Thursday

It was 75 degrees this morning when we rode our bikes out to the causeway to go walking.

When we locked up our bikes at the drawbridge, we ran into our neighbor. He had taken his motorized scooter and parked it off the causeway trail to look at the water. He lives with his daughter, grandson, and two yappy dogs. He recently had to give up his car. His scooter is a four wheel contraption with a sunshade, music, and cup holder. He goes up and down the Pinellas trail, to the produce market, and Publix, as well as the causeway. It’s good to see him adjusting and enjoying his life.

We stopped briefly to talk with two other neighbors. It’s nice to have acquaintances in your life to make you feel you belong.

I spent the afternoon researching for our house projects. I discovered a business that sells wall plate covers for old doorbell/intercom systems. It’s exactly what I needed, so that has been ordered and shipped already. It will cover the box in the wall at the front door.

The doorbell replacement has been inconclusive. Covering up the hole and not having a doorbell (free) seems okay, but I think we might need one when we sell the house. A wireless Ring Doorbell would be an appropriate choice ($99) and would attach to the wall plate. It could also be wired at the cost of an electrician if we were dissatisfied with battery power ($250 additional). The Ring Doorbell allows you to answer the door on your phone, whether you are at home or not, using Wi-Fi. Also, Alexa would announce a visitor over our Echo Dot instead of the traditional chime. A third option would be a simple push button type ($40), wired, attached to the new wall plate. But that would also include buying and wiring a chime ($75), transformer ($25), and hiring an electrician ($250). That is a lot of money for a silly doorbell that might get used 5 times in a year. I also wonder if Ring Doorbells are going to look obsolete in a few years when something better comes along. Doorbell chimes already seem archaic. John says maybe we should go way retro and get a manual door knocker!

My other research involved figuring out how to texture the wall repairs I’m working on. Our walls are not smooth; they’re considered “orange peel.” So the top layer of joint compound needs to be textured before painting. One option is to spray it from a can, but that seems messy and imprecise for a small area. The other option is to water down the compound and roll it on with a textured roller and finesse the surface with a stipple brush. A trip to the hardware store is in my future because I need to be able to see and touch the options.

I was able to solve John’s house project. He needed to replace some rusted clips for our flag pole. I found some stainless steel ones that should work. I had to buy 250 of them, though. I told him he could replace them every month if he wanted to. Thankfully, they were only $10.

Toby came rooting around until I figured out that he was cold and wanted to be covered up with his blanket. John’s got the ceiling fan on airplane speed, so it’s a bit breezy underneath.