Monday

 

Today, we set about culling unused items from the garage. This corner has all useable stuff that we couldn't part with.

This collection is mixed, some useful, some not.

This corner has things that have been untouched since the move. Most of the things belonged to John, but to be fair, my things were also mixed in.

I sorted through it all and made four piles: keep, thrift store, pawn shop, trash. The next step is to deliver the boxes to their next destination. The other stuff is from the renovation and will be put back in the house or used to make mortar/grout for the flooring. The flooring folks left it from the previous project knowing they would be back soon.

This afternoon we worked in the yard again. But first we took Toby to Ace Hardware in the golf cart to get a pole pruner. We needed to cut back trees from the house, and he always enjoys an adventure to the hardware store and the treats at the register on the way out.

We cleaned up this bed.

We cleaned up this cut from the hurricane to help the tree heal and prevent disease. The previous cut was done on the fly and looked terrible.

We trimmed the branches on the frangipani to keep them away from the house.

This area needed pruning. We pulled up some ferns to keep it from looking so wild and to keep critters from building a home. It's unbelievable how fast ferns grow here. You can never get rid of them.

I pruned the avocado tree to keep it away from the roof.

Good clearance.

It doesn't look like it, but I trimmed several branches from this ligustrum tree that were hanging over the garage. In the future, we'd like to remove it and plant something else, maybe some sort of palm. It's too big for the location and too close to the house. A bigger project for another day.

We've accumulated quite a bit of stuff for pickup tomorrow.

Some passersby picked up some plumeria (frangipani) to take home and root. The plant is super easy to root, just stick it in the ground. The custom is everything on the curb is free for anyone to pick up and take. Often, there's not much left by the time the city comes around. Some folks drive through the neighborhood with trailers to pick up unwanted items to resell or use.

We'll be getting rid of these pallets, but we'll be getting another one tomorrow afternoon with our new tile delivery for the two back bedrooms.

Tonight, we headed to The Dunedin Golf Club for our annual HOA meeting. The city manager was the guest speaker. We learned a lot about hurricane recovery, Skinner road project and roundabouts, Curlew/Bayshore intersection widening and pedestrian crossings, Palm tree replantings on Palm, golf course grand opening and the national and international advertising of the renovated golf course, the new club restaurant, pump station improvement to mitigate future storm damage, restoration of Highlander Park after its use as a debris landing area, marina/dock rebuilding, and FEMA reimbursement. The city's finances are in good shape, especially compared to other Florida cities hit hard by the hurricanes last year. It was the first time we got to see the refurbished golf club. It looked really nice with a new layout, carpet, wallpaper, furnishings, etc. We look forward to trying out the restaurant. There are daily specials, including 30% off for Dunedin residents on Tuesdays.