Roof News

 I hope the new roof, currently waiting for the county inspector’s approval mid project, is hurricane proof.  Of course there’s no such thing.  There’s been tear off of the old, and a peel and stick underlayment done.  Shingles next, then new gutters.  There’s an appointment with drywallers set up to repair the interior damage after the roof is done.  Will it all be finished by late April when I plan to close up shop here?  Probably not, but at least there’s a plan in place,  Here’s a few photos— a trailer full of old shingles, a dolphin sighting tonight, and a sunset through the bougainvilleas.  Not in that order.  Oh, well.

Saturn, Venus, the moon and Sunset

 Sunset is a nice time of day where I live.  Summer and winter.  The girl next door caught a photo of a tarpon fin while I was trying to frame the sunset in the bougainvilleas.

The last few nights we’ve seen this grouping of two planets, Jupiter and Venus, with the moon.  Spectacular to the naked eye.

Wish I had my telescope here….

Sea wall treasures

 A piece of styrofoam, a fishing bobber and a board.  Things are still washing up on shore from the hurricane.

Just a few pretty pictures

 Nothing of note to report, a quiet and pleasant day in the Deep South.

I had to climb a tree for this one.

Roofing and Florida Time

 The roof here was deemed to need replacement after Hurricane Ian, by my insurance adjuster.  My insurance company agreed and sent me a check.  I “interviewed “ the same roofers as my neighbors, pretending to know what to look for in a roofer.  I chose the same one as several of my neighbors and was told it would be late January or early February before they could get me on their schedule.  I checked in again today with the roofers and was assured it would be started in the next two weeks.  Okay.  Just to be clear, it’s not leaking.  My next door neighbor did excellent temporary repairs to my roof shortly after the hurricane and the house is fine.  Soffits and fascia damages have been repaired by these same roofers, and they seemed to do a fine job.  I think it’s just that old issue we eventually labeled Florida Time.  Here’s a photo of the old  roof as it looks today.  And a photo of a hibiscus by my garage.  More news when I have it.

Soup-er Bowl Sunday

 My next door neighbor had a lot of groceries left over after her company left, and she offered a bunch of it to me.  It looked like potential soup, so I accepted it and let it sit in my fridge for a week.  Today is super windy here, gusts over 30, whitecaps on the little lake behind the house.  It finally felt like a soup day.

I even used the herbs I’ve been growing in pots on my porch.  Fresh herbs are different than the dried ones  I usually use.

Sunset Views

 Some days are really quiet here.  There’s been a string of them this week, no bloggable material.  A couple of bike rides, a lot of curling up on the couch reading, a few naps.  (Same couch.). And of course sunsets.  Even with mosquitoes and no-see-ums, those are nice.  A couple of photos to keep my blogging streak alive….

Monday News and Views

 For OSLO, here are a couple of pics of the soffit and fascia after the repairs.  The gutters and drip trim will be replaced when the new roof goes on.  I’m still waiting for that, so far no fixed time and date.

This morning  I made a lot of phone calls, hoping to find someone to do drywall repairs.  No response yet.  A bike ride later cleared some brain fog, followed by a late lunch with the girl next door.  Followed by a 2.75 mile walk ending just after sunset.  All in all a pretty nice day.

It was Free Pie Monday at Perkins.

Sunset over the Bridge

 The sun is moving north again.  I measure mid winter here by when it sets over the Edgewater bridge.  It’s about there.

Cat in a Tree

 It’s still warm and muggy here, any biking that I do occurs early in the day.  I ride neighborhood streets with the occasional bridge crossing, so there’s not a lot of drama occurring  along the way.  Today was different when a fire truck blocked my way.  A small group had gathered to watch our local fire department rescue a cat from a tree.  According to the watchers, it was a feral cat that had been up in the tree for three days.

Black cats are hard to see in trees, but it’s there.

The cat refused rescue when the fireman reached for it and jumped or fell, but the thick foliage must have broken its fall.  It eluded capture by all of the bystanders and appeared to be okay.  The firemen were applauded.  I continued on.

Overdoing it.

 My plan was to meet neighbors who are visiting Gasparilla Island from near where I live in Holland.  They offered to give me a tour of the island by bicycle.  Sounded like fun, so I left my house about 9:30 this morning with my bike in the back of my car.  My right knee has been temperamental of late, so I have been taking my doctor’s advice and using this stuff.

I met them at their hotel, The Innlet, near the big hotel where famous people stay.  I unloaded my bike from my car, and we were off.

This has long been a favorite spot for visitors here, and also for JB and me.  Sadly, it was completely destroyed during the recent hurricane, but there are plans to rebuild.  Meanwhile it’s open under a different name in a different location.

We wandered the Island east to west and north to south, stopping to admire the views and inspect hurricane damage.  This old pier has been there a long, long time. Light wind, high 70’s, some red tide.

And near the end we found the new/old South Beach restaurant, in a place with no gulf views or colorful beach chairs, but with the same menu.  I got blackened grouper tacos — one of my favorite things from there.

I left about 3:00, having spent about 4 and a half hours in the midday sun.  I’m a bit dehydrated and tired, but pleased with my choice to join them.

Some sort of weird duck.

 The back yard here appears to attract the occasional unexpected wildlife visitor.  Last night this duck appeared just before sunset.  My neighbor’s niece thought it might be a musckovy duck.  I don’t know and Google images wasn’t much help.

At about the same time, my granddaughter sent me this much nicer picture from Grand Haven.