Wednesday

 

Here are pictures from Saturday through Wednesday. I've been saving them while I worked on the Renovation Series.

Saturday was mostly sunny and beautiful, so John went jogging and I rode my bike to Clearwater to stretch underneath the causeway bridge.

Normally, we take it easier on the weekend, but the rain this week has kept us away from our usual exercise. Today was make-up day for exercising.

After stretching, I biked back to Weaver and did strength training. Then I picked up some fresh bread at Publix for lunch. A lovely morning.

Sunday, John and rode our bikes. We headed to the causeway, but had to turn around because of rain. Downtown looked sunny, so we headed to the marina. You can see in these pictures how dilapidated the marina is from last year's hurricanes. 

I read they may be ready to restore the pier in the new year, January 2026.

Right now, the pier is closed off.

Here's a good picture of where the old boat club was. Now it's just a gravel lot.

Our chrome hinges arrived Sunday afternoon. These are heavy duty, suitable for exterior doors.

The bathroom door hinges were up for replacement first, mostly because the door opens inside so the hinge pins show from inside. The old ones were painted over. I got two out of three replaced, but ran into a stripped screw at the very end. Monday's project is to remove the screen door for better access and try again to get the last screw out.

Monday morning I headed to Clearwater for stretching. I passed this couple kayaking in Stevenson Creek.

Clearwater was beautiful, though rain clouds were hovering nearby.

The chance for rain was 10%.

As I was wrapping up, it began to sprinkle. Off in the distance, I saw this rainbow, low on the horizon,  poised over the Sand Key bridge.

I outran the rain, but found the Pinellas Trail wet. Apparently, it rained behind me as I left Dunedin. The outdoor gym at Weaver Park was wet, but I exercised anyway. As I left, the rain followed. By the time I got within a few houses of home, it was a good steady rain. 

After lunch on Monday, we tackled the one stripped screw in the last hinge replacement, seen in the photo above.

Strategy #1: Remove the screen door and see if that would give me a straight-on aim at the screw holding the main door hinge. That didn't work.

Strategy #2: cut a piece of latex from a glove and see if that will give the screwdriver enough grip to remove the screw. That didn't work.

Strategy #3: Remove the main door and twist off the hinge, removing the screw as we twisted it off. That worked!

All three hinges replaced and the door re-hung. We drilled new holes because the screw pattern on the new hinges was different from the old hinges.

We cleaned and spray painted the screen door while it was off its hinges.

We put everything back together, cleaned up, and did touch up painting and caulking.

New hinges

Tuesday morning, I rode my bike out to Honeymoon Island.

It was 80 degrees with a light breeze.

The third high rise on Honeymoon got painted; the other two were painted in the last few years. This is the Haig building, and used to be butterscotch brown with a dark brown roof. They are also rehabbing the balconies and outdoor walkways. In riding around, I noticed many ground-floor units in the complex were vacant with "No Trespassing" signs, awaiting rehabbing, I presume. The hurricanes last year flooded the ground floor units, lobbies, elevators, and common rooms.

The entrance to Honeymoon Island State Park. It wasn't very busy this morning, but I've read that the beach restoration is complete.

It's always good to see the water and horizon.

Our OXO vacuum sealed coffee carafe broke its seal and no longer keeps the coffee as hot. We called OXO and they are replacing it for free.

We had to jump through a few hoops, such as writing "Do Not Warranty" and today's date on the carafe and send them the picture.

Wednesday morning, I followed my normal exercise routine: bike ride to Clearwater and stretching at Coachman Park in Clearwater.

Then strength training at Weaver on the way home. Round trip, 14 miles via the Pinellas Trail.

After lunch, we took Toby downtown in the golf cart. He got to walk by his favorite doggy ice cream store next to the Pinellas Trail.

We played a little fetch near the baseball fields and the shell path short cut to downtown.