in our yard.  We will have to have the power shut off the day we plan on cutting it. Anyone here in the hood have a chainsaw we can borrow?? ;-)
Since I last posted we have lost another dog as well, George was out 14 year old cocker spaniel...I miss him and his brother Louie, who was put down a year ago. We are down to one dog for the first time in 14 years! I have thought about getting Sally, our loyal watchdog, a companion as she is very playful with other dogs and I think she would enjoy a young dog friend...and she is not an affectionate dog; I really miss having a lap dog who slobbers all over you; but it is so peaceful here now, I hesitate to break the silence with a new dog. We have been working long, crazy hours too, so a puppy might not be a good idea. 
I am going to try to post more here...I lost my password again and it was like pulling teeth resetting; I need to get this onto my gmail account, I just haven't figured out how.


Oh, and thank you, Japanese person, for your continued comments! I will probably start requiring registration for comments going forward...but you did keep the blog alive in my absence! 

Been Busy, and Totally Into Facebook......

Where does the time go?? I have been working so much, I haven't thought much to post here, although I do pop onto Facebook daily to see what my neighbors and former classmates & coworkers are up to....I'm not addicted...I can stop anytime.....
I am posting pictures of this week's project (next week's too). We are finally tiling the den floor....the wood floors in there are not original heart pine like the rest of the floors, and have been eaten by termites to the point of needing total replacement. The room has dark stained wood walls, so I thought black and white checkerboard tiles would brighten the room up....so far, I think it looks great (the bottom pic is the contents of the den hanging out in our dining room). Makes me want to do checker board throughout the tiled areas....the kitchen, downstairs bath and laundry room. Maybe later. We have volunteered to host the Porch Party in April, so we are now working with a time line in which to finish some of the "hangers on"....the ceilings still need to be patched, the backyard is a MESS....paint touch ups are needed everywhere....This will be another Speakeasy party, so it should be fun. I don't strive for perfection, I will never have that until we win the lottery, but I'd like for it to look decent....