December 11 - 16, 2024 - Surgery Coverage Denied - Pictures Hung - Motion Sensors - Shed Roof - Parade & Party

MY BLOG REFLECTION

Time and good friends are two things that become more valuable the older you get.

December 10, 2024

Celina came over for a supper of leftover spaghetti and garlic bread. Even as a leftover Kelly's spaghetti is fabulous. After supper we played Rummikub. I lost all three games. Celina won all three games. I quit, the two ladies played on. I can only sit still so long.

December 11, 2024

I was notified today that my sinus surgery has been denied coverage by UNITED HEALTH CARE. Imagine that. I went online and filed an appeal. Now I wait.

Some good news today is an inspection of the A/C system indicated everything is in perfect order. The company ran a special to check it all out for $35.00. I couldn't pass it up even though the whole system is only two years old. Of course he wanted to sell me a five year maintenance plan. I declined.

In the hall we then hung up three pictures that Alexa found for us. They are made out of paper and are three-dimensional. I painted the frames black to contrast with the off-white walls.

I ordered red decals for the sides of Buster. He needs a little color to jazz him up. This is intended to be my last work on Buster. LOL 

December 14, 2024

Both closet lights are turned on by pulling a chain. Old school for sure. I ordered motion sensors the other day. The sensors arrived and I installed them. They work great. No more fumbling around in the dark trying to find the chain. (Life is hard.)

I also ordered a different type of motion sensor for the inside shed. I am in and out of it many times a day and often with a handful of tools, etc. I installed a sensor but it was dead on arrival. I will send it back to Amazon. I ordered a different type but I will have to run some wire for it to work when it arrives.

As soon as the dew dried off I got on the project of painting the outside shed roof. It really needed it. Here is a before picture. Very rusty. I am using a thick white roof coating material. I read the directions and it said that no primer is necessary.

The roof is made of a very light weight tin which clearly can not support my weight. If I even lean on it with my fist it dents. I screwed a stick onto the brush handle to be able to reach the middle sections of the roof. It worked better than I had hoped since it doesn't have to be perfect. Here are pictures of the first coat. I have to wait 24 hours before applying a second coat. It may even need three coats if I have enough paint. The first coat took a lot less than half a gallon. 

There is some surface rust on the shed walls so when the roof is finished I will paint the shed walls to match the house.  I hate paying $80.00 for a gallon of paint but it won't get any cheaper so I may as well do it now.

In anticipation of the Golf Cart Parade I aired up all the tires on the cart. All four were low but none were flat when we arrived so that is great.

I joined the Theater Club as a technical worker. At 3:00 p.m. there was a dress rehearsal for the acts performing at the Christmas Party following the Golf Cart Parade tomorrow. There are two other sound and light guys who have been doing it for a while and it was clear they wanted to do it all, which is fine. Since I had volunteered they threw me a bone and assigned me to cue up one song on my computer. My computer was bluetoothed to the speaker system so it was an easy setup. 

December 15, 20204

I put a second coat of roof coating on the shed. I was disappointed to see that, being latex, it drew some tiny rust spots out of the roof. I'm hoping this second coat solves that issue. Here is a picture. The second coat looks much better. It will need a third coat.

At 5:30 p.m. we lined up for the Christmas Golf Cart Parade. There were thirty participants so the line was over a block long. Here are some pictures.

Kelly and Celina waiting by our cart for it to get dark so we could take off winding our way through all the streets of the community.

After the parade everyone headed to the clubhouse for the Christmas Party sponsored by the the Theater Club. The party started with three "acts". The first was Donna reciting a Christmas poem she had written. She is very talented with words. I couldn't get a better picture from my work station.

The second act was the Golden Gate Line Dancers. The other sound guy couldn't get their song cued up after multiple tries so the leader of the group had her husband bluetooth it from her phone. Here is a clip I got off the Facebook page. Some of these ladies are in their eighties. Not bad.

Because of my task of cueing up the music for the third "act" I wasn't able to get a picture of them. The act was three ladies  with decorated pillow cases over their heads dancing to "The Cha-Cha Slide Dance". I kid you not. I couldn't find where anyone else took a photo either. Too bad. LOL

After the acts finished talent clips from past Christmas Shows were projected onto two large screens. Unfortunately with the crowd noise no one could hear any of it. We didn't know any of the people in the clips so it didn't mean anything to us. 

The event was well-attended. Everyone brought their own drinks and the club provided popcorn, pretzels, and chips.

Sharon snapped a picture of the three of us hanging out at our table.

 

Of course Santa made an appearance. He greeted the adults as well as a few grandchildren present.

December 16, 2024

Over the weekend I received an email from United Health Care stating that they had reconsidered my sinus surgery and approved it. The doctor's office was already scheduled to call me today. Hopefully we can get it scheduled soon. This morning we are off to see Kelly's new cardiac doctor. It seems like we spend a lot of time seeing doctors while we are here. 

This afternoon I will probably put a third coat on the shed roof because rain is moving in soon.

December 4 - 9, 2024 - Awning work, Wall Repair, Cupholders, Potluck, St. Pete's Seafood Festival, Awnings & Wall Finished - GC Decorated

 My Blog Reflection

Nothing is as powerful as gentleness.

Anita Roddick

December 4, 2024

I scraped and washed the hurricane awnings prepping them for painting. We then went to Sherwin-Williams to get a quart of paint of the type recommended by the fellow that painted the house next door. I couldn’t believe that it was $27.70 for a quart of paint. One quart should do it.

I made some biscotti but it didn’t turn out very well - crumbly. I followed an old recipe I had. Next time I’ll go back to the newer recipe

The interior wall project continues. I thought I had addressed all loose veneer but found another spot. It is glued and wood filler applied.

In the evening I went to the Theater Club meeting in advance of the Christmas Party on the 15th. I still don’t know what I will be doing. I hope to find out at the dress rehearsal on the 14th. The club president is all upset about the inability to attract new members. I commented that membership is a major problem for all clubs across the country. The next generation is not interested in clubs and our generation is aging out.

December 5, 2024

This morning, once the dew dried off, I went out to paint the awnings. Here is a picture of the three scraped and washed awnings waiting to be painted. In looking at the stripes I don't believe they have ever been repainted before.

Lots of bare aluminum showing. Once I started painting it was obvious they were going to need a second coat which means I have to buy another quart of this precious paint.

While I was painting the awnings two board members came by to review my request for a permit to install a golf cart driveway next to the carport. They approved my request and said that if I could wait a week or so to start they would get someone there to grind out the stump from the palm tree that went down during the hurricane.  Hurray! This will save me a lot of work on the golf cart driveway project. The palm tree on the other side of the house blew down as well and they will have it ground out at the same time. We were so lucky that two palm trees went down and neither one hit a house. We are all happy they are gone.

Due to the sun being in my eyes I will wait until tomorrow morning to put on the second coat of paint on the awnings.

December 6, 2024

Upon the dew drying off I put the second coat of paint on the awnings. The maroon stripes still bled through a little so I'll do a touch up tomorrow.

The new cupholders came for the golf cart so while I had my old clothes on I mounted them. I had to drill new holes to mount them and they look great.

This evening there is a pot luck supper scheduled in the clubhouse. A potluck is held each month. A member of the Women's Club takes it on and decides what meat to cook. Pat and her husband, Marv, were in charge this month and asked several ladies "cook" hams. Actually the hams are pre-cooked and the ladies just needed to heat them up in the oven. Kelly volunteered to warm up two hams. She also volunteered me to help Marv slice up the hams in the late afternoon and then to sell 50/50 tickets at the door. It took Marv and I a little over an hour to slice up the six hams. Fortunately we had electric knives for this task. The sliced ham was kept warm in Nesco roasters. Kelly volunteered to serve ham.

There is no charge for attendance but everyone is expected to bring a side dish to feed at least six people. Here is a picture of the table of side dishes. Lots of yummy choices.

Celina served rolls and Kelly served ham. They look happy performing their task. LOL.

Ron and I sold 50/50 tickets prior to the meal being served. Someone snapped this picture of us hard at work. We sold $144.00 worth. More than expected.

To limit the chaos once the meal is ready, tables are called by number to come up and help themselves to all of the side dishes and be served the meat. For dessert they call the tables in the opposite order - the last called goes first, etc. It works out great.

There were about eighty in attendance and everyone enjoyed all of the side dishes and the ham. There were lots of compliments on the ham, which I will say was delicious.

For the 50/50 they decided to have two equal prizes. Each winner would get $36.00. The club's half of the money is used to purchase meat and other supplies for the next potluck, etc. 

I took the ticket basket to a random guy I didn't know sitting nearby. He drew MY NUMBER for the first prize. Our neighbor, John, won the second prize and donated it to the Women's Club. (I kept my money. LOL)

After the meal was finished the clubhouse had to be cleaned up and the tables and chairs rearranged for upcoming events early in the week. Upon request a number  of people stayed around and helped with this task, which made it go quickly. Here are Celina and Kelly working at cleaning up the kitchen.

We were back a the house by 6:30 p.m. Not bad at all. It was an enjoyable supper and I didn't mind helping out at all.

December 7, 2024

I put a final coat of mud on the wall repair in the living room and then went outside and added a third coat of paint to the maroon striped area the awnings. 

It wasn't even eleven yet. Kelly said she wanted to go to the "St. Pete's Seafood Festival" down on the waterfront in St. Petersburg, which featured blues music. I showered, changed clothes, and off we went. 

Not knowing what to expect we took chairs. Upon arriving we found that it was really a farmer's market. There was row after row of every kind of fruit and vegetable, items to buy, food vendors, etc. BUT NO SEAFOOD! Interesting. I was hoping to get some large shrimp to grill. There was quite a crowd. This is a picture of the line we were in to pay for vegetables. We bought a melon and some bananas.

I spotted a vendor with pulled pork sandwiches that looked different but good. The pork was piled high on a nice bun with no BBQ sauce on it. He drizzled au jus on each side of the bun then loaded it with pork and lightly grilled onions. I bought one for $7.00 and we took it to a table and seating area where a band was playing. A few people danced.  

We enjoyed the music for a while then headed back. Kelly wanted to buy an African pie at this booth. 

We bought a small multi-berry pie. It will make a great dessert one day soon. Also on the way out Kelly purchased some hand-crafted note cards.

Once back home I found that the paint was dry on the awnings so I put them up. They aren't really hard to put up but they are aggravating. The front awning rubs hard against the porch rails and post. The middle awning is partially over the AC unit making it difficult to reach the bolts. We are happy with how well they look with new paint. The awnings are over the living room, bathroom, and master bedroom windows.

I then sanded and put a small film of mud on the wall in the living room. In a back corner of the shed I found a half gallon of the wall paint. The paint can lid had rusted and I had a devil of a time getting it off. Once I did it was clear that it wasn't going to reseal. The only thing I had available to put the paint in was a gallon milk jug. I touched up a spot to see how it will blend in. I think it will be acceptable. I hope so because I don't have enough paint for the entire wall. Tomorrow will be the final sanding and painting.  

December 8, 2024

I did a final sanding and a coat of white paint for a primer. 

Of course when I took the curtain rod down to paint the bracket pulled out of the wall. A plastic molly and a new screw resolved that problem.

December 9, 2024

This morning I started medication for my sinus surgery tomorrow. After that I put two coats of paint on the walls and the washed curtains were put back up. Turned out fine. Painted blended quite well.

Tomorrow is the annual shareholders meeting. Since I was scheduled for surgery by proxy today. 

Since I may be out of commission for a few days after the surgery I got busy and decorated the golf cart for the Golf Cart Parade on Sunday. Here some pictures. There are 100 LED battery powered lights along with the garland. Kelly will blast her Bose speaker with Christmas Carols as we ride around. A Christmas Party in the clubhouse afterwards.

I started taking all of the pills for the surgery tomorrow. Then in the afternoon I received a call from the doctor that my insurance, UNITED HEALTH CARE, has not approved the surgery yet. I called the insurance company and after a twenty minute phone call the lady advised that the paperwork had been filed November 27th and she had no idea why it wasn’t approved yet. In the meantime the doctor called and cancelled the surgery. They hope to get me back on the schedule by the end of the month.

Once it got dark I took some pictures of the golf cart lights for the parade. We have a bright street light out in front of the house. 100 LED lights work off of three AA batteries. Crazy. It will be interesting to see how long they last.

Due to the surgery that won't happen I had nothing scheduled for this week. It is a good time to end this blog.

 

 

November 28th - December 3, 2024 Thanksgiving Meal - GC Solenoids - GC Shocks - Christmas Tree Up - Wall Repair - Dryer - Cornhole

My Blog Reflection

Nothing is as powerful as gentleness.

Anita Roddick

November 28, 2024:

Once gain Kelly made a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner. We were at a garage sale a few days ago and I saw a roaster pan and asked her if she needed one. She said she had one. Yesterday, while getting the turkey prepped, she realized she didn’t have a roaster pan. Luckily we bought a small turkey and she was able to cook it in our electric roaster rather than in the oven. She had to cook the turkey upside down in the roaster to make it fit. A side benefit of that was that the juices running down kept the white meat really juicy. Kelly's stuffing and gravy was to die for! Celina joined us to share the feast. 

November 29, 2024

I am always up early so I started the laundry. I soon found out that the heating element in the dryer is out. The dryer is a really old dog so it is not worth fixing. I walked to Celina's and used her dryer to dry the clothes. We will need to find a new dryer before the next load of laundry.

After dealing with the laundry I started on the solenoid replacement project on the golf cart. Since I put in the new batteries it has been hard to feather the speed on take off no matter how hard you try. The cart doesn't go and then when you push a little harder it jumps too fast. Last winter a guy who works on golf carts here in the park drove it and said I needed to replace solenoids numbered two and four. With those not working he said it was like jumping from first gear to third gear, etc. He told me buy a set of five from Amazon because doing that is cheaper than buying them individually. Here is a picture of the solenoids in the cart before I started. 

I was a little apprehensive about tackling this project because it didn't look like the solenoids had been touched in many years and everything was extremely rusted. Getting all the bolts broken loose without causing another issue could be a challenge. 

Last year when left for the summer, I sprayed all the nuts on the solenoids with BP Blaster, so it could attack the rust. Since arriving this year I sprayed everything three times to hopefully break down more rust. As I put a wrench on the first solenoid the bolt immediately broke off. Here is a picture of the two of them I took out. You can see the broken bolt on number two. A clear indication that it was not working.

I was surprised how easily the nuts came loose. I only had to use my Dremel tool to cut off one bolt. Here is a picture of the two solenoids installed with yellow arrows pointing to the new solenoids and the green arrow pointing to the new bolt I had to install.

A test drive was in order. It was immediately apparent that the problem was fixed. For a 1984 model it now drives like a dream. It cost $58.00 for the five solenoids. It took me about two hours and countless tools to swap two solenoids out. It would have gone a little quicker if I had all the tools I have back home.

I next moved to the shock extenders. When we bought the cart it bounced something awful. When I looked below I saw the shocks were shot and one rear shock wasn't even attached on the bottom anymore. I purchased new shocks and installed them. It didn't help. In looking over the setup the shocks were extended too far to do any good. I don't know why this was because I purchased the correct shocks for the cart. I investigated the issue online and found that there were shock extenders available. These are used when bigger wheels are put on, etc. I ordered a pair. Naturally, the first pair was the wrong thread so I had to send them back. The second pair with the correct thread arrived and I installed them. Here is a picture. The silver parts at the bottom of each shock  are the extenders. They work like a charm, now we just have ordinary golf cart bounce.

Now that all of the "repairs" have been made to the cart it was time to order new cup holders. The old cupholders, which were on the cart but broken, are no longer available. I ordered a newer version and hope they work.

We watched the Kansas City Chiefs narrowly win their game on Black Friday and then decided to get the Christmas Tree out and decorate it. Here is a picture. We are ready for Christmas.

November 30, 2024

We went clothes dryer shopping. We found a nice used Kenmore at "Badd Boy Appliances". It will be delivered Tuesday. Monday I will pull the old one out and clean out the vent hose. I'm sure it needs it.

We had two neighbor couples over for drinks and supper to thank them for taking care of our weeds issue when we were gone and for keeping us advised about any hurricane. They are all wonderful people. Next door are Mark and Susan who are from Pennsylvania. One or both of them come down about once per month. They can only stay for about a week at a time because they are taking care of Susan's 93 year old aunt.  Across the street are Doug and Judy. They are in their 80s and live here full-time. I meant to take a picture of the group but forgot. Kelly prepared a nice supper of salad, spaghetti with meat sauce, fresh Italian bread, and chocolate cake. Kelly's spaghetti once again was outstanding. Afterwards we all sat at the table and talked for almost two hours. A lovely evening.

December 1, 2024

December is shaping up to be a busy month here at the park as the snowbirds arrive. Here is a rundown of some planned activities. They failed to include the Golf Cart Christmas Parade on the 15th. In addition Kelly has another eye surgery on Monday, I have sinus surgery on the 10th, and Kelly has an all-day event with the Red Hat Ladies group. I have a Men’s Club meeting Tuesday, and a Theater Club meeting Wednesday. Every Tuesday and Friday is Corn Hole, etc.

I was up early as was Kelly, which is unusual. We were both sitting in our recliners drinking a cup of coffee. As we looked up we could see that the living room ceiling fan blades were quite dirty. I thought I had cleaned them last season but obviously hadn't. I got on a step stool to clean the fan blades. While cleaning one blade I noticed that the plastic laminate was coming loose in one place. As I tried to glue the loose section the brittle plastic broke off in several places. Have it told you I hate plastic? Luckily this area was on the top of the blade. I glued everything the best I could and clamped it until the glue dried. 

A little later while outsie I noticed that the golf cart had handprints all over the sides from where I had put my dirty mitts while installing the solenoids. A little soap and water made Buster look like new. He was charged overnight so he is raring to go for another week or two.

My last project of the morning was to reglue the padded back on one of the dining room chairs. It fell off last night as our guests were leaving. It had fallen off before and I had forgotten to fix it. The padded back is held in place in the wooden back by hot glue. I had brought down a small hot glue gun, which I had bought at home for $2.00, but now I had to remember where I put it. After a little searching I found it still in a small toolbox I brought down. I put the hot glue gun to good use repairing the chair. A good $2.00 investment.

In the afternoon was the park's Ice Cream Social in the clubhouse. Kelly always helps with this event, which is held one Sunday per month during the winter season.  It is a nice was to meet new people and the price is right.

December 1, 2024

I decided to repair another small area near the door where the veneer had come loose as well. Here is a picture with the clamping boards screwed on until the glue sets. This area isn’t nearly as large as the wall on the other side of the window.

 

December 2, 2024

Tomorrow the dryer we purchased gets delivered. So today I pulled out the old dryer to clean behind it. Here is a picture. It is tan and has to be from the 1980s. I would say it has served its purpose. The heating element went out. I could have fixed it but due to its age and rough condition I did not feel it was worth it.

I pulled off the flexible vent hose. It had a lot of lint stuck in it so I bought a replacement. I also took off the outside vent cover and cleaned all the lint out of it so that it now closes properly.

December 3, 2024

While I waited for the replacement dryer to be delivered and installed I sanded on the wall repairs and added a coat of dry wall mud.  I never used this mud before. It is pink and dries white.

The guys arrived with the dryer and installed it in short order. I immediately threw in a load of wash to see how it works. The dryer temperature is definitely hotter than the old machine.

I then headed up to the clubhouse area to pay Cornhole. It was breezy and cool so the sun helped. They set up three sets of boards. After choosing teams by drawing a number everyone plays three games. Evelyn and I lost all three games but we had fund. They play every Tuesday and every Friday.

Next door neighbor, Mark, showed me the paint that Sherwin-Williams recommended for his awnings. I measured mine and I should be able paint all three with a quart. They need to be wire brushed and washed before painting. Once they are painted I can raise them up for the season.

Lastly, I picked up the five medications in anticipation of my sinus surgery on the 10th. I think that is going to knock me out of service for a couple of days so I need to jump on a couple other projects before then. LOL