Sunday/Monday

 

John and I jogged to the Pinellas Trail and then to the Curlew creek bridge Sunday. It was a beautiful morning, 66 degrees heading to 82.

I rode the trike while John jogged Monday morning. In the afternoon, I rode my bike down the Pinellas trail to Alt. 19, about 6 miles away. On the way back, I stopped at the outdoor gym for some exercise.

No workers today. Our remodeling company hires subcontractors for specialty jobs like mudding, tile, countertops, electrical, and plumbing. The company focuses on demolition, cabinetry, and trim work. I guess some of the 14,000 damaged homes in Pinellas county need sheetrock and mudding work.

Sunset walk at Stirling park

Saturday

 

Bedtime for Toby

Finally got around to washing our dirty car.

Inside and out

Black Bean Wrap with Greens and Vinaigrette

Step 1: Make the vinaigrette sauce: 1 cup cilantro, 3 T white-wine vinegar, 2 cloves garlic 1/2 t cumin, 1/4 t salt combined with a hand-help blender or food processor. Add 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil, blend in. Transfer vinaigrette into large bowl. Add 3 cups chopped romaine lettuce, 1 cup chopped radicchio, 1 cup sliced radishes. Toss to coat.

Step 2: Mash 1 can black beans, 1/2 t chili powder, 1/2 t garlic powder, 1/2 t cumin, and 1/4 t salt in a medium bowl.

Step 3: Mash avocado with 1 T lime (about 1/2 of a lime) in a small bowl.

Step 4: Spread some mashed beans and avocado over each tortilla, top with salad, and roll up.

Packed with flavor, something very tasty and different.

Friday

 

Beautiful weather

Loads of storm debris

According to the city, FEMA has deposited the equivalent of 13 olympic sized swimming pools worth of debris at Highlander Park alone. 

The debris gets crushed and then trucked out to permanent landfills. 

FEMA is not beginning to move debris out of Highlander park.

The park was chosen as a temporary dump because it's minutes away from the most impacted neighborhoods.

 In previous hurricanes, the city had to truck debris to the county landfill near St. Petersburg, about a 45 minutes haul, followed by a 2-hour wait in line, and then a return trip. It took six months to clear debris from Irma, a category 1 hurricane when it passed through the area. The city plans to have hurricane Helena and hurricane Milton debris cleared in 90 days. As we ride our bikes through the city and the trail, we can see they're making progress.

Black bean wraps with greens and cilantro vinaigrette

This recipe appears more complicated than it is. There are three parts to it: mushed up beans and spices (cumin, salt, chili powder, garlic powder), mushed up avocado and lime, and cilantro, garlic, white wine vinegar, and olive oil vinaigrette with romaine, radishes, radicchio salad.

Prepare all three parts separately. Prepare the vinaigrette with a handheld blender, then add to salad and mix. Put the bean mix on a tortilla with the avocado/lime mix, then top with the vinaigrette and salad. Roll up into burritos. No cooking; everything is fresh and cold and delicious.

Wednesday

 

The drywall and Duraroc got put up today.

We had the workers remove the door frame of the old bi-fold mirrored doors. We like it open.

The mudding and texturing folks are next. After that, John and I get to paint, but there won't be much--just where the purple wall board is.

The wall switches got fixed.

After painting, I think tiling is next, not sure where they are going to start, probably the floor then the shower.

Toby enjoyed a sunbath in his favorite spot.

Thursday-Saturday

 

All the sudden it's fall.

We made this easy and delicious pasta meal tonight.

It turned out great!

An evening trip to Stirling park.

Piles of storm debris being stored at Highlander park temporarily.

These piles are coming from the neighborhoods west of Alt. 19/Bayshore. The four streets east of Alt. 19 still have growing piles of debris that are untouched.

These piles are here because FEMA can't get to the landfill fast enough. Highlander park is only 5-6 blocks from the most damaged neighborhoods.

The amount of debris is breathtaking.

Appliances

Wednesday

 

I bagged the huge debris pile this morning. The city workers picked up everything yesterday that was bagged. I'm hoping next week they will do the same. I wanted to get the pile up before it killed our grass. Reports are that piles, which are picked up by a special truck with an attached claw, will not be picked up for several weeks because of the amount of storm debris. 

We have four types of waste collections: 

• garbage truck with a hydraulic arm to pick up garbage bins; 
• recycle truck with a hydraulic arm to pick up recycle bins; 
• yard waste truck with two workers to manually load yard waste bins and bags; and 
• bulk truck with a claw for picking up piles of debris, including furniture, appliances, grills, cut up trees, etc. It's the latter truck that is in short supply and is currently making rounds only in the worst affected neighborhoods.

The FEMA trucks have finally arrived for the hardest hit areas. These are huge trucks, so they should be able to make rapid progress.

We found this recipe online and modified it: Tofu, broccoli, mushrooms, green onion, and fresh ginger in a brown sauce made with oyster sauce and sesame oil.

An evening walk around Lake Saundra

No workers today. I think they are trying to catch up on projects already underway, but damaged by the hurricanes. They have to rip out drywall and redo it.

The low tonight will be 55 degrees. The high today was 72. We wore long sleeves every time we went out. With the wind, it was freezing.

Tuesday

 

The city inspector showed up this afternoon and found our electrical and plumbing work to be satisfactory. Our contractors showed up about the same time with concrete, so as soon as the inspector left, they got to work making cement and filling in our trench.

They had it all done in about an hour.

I'm not sure who does the cement boards and sloped flooring for the shower, but we can see how it will slope now.

The contractors installed the rest of the LED lights above the tub and shower.

And above the vanity.

The workers talked about having to rip out drywall and cabinetry at jobs that were near completion because of the hurricane flooding. Not only does that set them back, but it was disappointing to demo their hard work and start over.

Monday

 

Renovation recommences. The workers showed up first thing Monday while we were walking Toby.

They prepared the site for the city inspectors tomorrow. They put down some plastic sheeting and some screws in the foundation opening, I guess to strengthen the joint between the old and new concrete.

The electricians hung the new ceiling fan. It's our favorite one yet. It's so sleek, and it has 6 speeds. Because it's above our bed, it needed to put out lots of air and it does. It has a DC motor instead of an AC motor, the difference is that DC motors are more compact and typically more efficient. 

The light dims and is hardly noticeable when it's off. The name of the fan is "Simple" by Minka-Aire.

The wall switches got cleaned up and updated. When the drywall gets put up in the bathroom, they can patch this hole. All the workers were gone by 10:00 a.m. John went jogging while I kept watch over Toby. Then I went for a bike ride after lunch and stopped at Weaver Park to stretch and lift weights.