It Is Finished!!

Friday, April 29, 2016
Around noon today we pronounced our work in the yard finished - at least finished for this season.  It was already 89 degrees and we were whipped.  But at least we could say we had finished what we set off to do - clean up all the dirt and stone in the back, provide protection for the shed that was slid into a high berm, and neaten up the yard.  We learned a lot about what we can do when pressed to do it and also how hard it is to do outdoor work once the summer weather has set in.

Looking at these pictures you have to wonder what was the big deal but believe me it was a big deal taking on this task.  The huge pile of dirt created when digging out the berm to slide in the shed was filled with stones which had to be separated from the dirt so it could be spread and not cause problems to those mowing the grass near by.  The weeds it was piled on were awful with roots that went very deep and sent out shooters in all directions so pulling them was a major chore.  Laying all the cement blocks and keeping them level is truly a challenge and they are super heavy to move about anyway.  And putting on a gutter with a down spout and addition to shoot water out beyond the hill was no easy task either.

At the back of the shed we had to build a retaining wall on two sides since our neighbor had a terrace much higher than the base of the shed and, or course we had to stop dirt from avalanching down from the exposed berm.  Ken ended up using angle irons and straps screwed into the cement to help keep them in place.  More work will need to be done once there are some rains and we see how well it is holding things back but for now we are calling it done and will deal with it next season when we return..  But then there will be lots of weeds - a constant problem and who knows what other problems. But here is what it looks like now.

We laid a fair amount of ground cloth to try and keep down the weeds and cover any stray stones we might have missed in the dirt that had to be shifted around and spread flat.

Not bad for a couple of amateurs.

Now to tackle getting the motorhome ready for our travels up north.  We leave in a week

Visit to the Bok Tower

Thursday, April 21, 2016
This is a little out of order since I forgot to save a spot - oh well

Before all the shed moving, and as a break from all the emptying of our shed and moving of boxes to the house, Ken and I took a day off and enjoyed a great visit to the Bok Tower in Lake Wales, Florida with our friends Frank and Bette Foulke.  Since our car was loaded with stuff and acting as a moving van, Frank agreed to drive the hour and 45 minutes to Lake Wales while Bette and I had a great chat in the back seat.

Bok Tower is part of a huge National Historic Landmark within a complex that includes gardens, visitor center and museum, cafe, gift shop and home - Pinewood Estate and Gardens (a 1932 Mediterrenean-style home once owned by a VP of ?).  There was a great deal of construction work going on as they are now adding some specialty gardens including a Children's Garden.

As we got out of the car, we had this view of the 205 foot singing tower built by Edward W. Bok in 1939 and dedicated by Herbert Hoover.  Bok was the publisher of the Ladies Home Journal and lived by his grandmother's motto: "Make you the world a bit better or more beautiful because you have lived in it."

At the entrance to the complex is this motto carved in stone.

Inside the Visitor Center and museum is this lovely picture of the tower with the tower under construction reflected in the water.

Since it was lunch time when we arrived we decided to have a quick bite to eat at the lovely cafe where we could sit outside and enjoy views of garden and this lovely "screen" created by hanging air plants.

A lovely reflecting pool was also in this courtyard area

With a rather different walkway created by setting stones on edge

By the time we finished there was just enough time to take a shuttle ride to the tower where we could sit on benches that not only over looked the gardens and tower

but also a small screen showing the carillon player as we enjoyed the lovely music.

Once the performance was over we walked all the way around the tower admiring the beautiful stonework and other details including this bronze door with scenes representing the six days of creation.

This upside down clock was on another side and we spent a good deal of time trying to figure out how to read it. The chart at the bottom lists the months and latitude degrees so it not only showed the time but the month right down to within 10 days of that month.

On one of the garden paths is a reflecting pond where you can take a picture of the full tower

Nearby was a memorial to Edward Bok

And a couple of different artists were working at their easels capturing the beauty of the place

The tower and gardens sit on the top of one of the highest points in Florida - a little over 300 feet so there were several points where you could actually see the horizon.  

We wondered the paths for a while but soon Frank had had enough so we worked our way back to the museum where he could enjoy a bit of rest as well as see some of the things there

They had the first carillon keyboard on display (which is really levers played with the fist that then pulls a connected metal rod to the appropriate bell and rings it)

along with interesting information about the building of the tower as well as the size of the bells.  The largest bell is the size of this cutout behind Frank and Bette

Outside the building is this garden with benches and chairs for just relaxing and enjoying the surroundings.  You could hear the carillon when ever it was being played no matter where you were.

At the entrance to the Visitor Center was this table with samples of all the flowers presently in bloom in the gardens

It would have been nice to see all of them in their natural habitat but the vote was to leave and come back another time and see more.  So while Frank and Ken rested, Bette and I went into the lovely gift shop just to see what all they offered - and Bette did find a birthday gift for their son-in-law so purchased it.  Then we went back to the car and drove down the "mountain" past a huge orchard of orange trees that were being picked.  And set off for home again.

What a lovely day and break from all our labors dealing with the shed and move that was to come.

The List Refuses to Come to An End

Tuesday and Wednesday, April 26 -27, 2016
On Tuesday we tried to move everything we stored at the motorhome that needed to go to the shed. That meant several runs after turning the car into a truck again (back seats down).  Some of the stuff we needed to sort through as we are attempting to divide out things that will go in the Hillcrest Missions Yard Sale in December from stuff we want to keep and of that what went in the house and what could be stored.

We did that in our clothes closet too so as to reduce how much travels with us.

I then spent time on vacumning and then spotting the carpet in the motorhome in preparation for cleaning the full carpet while Ken worked some more on the retaining wall by the back of the shed.

Afterwards we went to Lowe's and purchased all the items we needed for putting up a gutter on the back side of the shed so as to hopefully force heavy rainfall away from the back retaining wall that is into the hill.

This morning, we were outside and working before 8:00 as it was predicted to go to 90 degrees and we really wanted to get the major work done before the full heat hit.  I finished off a little garden area by our drive at the front of the house

and then filled a huge garbage bag with weeds pulled from the area behind our patio.  I wanted to level out the dirt, put down a ground cloth with edging bricks in front of it with a hope of covering it all with rock and edging with concrete squares.  I made some very good progress on it but ran out of energy by 1:00 when the sun was truly beating down on us.

Meanwhile Ken mastered the art of putting a gutter together and hanging it on the back of the shed.

We still have alot of dirt that is filled with rocks to move and cement blocks to lay at the back of the shed to grade the ground away from the shed but hopefully we can finish that off tomorrow.

Then it will be time to retackle the motorhome and start to get it ready for the road as we are leaving here on May 9th.  One major problem is that the slide topper on the driver's side pulled away from the motorhome while we were in Cedar Key causing a leak inside when it rained.  So yesterday the Toy Doctor people came to look at it and pronounced that not only do we need to fix it but the other three as well since they are also starting to pull away.  So next Monday they hope to come and accomplish that.  Meanwhile if it rains we need to have all the slides in.

And so goes the list.  We check off something and add two more.  But things are beginning to shape up here in Florida.

Shed Moving Day

Saturday, April 23, 2016
We were up and out side emptying the shed in the back yard (that was going to be moved to the Cook's home) by 7:00 this morning.  Most of the stuff in it was Dale and Emma Jean's but we had been storing things like our bikes and gardening materials in it.

Just as we were finishing up, Dale Cook, Bob Hinton, and Dan Mouliasson showed up to begin the major task of the day.  Remove one shed and get it to a home at the other end of the park and then bring ours in and set it in place.

Ken had already removed the lattice around the base and the anchors along with pushing the cement step out of the way.  It was set back into a small hill with lots of dirt and stones along with a cement block wall to protect it from water damage.  We had spent the previous days removing all of that so it was ready to go up the hill and on to a flat bed towed by a tractor.  Here the guys were prying it up with 2 X 4's to get it on to rollers and pieces of wood to slide it up the hill.

Chains were attached to the tractor to help drag it up

Once it was up the hill they needed to get it on a flatbed trailer to move it to Dale's home.

PVC pipe and lots of physical labor helped them roll it up onto the trailer that then had to be attached to the tractor.

But finally it was off 

While the guys were busy getting it to its new home and picking up our shed which was bigger (Dale's was 6 X 8 while ours is 8 X 10 and taller), I was busy shoveling dirt up the hill and helping make a bigger foot print area where we could lay move 20 inch square cement blocks for our shed to sit on.  I threw alot of dirt!!!!!

But soon this is what I saw coming back our way

After much discussion it was decided there was no way it could be put in the same way the other one was taken out because of its size and height.  So back Dale went to the storage are where he could get on to our street and bring in to the spot between our house and George and Marilyn's next to us.

It was a tight fit especially once they got it off the trailer and tried putting it on the PVC pipe to roll it around the corner and into place.

My camera battery died so I couldn't snap pictures of all the work necessary to get the shed into place and pushed into the hill.  Stones had to be laid, more dirt shoveled and lots of man power was needed first to get it back and then slide it over.  But it finally made it!

But as can be seen here and there was still much to do as the patio next door was high and a retaining wall needed to be built and stones laid to keep the dirt from sliding down the hill.  Lattice can be seen around the shed - that Ken did on his own after everyone left.  Items had to be moved back into the shed and the furniture back on the patio before calling it a day. 

The front room of our house is filled with stuff that needs to go into the shed, much was left at the motorhome that needs to be brought over, electricity has to be put in (Bob Hinton came over a couple days later to help Ken with that), a gutter has to be put on the back side to force heavy rains and water away from the shed and down the hill, and all of the dirt and stone left over has to be cleaned up.  But that is in the future.  Today we have the shed!!!!!!!

At six o'clock all of the guys and their wives joined us at our place for pizza and salad and lots of story telling!!  The deed had been done!!