March 13-20, 2026: Corned Beef; Termite Treatment; Showerhead; Fan Capacitor; Doctor; Patching Holes; Wall Repair; Passe Grill

My Blog Reflection

He's turned his life around. He used to be depressed and miserable. Now he's miserable and depressed. 

David Frost 

March 13, 2026:

Kelly cooked a corned beef, which will make great sandwiches for a few days. With the price of beef this is a treat.

The termite technician arrived early in the afternoon. His inspection found that we definitely have active termites. 

We have two options. The first option is for them to drill a 5/16 hole between each stud throughout the entire house and inject a foam poison which runs down the wall killing everything. Each hole is then filled with caulk. The injection method has a one year warranty. After the year is up we can purchase a warranty renewal for $175.00 per year. 

The second option is to have the house tented. If the house is tented the termites are "gassed". The termites we currently have will be dead but new ones can come right back at any time. Thus there is no warranty.  If tented they would do it after we leave, because we can't be in the house for a couple of days. Before it is tented we would have to bag up all food and put it in the refrigerator. I really can't see how tenting is very effective. How does the gas get in the walls were the termites are? The house was tented in 2018.

The two options are basically the same price. We opted for the injected poison.  The technicians will be here to do the work Monday afternoon. It will take about five hours. Termite treatment wasn't money we wanted to spend but that is one of the joys of owning a home. LOL. We are happy we can get it done before we leave in two weeks and don't have to worry about work being done after we leave.

Kelly did not like the "Oxygenics" shower head I installed last year in the master bath. I will admit it throws an extremely strong and almost uncomfortable stream. I found two shower heads in the shop that were left here by the prior owner. I installed each one for Kelly to review. She is happy with the smaller of the two. Problem solved at no cost. 

March 14, 2026:

The other day I removed the Florida Room ceiling fan wiring cover to investigate why the fan would only operate on "low". I thought it was the switch. When John was here he found online that there is a 90% chance that if the fan only works on one speed, the fan capacitor has gone bad. I didn't even know it had a capacitor. We pulled the capacitor out to test it but could not with my multimeter. An identical capacitor on Amazon costs $11.50. I ordered one. The arrow points to the capacitor.

When the new capacitor arrives I will have to cut all five wires and reconnect them with wire nuts. This fan runs on "low" 24/7. It would be nice to be able to bump the speed up when the room gets warm.

March 15, 2026:

The new fan capacitor arrived today and I installed it. We now have a three-speed fan once again. The only issue was getting all of the wires back in the box to button up the light. Working up close to the ceiling I worked up a sweat on this project in no time. 

I am going to leave it on "medium" until we leave, then turn it to low. I also reversed it so it is pulling air up and around the room. I want to see how that works. 

I posted a blog with a video of the fan running but the video will not work. I don't know why. From everything I read online it should load and be viewable but it isn't. I'll do some more research.

While finishing up the capacitor install there was a clap of thunder even though it was totally sunny outside. By text John told me there was bad weather in Perryville with possible tornadoes. Hope nothing materializes.

March 16, 2026:

I had a doctor appointment this morning. I go to a doctor here in Pinellas Park named Dr. Iyunni. She is an Indian lady and I really like her. Her office isn't fancy and it is only her and a receptionist. No nurses. She takes a lot of time with each patient so sometimes she is way behind on her appointments. Today when I arrived there was no receptionist. At the window was this sign written on a piece of cardboard. You gotta love it. A medical practice like in the old days. I wish I could bring her back to Perryville. 

I have been to the doctor's office I transferred to last year in Perryville three times and I have never seen the doctor. I don't even know what he looks like. I would have thought that as a new patient he would see me AT LEAST MY FIRST VISIT. Not so. I had an issue before I left home. I called his office. No one answered the phone so I left a message that I needed to talk the NP. A day later I received a phone message back that the NP was out of the office and I would have to make an appointment and come in to see someone. Since I was leaving for Florida, that was no help. I saw Dr. Iyunni the day after I arrived here and got the treatment I needed.

 
This afternoon the exterminators arrived to treat the house for termites. It is a one time treatment guaranteed for a year. After that you can extend the warranty for $175.00 per year.

March 17, 2026:

The termite technicians drilled 5/16 holes about every foot at the top of all of the walls, interior and exterior, and injected poison. They then filled the holes with caulk. While they don't think the holes filled with caulk look bad, I think they do. Here are two examples.

This morning in the living room, kitchen, and hall, I scraped the "caulked" holes, filled them with drywall mud, and painted over them. Now the holes have almost all disappeared. I'm much happier with this outcome.

I then moved to the bedrooms. The guest bedroom went fine. All holes are filled and ready for paint. The master bedroom and master bath is where there was definitely active termite activity. They treated these areas heavily and followed up with a citrus spray which is like acid to termites. Filling the holes in the master bedroom went fine. However, an issue arose in the master bath. The master bath originally had a vinyl wallpaper paneling. It has been painted over. The heavy dose of orange citrus spray caused a two-foot area of the vinyl wall paper to blister off the wood paneling. Here is a picture.

With a razor knife I cut along the top, bottom, and sides so I could pull the blistered material off. Here is a picture of the wood underneath.

I then coated the area with drywall mud to get the wall textures to match.

The drywall mud turns white when dry. After sanding it will need another coat. You can see the drilled holes below the patch.

After the area dried I sanded it and applied a second coat of mud. It should be ready for final sanding and painting tomorrow.

March 18, 2026:

After sanding the patch area I put on two coats of paint. After a third coat the patched area disappeared. It looks like fine now.

March 20, 2026:

It was a beautiful day so we made a trip to Passe Grill to sit by the water. It is one of our favorite places. When we arrived around 10:30 a.m. the area was already crowded. We forgot that it was Spring Break. I dropped Kelly and Celina off at the outdoor restaurant-restroom plaza area. I had to park four long blocks away.

Here's a picture of Celina and Kelly sitting in a shady spot they commandeered.

Here are a couple of pictures of the beach before it got crowded with Spring Breakers. We love the white sand and blue ocean here.

While sitting I noticed that the cloth seat material on my chair was tearing badly. This was a Camping World chair we got as a replacement a few years ago after the prior chair ripped as well. I don't want another chair like this. They don't last.

About 12:30 p.m. we decided to get in line and order lunch. I ordered a Mahi Sandwich and fries. Kelly ordered a Patty Melt and fries. We should have split an order because neither of us could eat all of our meal. After lunch we sat for a short while and then headed back. I left my ripped chair at a trash receptacle, no sense carrying it four blocks back to the car to throw it away at home. 

Kelly wanted hand-dipped ice cream so she Googled it and found a shop near our place in Pinellas Park. The ice cream was quite good but I thought it was overpriced. $5.00 for a single scoop. $1.25 extra if you wanted a sugar cone. After enjoying our ice cream we headed home. Due to the size of our late lunch followed by ice cream, we did not need to make supper.

Once home I finished the laundry, which I started before we left, and we then settled in to binge watch a Netflix series we are into. A nice day to end the week.