A/C Service and Bird Watching

Tuesday the 8th

Ahhhh well, our vacation days are over. Today we had an A/C Service tech out to service our A/C unit in hopes of removing a pervasive musty smell. Instead we ended up deciding to replace our 21 year old unit with a new, more efficient one. It’s coming tomorrow morning. We also were able to get a Duct cleaning company out to clean the A/CC ducts and also the dryer duct. By the time they left it was 1:20 PM so we decided to take a quick run out to Alligator Alley and do a little bird watching.

We headed out Tamiami Trail towards Everglades City and on past the intersection with Hwy 29 another seven miles to the Turner River.

Pulling off into the small park we got out of the car and walked over to the boardwalk. The place was crowded with people so we were hopeful for some good sightings. Surprisingly, the only thing to see was an eight foot alligator pulled up on the bank below the boardwalk. Of birds there were none.

So we got back in the car and headed out into the swamp along Turner River Rd hoping to do better. We saw a stork, what was probably a night heron, a single great blue heron and a king fisher. We drove along the river bank for a couple of miles but only saw alligators and some fish jumping out of the river. It was kind of disappointing since the last time we were here there were simply hundreds of birds of all kinds.

Oh yeah, before leaving the Turner River, Tina spotted several Water Moccasins. One on the river bank, on just crossing the road and one just hanging out on the road. This one she got out and took a couple of photos. It wasn't very happy and gave her a big mouth as she got set to take a picture. It kind of made me nervous since we were both in sandals and you really don't want to be bitten by one of these bad boys.

We turned around and made the run back to Hwy 29 where we turned north for the twenty mile drive to I-75, then turned west for the thirty mile run in to Naples for our appointment with Progressive Insurance. Driving along I-75 we watched two big rain clouds absolutely dumping huge torrents of rain on both sides of the freeway about ten miles away, over Naples! We hoped we’d miss them but the weather had suddenly turned ominous.

We arrived for our appointment and learned about all the vagaries of purchasing insurance in Florida versus the purchasing insurance in Washington. Man, we signed and initialed about six sheet of paper just to get insurance for the condo. And at that it’s going to run nearly $1,000 per year. If I can get a Wind Mitigation Inspection Report from the Association we can reduce that by about $275 but what a surprise!

Oh well, in for a penny, in for a pound. We finally got everything signed and headed home for dinner. As expected, the rain settled in (it is really needed) and we drove home I a huge rainstorm which kept up off and on for the next several hours. When we got home Tina fixed a quick dinner and we sat down to eat, relax and watch a little TV. That was the end of a very busy day.

To see all our photos, click on:

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Spring Training Game - Red Sox versus Orioles

Monday the 7th

One more day of being in vacation mode and we had tickets to a spring training game, the Red Sox versus the Orioles at Palm City Stadium in Ft Myers. With a 1:05 start time we ran a few errands up on Pine ridge and then headed for the I-75 freeway headed north. It’s only about 30 miles from Naples to Ft Myers. We got off the freeway at exit 138 and drove west on Martin Luther King Blvd the four miles into town. Turning left on Fowler Ave and then right on Edison Ave we reached the stadium and parked.

Unfortunately, unlike yesterday when we parked right in front of the ticket office, today we were several football field lengths away from the stadium and then we had to walk all the way around to the opposite side to Will Call before turning entering the stadium. We had seats in the bleachers out along the right field line. Not bad seats, we were up about 8 rows above the grass seating so we had a pretty good view of all the action.

With the sun out and nothing but blue sky, we knew we were going to cook. So we decided to eat lunch before the start of the game – mondo philly style foot long polish dogs with the works! Perfect! Washed down with a cold drink it was an excellent lunch for being at the ball game.

The Red Sox got off to a quick start with three runs in the first and another in the second. The Orioles responded in the third making it 4 to 1, Reds. But after a couple of scoreless innings, the Orioles came back with a vengeance, picking up three in the sixth and another run in the seventh inning to go ahead.
Because of the sun we migrated down to the food vendors and got a couple of ice creams.

With our ice cream we went back to the main field side walkway and leaned up against the bleacher wall in the shade for another inning. But a late Rally in the eight brought the Sox back on top, putting away the O’s 6 to 5. It was a great afternoon and we enjoyed the game.

We walked back to the car, headed for the freeway and made it home by 5:00 PM. Since we had been trying not to keep too much food in the house we drove to Pelican Larry’s for dinner then down to the theater to see the movie “Rango”. Tooo, too funny. Poignant and brilliant the story line steals from all sorts of venues from Star Wars (the rebel alliance flying through the canyons on the death star to Clint Eastwood in Unforgiving. We laughed a lot and had a good time which is what movies are all about. And with that we headed home to collapse and head to bead early.

To see all of our photos, click on:

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Swamp Buggy Races - 2010/2011 Championships

Sunday the 6th

Another beautiful day, about 70 degrees and partly cloudy with a little wind coming out of the West. Continuing to take a break from our labors we decided to take in the finals of the 2010/2011 Swamp Buggy Races (http://swampbuggy.com/) held in the Collier County Sports Park about 15 minutes from our condo.

After breakfast we finished a few items on our “ToDo” list then, around 11:00 AM we headed out for the races. We got there in time to get a great parking spot, straight out from the main gate. Grabbing our seat cushions we picked up our tickets from Will Call and made our way through the gate onto the main concourse.

We decided to sit up high in the grandstand behind the finish line, so we trudged up the 15 rows to the top (grunt, groan – heh, heh) and put our seat cushions on the bench to hold our spots. Then Tina headed to the food venders to get us some lunch. I got a pulled pork sandwich and Tina got a steak sandwich. After a couple of bites, Tina asked to trade, so we did. They were both pretty good.

By now it was noon and the race activities were starting with the announcing of the points standings as of the end of racing yesterday, introduction of drivers, presentation of the colors and the national anthem. The it was race time. There are six classes of buggies:

Jeep - Must be a 4 cylinder American Jeep.

Air Cooled - Must be air-cooled. Usually powered by motorcycle or Volkswagen engines.

4 Cylinder - Must be 4 cylinders.

6 Cylinder - Must be 6 cylinders, V6 or straight 6.

V8 Sportsman - Must be stock V8 engine block according to manufacturer's specifications.

Modified 4WD - Must be driven by all 4 wheels. Engine of choice; big block Chevrolet modified with high performance parts.

Pro Modified - Same as above, except 2 wheel drive. These engines can develop nearly 1,000 horsepower

First up were the quarter finals for Pro Modified with three heats of two buggies each heat. They were followed by three heats of two or three V8 Sportsman per heat. Next up was two heats for the air cooled class with two buggies in each heat. And finally, the Jeep class had three heat races of four jeeps per heat. By two o’clock, we had completed the quarter finals for the four classes racing today.

It’s really exciting to watch the big monsters wheeling out of the pits and into the swamp to line up at the start. The noise and color as they are staged before getting the green flag. It takes two flaggers to get everybody set. The first flagger has a furled red flag and brings everybody to the line. When they are properly staged he points to the starter who uses a furled red flag to point to each driver in turn with each driver giving an affirmative thumbs up that he/she is ready. Once everyone is ready, he uses an unfurled green flag to start the race.

The buggies come off the start line in a churning mass of mud and water heading across the infield towards the far turn. They have to hold their line just like the hydros to keep from washing out their competitors. Reaching the far side of the course they enter the back straight and immediately go into the far right hand turn. Sweeping around the far turn they enter the front straightaway and barrel down towards the finish line and sweeping into the right hand pit turn. Exiting the pit turn they thunder down the back straightaway, tear through the far turn and fly down the front straight to cross the finish line. The really high powered buggies complete the course in 60 to 65 seconds.

Whewwww! I got tired just writing up one race – heheheh! All the classes perform the exact same circuit. However, there are some places on the track called “Sippy Holes”, essentially an 18 to 24 inch trench carved out of the bottom of the track from one side to the other. The V-8 Sportsman and Modified classes, with their power and speed fly right across them without missing a beat.

But the two cycle and jeeps, because of their lower horsepower and torque never generate enough speed to get across them. So they tend to nose down, bog down and have to fight their way up the other side of the hole to reach firmer footing and get back to racing speed. So these classes take about three to four minutes to complete a heat, but they are exciting to watch too.

During the intermission, a team of RC Planes took to the air to entertain the crowds. Along with the acrobatic fliers, the Swamp Buggy Queens vying for the 2011/2012 Season Crown came out and made a pitch for votes. These eight young ladies ranged in age from 16 to 20 and were students at the local highschools and Edison College. All during the afternoon they had been selling tickets for the 50/50 drawing. They received 50% of the take to support the Swamp Buggy Queen Scholarship Pageant held every April at the race course. By the end of the day the kitty was over $10,300 split two way with the winning ticket holder walking away with over $5,150. We put in $20 bucks to buy six feet of tickets but we weren’t the winner, heheheh!

The second half of the day saw semi finals then finals for each class with a consolation heat for the jeeps who wanted to do a three lap exhibition race. By 4:40 PM all racing was complete and the trophies handed out to the season champions. At the end of it all, the Queen gets tossed in the swamp in all her finery – it’s a tradition!

We left the track and were home by 5:00 PM. Tina fixed a light dinner, I worked on the blog and we pretty much took it easy the rest of the night.

To see all our photos, clicck on:

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Vacation Day Fun

Saturday the 5th

We got up late and had a relaxing breakfast followed by a few chores to make our new home more homey (hanging mirrors, assembling bathroom storage cabinets, etc. By 11:00 AM we were ready to head out. Our location is pretty handy, we’re five miles east of Naples, two miles from access to I-75 Eastbound (Miami), two miles in the other direction from access to I-75 Northbound (Tampa), there is a WalMart one mile away, and all other essential shopping needs are available within one mile.

So we pulled out of our condo complex onto Davis Blvd, took an immediate right onto Santa Barbara Ave for a mile, left on Golden Gate Rd for half mile and jumped on I-75 North. Twelve miles later we exited on Bonito Springs Road, turned left for two miles, then right on Old Hwy 41 for a mile arriving at Everglades Wonder Gardens.

It was a little Hokey from the ads and entrance but we decided to go in anyway. Once in the museum we learned about the beginnings of the place. It was almost 80 years ago, that Bill and his brother Lester Piper — loaded with cash from their days as Michigan bootleggers running whiskey from Canada and into the United States during Prohibition — moved to Bonita Springs on the Imperial River.

During construction, the Pipers collected injured critters and nursed them back to health. “Word got out that grandpa was collecting all these animals,” said David Piper, 47, grandson and owner of the Everglades Wonder Gardens. “People were always knocking on his door wanting to see the animals. Eventually, he said, ‘Well, if I’m going to show these animals, I might as well get paid for it.’” And that’s how one of the oldest roadside attractions in Florida was born.

All the animals seemed well cared for with very clean cages. The guide did a very nice job explaining their long colorful history, talking knowledgeably about each of the species of animals in the park and their conservation efforts on behalf of wounded and maimed animals brought to them and their efforts to reintroduce them to the wild if possible.

Leaving the Gardens, we headed back towards Old Hwy 41, stopping at two Flea Markets. At the second one we got a great mirror for the bedroom for $50, just need to spend a little time cleaning the frame.

Just as we were about to make our turn we spotted a place called “Pottery as Art” so we decided to stop there too.

This was a great place for colorful pottery art, with large jugs, containers of every shape and color, wall hangings, mirrors, garden art and other really unique pieces (http://www.potteryasart.com/). As we wandered around, I spotted several items for different friends or family, but the two items I liked for us were too expensive. Tina spotted a nice mirror that would be great for the guest bathroom so we picked that up, then decided to go out to lunch at a little place called “Dolly’s Produce Patch and Eatery” where we enjoyed a couple of great sandwiches.

From Dolly’s we headed west through Bonita Springs toward Ft Myers Beach so we could spend a couple of hours at “Lovers Key” State Park (http://www.floridastateparks.org/loverskey/). We were there two years ago when we were staying at the “Red Coconut” RV Resort. After paying our entrance fee, we were directed to park in Lot Three. From there it was about a quarter mile to the beach.

Crossing two waterways we got the shoreline and took off our sandals to walk barefoot in the gentle surf and sand. Along the way we had a chance to see Ospreys nesting, several species of shore birds, beach art and lots of other people enjoying the sun. We walked about a mile picking up shells for our collection, turned around and went back to the entrance, picked up our sandals and beach towel and picked a spot to sit and just enjoy the beautiful day.

Leaving Lovers Key we drove home, had dinner , watched a little TV, read a little and went to bed.

To see all our photos, click on:

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Shopping fun in Naples - Day 5

Friday the 4th

Our delivery from Ashley Furniture arrived about nine thirty. We got everything in, checked it out then headed back out for another day of shopping. By this time we were only looking for a couple of mirrors, an accent table to go under the Ceramic Horse, storage for the guest bathroom, a floor lamp for the living room and a few odds and ends.

We picked out half a dozen places to check out, lamp stores and decorative furnishings. With a route figured out and list in hand we headed out for our last foray. We located a really nice floor lamp at Murphys Lamps and purchased it off the floor, a storage cabinet for the guest bath from Target and a couple of accent pillows for sitting on at our Sunday/Monday activities.

Once again we completed about 98 percent of our mission, stopped for Philly style hotdogs at a little stand over by the municipal airport then called it a day. By the time we got done that afternoon it was clear that our trip was very successful so we decided to celebrate and went to our other favorite restaurant, the Dock at the city harbor had a great dinner, celebrating the 35th anniversary of the place with the owners who provided champagne and cake to all the dinner guests.

Once we got home and assessed the damages from a week of Power Shopping we decided it was time to quit and take a break.

To see all our photos, click on:

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Shopping fun in Naples - Day 4

Thursday the 3rd

Today we decided to go farther afield and head toward Bonita Springs. Tina called Carmen and she gave us the name of a sales person at Ashley Furniture and another place called City Furniture. Apparently these two businesses are co-located in the same building, owned by the same people but Ashley carries furniture made specifically for them and City carries a half dozen other brands, mostly bigger furniture for bigger homes.

We got there and spent twenty minutes just wandering around to see what they had. Eventually Tina asked for the sales person Carmen told us about but it was her day off. So we found someone else who helped us. We finally located a really nice coffee table and end table plus a set of bedroom lamps at City Furniture. After completing all the paperwork, delivery was set for that evening.

Then we went back to the Ashley side of the building where we had found a really nice powder blue leather loveseat, a small five drawer dresser, two night stands and a pair of table lamps for the living room. After writing up the paperwork, we tried to consolidate the two shipments but the truck had already been fully scheduled so we were assigned a Friday morning shipment.
We got home around 2:00 PM and an hour later the Fridge was delivered, set up and the old one hauled away.

Later that evening our City furniture shipment arrived and after getting everything delivered and put where we wanted it, we called it a good day and cashed in our chips.

Shopping fun in Naples - Day 3

Wednesday the 2nd

This morning I finished washing the Master bedroom and bathroom floors, then we went out shopping again. We started at the consignment store to sign a consignment agreement and schedule pickup for later in the afternoon. Then it was on to several more consignment stores where we found a beautiful powder blue ultra suede love seat, just the right size, which we ordered for delivery that evening.

Then it was on to Pier One; Lowes to order the new fridge (for delivery the next day); Best Buy for a new TV; back to Pier One for the TV Table, then home to assemble the new TV system, wait for the old furniture to be picked up and the love seat to be delivered.

Power shopping, ya gotta love it!

Shopping Fun in Naples - Day 2

Tuesday, March 1st

Before we could do anything the service technician from Cool Home A/C came out to install a Humidistat. This is a humidity sensor and control that hooks in to the A/C thermostat controller to make sure the A/C kicks in if the humidity reaches a certain point, providing some measure of control against mold and mildew for when we are gone. He came out around 9:30 AM and was gone half an hour later.

Once the humidistat was installed we took photos of the furniture we were getting rid of and emailed them to a consignment store. Then we were off for another day of Power Shopping. We ended up getting a fridge ordered from Home Depot to be delivered the next day. But when we got home and checked the dimensions, the new fridge was about an inch too wide. So back to Home Depot and canceled that one and tried to order the next smaller unit. Unfortunately the soonest that one could be delivered was the day after we were leaving so we cancelled the whole order and decided to go to Lowes.

What a day!

Shopping Fun in Naples - Day 1

Monday the 28th

Today I finished hand scrubbing the guest bath floor and guest bedroom floors, then we went shopping for furniture. We had decided to get a couple of new love seats for the living room, new TV for the living room (move the old TV into the Guest bedroom and get rid of the other TV that didn’t work), replace the TV table, replace the coffee table, new end tables and lamps, bedside tables and lamps for the master, a new night stand, mirrors for the bedrooms and bathrooms, storage cabinets for the bathrooms and a new fridge.

Fortunately I had budgeted for all this because originally we were looking at a newly re-furbished condo with nothing except appliances. Even though we had a functioning fridge, we had it on the highest setting and it was not very cold. The freezer would barely keep ice frozen and at least one steak we had for 2 days went bad and had to be thrown out. We decided that this wasn’t a good situation so replacing the fridge became a priority.

We decided to start our shopping at consignment stores and places like Target, JC Penny’s and such. Over the next few days we ended up checking out other places like “Rooms to Go” and Pier One Imports. We bought one mirror, found a place to sell our stuff and took a couple of business cards. But even though we spent pretty much all day shopping, we mostly just looked, not being in a big rush.

32nd Annual Naples National Art Fair

Sunday the 27th

This morning started out cloudy with the threat of light rain showers for the Naples area. But by 10:30 the sun was peeking through the clouds so we decided to go into town. Naples host five different art shows starting in November with the Naples Fall Fine Art & Craft Festival, followed by the Downtown Naples New Year's Art Fair on Jan 1 & 2, the Naples National Art Festival in February, the Mercato Fine Arts Festival in early March and the Downtown Naples Festival of the Arts in late March.

We happened to be here at the right time to take in the 32nd annual Naples National Art Festival. This is a juried show that draws artists from all over the country but predominantly from the East Coast. This year there were over 250 artists displaying their works in Cambier Park in the heart of Naples. There were food vendors and musical performances in the band shell and people everywhere! With the sun out it was a scene of vibrant color, flashing color from shiny sculptures, whirling glass whirl-a-gigs, paintings without number, glassworks and oh so much more.

We spent all afternoon wandering around, fascinated by the rich diversity of talent on display. We found several artists with pieces that would go in our new condo, eventually purchasing a small tile horse. We talked to several artists, got business cards and expect to pick up a couple more pieces next year when we’re down here. Eventually we decided that it was time to think about dinner so we drove over to one of our favorite restaurants, the Dock, down on the bay next to Tin City. We had soup and grouper tacos, Yummmm!!

After dinner we came home and spent some more time organizing, checking our lists, identifying things we still needed to purchase (light bulbs, miscellaneous odds and ends) before calling it a night.

To see all our photos, click on:

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Day 2 in our new condo

Saturday March 26th

Another beautiful day, but being tired, we slept in until 7:30 am. I got up first and made a pot of coffee then Tina got up and we cut up some fruit for breakfast. We spent some time planning our day with assembly of patio furniture the first item on the agenda. First up was a bathroom project. The faucet in the guest bathroom needed to be removed and the hole caulked.

With a screwdriver from my new “Simple Tool Kit” I removed the faucet from the pipe. Using a piece of copper wool, I plugged the hole around the pipe and applied silicone caulk. Back went the faucet on the pipe and I secured it as close to the tile as possible. Then this got a bead of caulk to finish of the job.

Next was the patio furniture. Unwrapping all the pieces we managed to assemble the two chairs and put them in the screened lanai. Then we started in on the small patio table. Ooooopps, a part was missing. Tina volunteered to go back to WalMart while I stayed home to start washing the tile floors.

I had most of the dining room done and was starting on the living room when Tina got back. Turns out they wanted her to bring the whole table back. So we packed things up and back she went while I continued with the floors. I had most of the living room done when she returned. Seems like the people at WalMart couldn’t figure out how to help us. Swap out the whole table or give us the part. Finally they decided to just give us the part we were missing. What a hassle. But at least we could put the thing together.

After finishing the kitchen floor, the rest of the living room and entry hall floor, I decided to call it quits for the day and washed up my buckets and mop towels, put everything away and assembled the table.

With the table complete we put it out on the lanai between the chairs. And of course we had to try them out, perfect! I continued testing the comfort level of the new furniture while Tina started dinner, baked chicken and a nice salad, yummm! After dinner, I washed the dished and cleaned the kitchen (my normal routine, then we watched a little tv while catching a few chapters in our books. Tomorrow will not be all work, we plan to go into town to the International Arts Fair.

To see all our photos, click on:

http://picasaweb.google.com/mjdolanski

Day One in our New Condo

Friday, February 25th

A beautiful morning, we woke up late and walked over to Chrissy’s Bayside Café for breakfast, then went back to our room, packed up and checked out in time to meet Carmen at our new condo for the walk through. From there we followed Carmen over to Naples Title where we met with Tim to sign the final papers. Once that was done we thanked Tim and Carmen for all their help, took our new condo keys and headed out for some shopping.

But first we had lunch at Fridays on Pine Ridge and Tamiami Trail (US 41). From there we made several stops to pick up essentials including a stop at WalMart for new bed sheets and a final stop at Publix for some groceries. Then it was off to our new home where we unloaded everything, put away clothes and groceries and collapsed after a pretty full day.

After a nice dinner in our new place we realized that we forgot a mattress pad. So we headed back to WalMart to pick one up. While we were there we looked at patio furniture for the screened in lanai. Once we got back home, we made the bed and started planning what we wanted do over the next couple of weeks.