Pimp My Dome

We are FINALLY finishing up a few projects!

I couldn't stand looking at our boring white steel door any longer. It was too boring to live.  So I painted a wood grain and steampunked it with gears and geometric symbols.  Even made a plaque for it.  It may not suit everyone but at least no one can say it's boring.

Next came the pantry.  We were all set to hire someone when Jim decided he would like to try the carpentry himself.  It took weeks of trying to figure out just what to do and how to do it. We wanted new shelves, new doors and a space big enough for a mini fridge.  And here is the finished results:

Jim wanted a cathedral type arch, the inserts are painted steel garden fencing! We had a whole roll of it, why not?   Much of it was used leftovers, paint, wood, mesh, etc.  I don't think the whole project cost $400 and that includes the cost of the new fridge.

The next BIG project will be the floor, we are still considering a granite type painted cement.  As we have been peeling up the cheap wood flooring that is there now we have noticed that the cement underneath is in beautiful condition!  No cracks, nothing, real smooth.  We were thinking of something like this which is painted and shellacked cement.

And Jim installed a light switch for my outside Tiki Man.  If you think he looks scary now you should see him at night with his eyes and mouth glowing a bright yellow!  Not only does he look cool as heck but he seems to be scaring the hell out of the raccoons!  When he is lit they either stay away completely or make a real quick visit. Maybe they don't want to anger the Tiki God!  

Comings and goings

The new toy

I finally broke down and did it, I got a new phone.  My old Samsung was still a great phone but had a few things that it wouldn't do.  One annoying thing was everyone would text me and send emojis and all I got was an empty rectangle where the emoji should be. Kinda frustrating, are they happy, sad. confused? I don't know!  So this phone has that feature and a million other things most of which I will probably never learn. And it is much larger than my old Samsung, it hardly fits in my hand. I can picture dropping it -a lot- so I got a military grade cover for it and it should give me years of good service until this too becomes a dinosaur.

The Fur people

The kids adopted two dogs recently and I will have new fur people to babysit.  I just met them the other day and was nervous at first, you never know with dogs.  I walked up to their porch and there they both were, not barking, and their tails wagging so hard I thought they would take off like helicopters!  So nice to be accepted into their pack.  They know who the treat lady is!

The girls with the new adoptees

Peek a boo, it's Rocky the flying squirrel

The dome doings

Work is continuing on the pantry and the floor, and the outside. And it is slow going as we have to patch outside and can only do that when it's dry and it has been raining like cats and dogs lately!    If that wasn't enough to keep us busy, every day thanks to the rain, we have had to drain inches out of the pool, add tons of bleach to it as the rain brings algae and every morning Jim has to fix the pond after the nightly raids by the raccoons.  If it weren't for the other critters like the hummingbirds and the flying squirrels we would both lose it!  There are a calming presence in a crazy world.  Our little flying squirrels have moved back into the barn. Jim had put an old bird house in there as it kept falling and they have taken it over. So adorable!  When we do move they will be missed.
Meanwhile check out this dome!!

https://www.dramafever.com/news/this-fantasy-dome-home-cost-only-9000-and-took-6-weeks-to-build/


On a sad note

My 91 year old dad is having a biopsy in a week, they suspect cancer and he expects it. His dad died of prostate cancer and senior onset leukemia.  My parents told the owners and managers at Salishan retirement home and they cried.  They will be moving from the third floor to the first floor so they don't have to contend with the elevator and it will be easier for rescue personnel, etc.  My sister and I are the ONLY people we know our ages that still have BOTH parents.  And we knew that time would be coming to an end eventually . Like dad says no one leaves this world alive.  But he's a  tough old bird and will give this a fight I'm sure.

Das Boot is cursed!

Or at least I'm beginning to think so.  Our bad luck seems to be continuing and the latest two examples were both due to the boat.

Jim went fishing with Kevin and he was really looking forward to it. They hadn't been in over a month due to vacations.

Everything started out fine. They went 6 miles out and were still in shallow water.  If the boat had sunk Kevin could have walked to shore.  This coast is weird and very low and swampy till you get WAY out.  Something he doesn't want to do as he doesn't really trust the boat.  They caught junk fish nothing worth keeping or even edible.

It was the trip home that was the issue.  First thing they noticed was a ticket on the windshield.  That shouldn't be there!  He bought a parking pass for a year paid $75 and it is clearly visible on the windshield!  It expires next March.  The fine is $50!  The only thing we could think of was that the deputy was dyslexic and thought the 8 for 2018 was a 3 for 2013, or he needed better reading glasses or he was incompetent, one of the three.  So today Jim called code enforcement to find out how to fix this mistake.  We have to make copies of everything, our licenses, the ticket, our receipt for the parking pass and a picture of it ON the windshield!  Mail that to code enforcement they will "forward" it to The district attorney for "review".  WHAT???!!!  Just because of a ridiculous mistake we have to be harassed? Apparently so.

That was bad enough then Jim and Kevin went to their favorite restaurant and it was there they noticed the bench seat was missing!  The went all the way back to the launch and it was no where to be found!  That is an expensive replacement and how something heavy and built around wood could have flown away none of us have a clue.

I am afraid of the boat. Really don't care if I ever go out on it again. Retirement should not be constant bundle of stress.

And then there is house stress too with a place way too much for us to deal with. We have decided to stay 5 years and it's going up for sale.  We will have been here three this September.  But that's another story....

The Latest Buzz

Here we are almost half way through the month and I have been remiss on my blog report.

So the latest events are:

A Nightmare Lurking in the woods

I was relaxing in our screen dome doing puzzles when I heard a commotion in the woods. The woods were alive with many species of birds all screeching at once!  I have never heard anything like this and went to check it out. There were Cardinals, Chickadees, Tufted Titmice, Blue Jays, you name it all very upset.  Maybe it was the Barred owl, or even the eagle we've been seeing, it must be something BIG.

I noticed they all seemed to be looking "down",  this could only mean one thing, a snake.  I couldn't see it. One little Titmouse was looking right at me, then down, then at me, then down.  I still didn't see it!  Then finally out of the brush comes the biggest Coach Whip snake I ever saw! Had to be 7 feet at least, he kept slithering out of the brush like an unending freight train.   I got chills looking at this monster, how frightening for them and how brave! To get that close to certain death just to protect their family would be like us staring down a dragon!  Although not poisonous they are a big strong snake with backward pointing needle like fangs who does not like to be cornered.  I looked around for something to throw and found two small logs which I hummed at it.  He quickly slithered off and the woods were again silent.  I know he has to eat too but I wish he would stick to lizards and mice and stop harassing my songbirds!

Coachwhip snake

Remodeling

We had an electrician over the other day to re-wire the closet outlet to make it ready for our mini fridge.  Hopefully we can have all our repairs done in a timely manor.  I HATE messes and this is not easy for me to see one that may take a while to resolve!  We are still trying to decide how to re-make the pantry.  I would like something unusual.

Oh, man I wish!

Really cute antique screen door as pantry door

Rounded tops and artistic

Then the next thing on the agenda is the floor. It has a super nice cement floor that I would like to paint to look like wood I have seen it and it's awesome!  But seems like LOTS of work. So we will probably end up with a vinyl plank floor with a stone like area around the front door. Sort of like this:

Or this

We are still in the planning stages and updates will be forthcoming.  


Mr. Fluffy's vacation

The kids came over yesterday having just arrived home from their wonderful, long vacation. it signaled the end of Mr. Fluffy's vacation too.  We had a pizza party and all enjoyed the pool which is still a cool 82 degrees. Pretty odd when the Gulf Water Temps are in the 90s!  But hey, at least it's still refreshing.  And when they left their took Fluffy with them.  I cried when he left. I missed having a fur person so much, I had no idea how much. Last night I looked for him to take him to bed with me and realized he was gone.   This morning I got up to feed him and ditto.  It's sad.  I wish cats and dogs lived to be as old as parrots or turtles!  It's not fair we only get them for a few years and when they pass they rip out your heart and take it with them.  That is the main reason for not getting a cat or dog. When miss Kitty passed I swear she tore away 10 years from us.  Too old to go through that trauma.  For now all I can do is enjoy other people's pets and our yard critters.  So I leave you with the best of Fluffy.