2006_05

So.... yesterday I had a flat tire while transporting the Nieceling home from her lacrosse game.

Triple A to the rescue.

Today, I go to my local garage to get the tire fixed, and the guy there tells me he's not letting me drive halfway to Florida on these tires.

ka-ching $$$ four new tires.

He gets the car up in the air, removes the tires, and starts looking over the rest of it. Brakes, very good. Other stuff checking out fine, no need of tune-up. Oil change done very recently (I'm good about my oil changes).

Then he starts cursing.

Front struts.... leaking like a sonofabitch. The seals are shot, and there's a mess of dirty oil everywhere in the vicinity.

SIL did tell me several weeks ago that she'd started to hear a rhythmic noise coming from the front end (she drove my car some while I was down there doing the House Closing Quest).

ka-ching $$$ - Two new front struts.

I think I shall be putting off the purchase of area carpets for the dining and living areas of the new house, cause I'm never going into credit card hock, ever again.

*sigh*

ok, so I'm frantically flinging stuff into boxes here at Chez Bro, and I came across these two shells, which I photographed before packing them up with the rest of my junk.

I have a colleague from the Ohio offices who is in the Air National Guard, and had to do a month stint in Turkey this past January-February. Whenever colleagues go away, I always tell them to pick up a shell off the beach for me. Well, this dude brought me two! I don't really know what they are. One looks like some sort of Alphabet cone cousin. Anyway, he said he was nervous because he didn't know what the "rules" were for bringing shells off the beach and out of the country, so he could only walk away with what would fit in a pocket, but that there were plenty more where these came from.

OK, sharing.... oh, and the Bic pen cap is there to keep the cone from rolling over, but it also provides a convenient scale.

For my birthday a few years back, First Niece made me a puzzle castle! She was going through some sort of jigsaw puzzle craze, and put this thing together for me. When I lived in the chicken coop, it spent some time in the place of honor - the tiny picture window in the living room. I brought it with me from the chicken coop to Chez Bro, and it suffered some damage. Nieceling added the banner one fine afternoon, sitting on the floor coloring while I did whatever.

Well I don't think it's going to survive the journey to Florida, so I'm taking some pics for posterity. And then it's going to that great Disney graveyard in the sky...

The mover I hired is now balking on the date of arrival that we agreed upon.

"I didn't realize it at the time, but it's going to be hard to get a guy to drive down there and be away for Mother's Day...."

Meanwhile, I'm arriving on Friday the 12th, supposed to accept delivery of the furniture on Saturday the 13th, and be back to work by Monday the 15th. If the furniture arrives during the week, that's unscheduled time off I need to take.

I now have TWO reasons to be really fucking pissed at whomever invented Mother's Day.

Got up early so I can continue the saga of stacking things at the curb, getting stuff off the stairs so the moving men don't trip, etc.

We have four stops to make today, to gather together my far-flung worldly possessions from the homes of Mother and two Bros, as well as the storage facility. I will actually LAY EYES, if not hands, on my piano today, but it won't arrive in Fort Myers for another couple of days.

The rest of the day will be spent packing the car, which isn't much. What does a girl need for an overnight on a train, and an overnight in an empty house? A few changes of clothing and her computer equipment!

Then, it's one more sleep, and off bright and early in the morning to the auto train in Virginia.

The packing of the truck went well. The only thing that didn't go well was the unhappy news that my stuff is more likely to show up in Florida on the 15th, than on the original date of the 13th. Yes, I'm back on duty on the 15th, so I guess I just have to play that one by ear.

so the car is packed with my bare necessities, and I'm about to re-double-check my directions to the auto train, then head off to bed.

This is unheard of, that the night before a trip, I'll be in bed before 1:00 am !

Well, if you're gonna have Mickey D's for lunch, you might as well have it at the Mickey D's at Downtown Disney, right?

Remind me never again to move on the full moon. While it may be good for shelling, it stinks for making changes.

The train was two hours late getting into Sanborn, and it was another hour at least before they liberated my car. I was ravenously hungry by then, and started driving down I4 with the idea of stopping at a McDonalds somewhere along the way. It was killing me to pass the Disney exits, but then I remembered that they have a McDonalds! So I pulled off I4 onto hallowed Disney ground (first of many times, I hope, for the RAV), and had a quick lunch at the McDonalds in Downtown Disney. I was back on the road in less than an hour.

I have already had my fill of love bug season - the entire I4 leg of the trip, I was wondering, "what sea gull decided to follow me all the way across the state?" and it wasn't till later that I noticed that they approach the windshield black, but stick to it mostly white. That stuff does NOT come off with mere windshield washer fluid! I had to take the car through the car wash this morning to get it off.

I made it to the house and used my garage door clicker for the first time (first I had to move a stanchion out of the driveway). I had to GO, wicked bad, and at that point I realized that the water was shut off! Relieved but unable to flush, I FLEW up SR82 to the City of Fort Myers offices where one arranges water and sanitation account - made it in the door at 10 minutes till 5PM *WHEW*. Water came back around 6:30 PM.

Since there was not a stitch of food or furniture in the house, I headed out the tarZHAY, where I bought an "executive chair" and some grocery staples. On the way back, I saw the full glory of the moon shining brightly in the sky. It comes up in the front of the house.

I was too tired when I got back to do anything about setting up the chair, and instead cracked open the box with the AeroBed. Well, unbeknownst to me, the pump that comes with it needs to be charged for 24 hours before it will work Alrighty then, we're sleeping on the floor. But the big doors off the master bedroom to the lanai made me feel like I was sleeping in a fishbowl, and I could not drop off to sleep. Other bedrooms, same feeling from the windows. So I took myself into the only other carpeted area in the house - one of the walk-in closets in the master bath - and slept like a rock until dawn.

This afternoon, I got the AeroBed to inflate, so tonight I'll be sleeping on the AeroBed. I think I might even try the bedroom. I'm not sure why I felt so freaked out - probably first night jitters. Well, if that doesn't work out, the floor of the master bath is quite big enough for the aero bed and then some. At least it gets me out of the closet

When I awoke, the moon had traveled to the back of the house, and it shone on the lake in the darkness. I sat out there with coffee and watched it get light out. Then I set up my chair so now I have a place to sit that isn't a kitchen counter top.

Comcast was late arriving this morning, and had some difficulty with the router and desk drop set up. So they hooked up something temporary while I'm waiting for them to send in the artillery. I'm sorely tempted to try it myself.

OK, well, I have more shopping to do - need something to sit down upon out on the lanai, and also want to stop at Bed Bath And Beyond (now that I know where it is) to secure some new towels that actually match the colors in the bathrooms. Catch you all later!

The second night, I slept on the aero bed in the fish bowl.

Sunday morning the furniture arrived, along with all these mysterious boxes from the storage unit. I keep looking at them, recognizing my own handwriting from 2.5 years ago, but saying, "what the hell IS all this stuff?!?!?!". It will be a while before it is all unpacked, notably the boxes and boxes of books, as I transform one of the spare bedrooms into a den/office/library of sorts.

So, I inherited my grandparents living room, dining room, and bedroom sets, all antiques. The bed frame is all wood, including slats, and it's a double. I don't have a mattress for it yet. So since the bed frame is taking up all the room in the master bedroom, and there are boxes of stuff in the other bedrooms, the only place to put the queen-sized aero bed is the floor of the palatial master bath. So, until I get to go mattress shopping, that's where I'm sleeping.

My friends Alan & Todd here in Fort Myers (a.k.a., My Spies) invited me to dinner last night. They are the best friends a girl could hope for.

Working today from the new home. When I quit work, I will start unpacking kitchen stuff and load it all into the dishwasher. Yeah, I know I packed it clean, but it's been in storage for a few years, so where's the harm in starting "fresh"? While that's running, I will unpack clothing into my new dresser drawers.

ok, maybe not so thrilling...

1. I am now licensed to drive in the state of Florida
2. My car is now registered in the state of Florida
3. I am now registered to vote in the state of Florida

and most thrilling of all -

4. The TempurPedic mattress is here - no more AeroBed! WOOHOO!

Small problem - I can't get the NY plates off the car! The screws seem to be rusted in place. I even sprayed the crap out of them with WD40 - no go. I guess I'll be buying that screw gun this week - the one I need to get the hurricane shutters on and off.

If that doesn't work - does anyone have a hack saw? If anyone out there is going to be in the neighborhood, would you kindly bring any sort of tool you can think of that will remove the frozen bolts from my NY license plates? Bolt cutters, plasticine explosives, dynamite, or maybe a particularly destructive two year old - I will be your best friend!

Dunno what this is, but it appears in the lake behind the house during overcast parts of the day. Sometimes I've seen several at the same time. Even with 16x zoom on my camera, I'm not able to get close enough to really figure out what it is. I'm thinking maybe frogs, or turtles perhaps, poking their little heads up for some reason?

It's overcast again today, so I'll keep an eye out. Perhaps it is some alien form of life that has come from a galaxy far, far away, and decided that Lehigh was a happenin' place to live?

ok, maybe not so thrilling.

It began to thunder and lightening and POUR. I looked out over the lake, and saw something long and bumpy floating around. "Ooooo, a gator!" I thought.

Being the chicken that I am, I ran out with the camera, but would only get so close to the shore. I snapped it on 16x zoom.

I was so excited, I bolted back to the house, dodging between the raindrops, to put the photo on the computer. And this is what I saw - my "gator" is apparently an escaped palm frond, or some other form of long, bumpy log-like apparatus.

I've been waiting and waiting for Budget Blinds to deliver my plantation shutters. The target date is now circa June 8th or 9th.

In the meantime, I have western exposure

on the lanai, and it gets HOT and BRIGHT out there in the late afternoon.

But on a day where there are clouds on the western horizon, this is what I get from my western exposure - it's a real treat to see colors like this, and I feel very fortunate! More below... and no, I have not touched the color on the pics!

I have a business trip to NY coming up, and I have this gnawing corner of my brain that is waiting to "go home". But I already AM home, says I to the little gnawing corner of my brain. Nope, says the gnawing corner. Florida is for vacations, the Loverly Isle of Long is home.

It will take a while to convince the gnawing corner, I guess.

Here's a neighborhood vignette. Last night, there was someone on the lake somewhere playing their television rather loud. I could only hear it on the lanai - once I closed the doors, I could not hear it anymore.

So I'm drifting off, and suddenly I hear this really angry voice, maybe from several doors away. The voice goes booming across the lake and reverberates. It says -

"HEY! ARE YOU GOING TO PLAY THAT FUCKING TV THAT LOUD ALL FUCKING NIGHT?"

Then, another angry voice, further off and unintelligible. Then, a door banging shut. Then, silence.

Moral of the story: When the houses are this close together and sound booms across the lake, if you want to play your TV, music, whatever really loud, do so with the lanai doors closed!

Today I woke up and decided that two weeks was long enough to be living here without having yet made it to the beach. So I used the morning to do housecleaning stuff, the early afternoon to run errands, and then headed out to Sanibel.

When you live here, you don't really have to pack first

I just used the mesh beach bag that the Holiday Inn gave me, threw in my water shoes, shell bags and net, towel, sunscreen, and water, and away I went.

This was the first time the RAV made the perilous crossing, but it won't be the last! It felt a little weird to be crossing the causeway in my own car, rather than a rental.

I stopped at a few stores first, to check out those clear glass lamps that you put your shells in, but they were massively expensive

I mean, it was just highway robbery! I think there's probably a trip to TarZHAY in my future.

Finally, I pulled into the parking lot at Tarpon Bay Beach, slathered up with the sunscreen, and put on my water shoes. OUCH, they're tight - what the ????

By the time I had walked to the beach from the parking lot, I had figured out that leaving them to roast in the garage for a month was probably not the brightest thing I'd ever done. I think they shrunk as they baked in there. I had blisters just from that short walk! I ended up taking them off for a time, or else walking on the backs of them, rather than putting them on all the way.

I guess I need new water shoes.

Anyhow, nothing unusual to report. It's the new moon, and low tide was 8:45 PM. I started at about 3PM and left around 7PM. The sandbar appeared in the interim, and the tide went out pretty far. These are great conditions, because the breakers break on the sandbar, not on the shore, so you don't have to struggle against big waves to find and grab stuff.

There were a few good-sized whelks to be found in the resulting tidal pool, but all the ones I found were alive. Everything else I brought home was pretty standard stuff, but it was just wonderful to have a serene afternoon on the island, and to know that now, when I want to go there, all I have to do is take a drive, not an airplane.

Here's a picture - like I said, standard stuff, nothing exciting, but it's a special haul in that it's my first as a Florida resident.

So... on the way back, I was passing a Lowes and swung in there to get the Liquid Wrench. Lowes, Home Depot - what's the difference?

I stopped at the customer service desk to ask where I could find the Liquid Wrench, and was escorted to the aisle. While I was being escorted, I explained why I needed it, and the guy escorting me got that "guy gleam" in his eye. He asked me if I had the car there, and I said yes. We walked around and he grabbed some generic Liquid Wrench, plus a couple of other tools, and we headed out to the parking lot.

Well, he squirted the bolts and they DRIPPED rust! And then he went to work getting the bolts off. It wasn't easy, but he did it, and put the new plate on for me, too.

Then he gathered up his tools and said, "I'm Dave, one of the managers here. Let us know any time if you need help."

How cool is Dave? Dave rocks! I think I'm going to write to Lowes and tell them how much Dave rocks! I think Dave needs a raise, and an award for employee of the month or something.

OH - PS, no one has to bring bolt cutters, blow torch, or explosives to me now. The license plates have been liberated by Dave!

So, I stagger out to the lanai yesterday morning, and I see something in my little tree. You remember my little tree, right? The one the builder planted in the backyard, out by the lake? Yeah, that one.

So I see this thing in my tree, about the size and shape of a football. I'm in my usual morning comatose stupor, and I'm not sure what I'm looking at. So I stagger back inside and get my field glasses.

I nearly dropped the field glasses and passed out. BEES! Like, a bazillion of them. In my poor little tree.

Now, as of yesterday morning, I had no concept of the behavior of bees. I just knew there were a bazillion of them in my poor little tree, and that it was Memorial Day, when no one is open to come and help me with this problem. I was, however, frankly stunned that a hive that big could have been built virtually overnight.

This morning, yup, the "football" is still there. Yesterday it was raining too hard to get a clear shot at them with the camera, and today I was too chicken to leave the safety of my screened lanai. So I called my gardener, who was full of sympathy but didn't want his untrained guys to come out to help me and end up getting stung. Can't say I blame him.

Then I called the county extension office, and someone there gave me three numbers to call for "wildlife removal".

Then I got on a conference call, and when I went back to the lanai... they were GONE!

Where did the hive go? I looked with the field glasses around on the ground near the tree, thinking perhaps it had fallen over. Nope. Well, maybe it fell over and rolled down the bank into the lake. Maybe I would find it capsized there, kind of like a bee-sized Titanic, complete with little bee bodies floating face down in the water.

I got brave and went to look, with my camera 'round my neck. Nope, no Hivetanic, no bee bodies. I maintained a healthy distance from the tree, and trained the lens on it at 16x zoom. There were only a handful of bees left on the tree, and I began to comprehend that there had never been a hive at all. The "football" had been made ENTIRELY of bees, and they all flew away while I was on the phone.

Now I was curious, and I got on the net and Googled up "bee behavior". Lo and behold, what I had witnessed was "swarming". See, the old queen bee trains up a new queen bee, then leaves the new queen in the nest, taking half the community with her. They find a tree in which they can congregate, and send out some little bee scouts to find a new location - some nice crevice somewhere. When the scouts return, they all do a little dance, to tell the other bees about the locations they found.

How do the bees decide which location to settle upon? Well, eventually, the scouts start to come to a consensus, and all start doing the same dance. When the rest of the community senses that a "quorum" has been reached among the scouts, off they go.

Sometimes, not all the scouts have returned yet when the swarm goes (that must have been quite a sight!), and then when they get back, there's no one there to tell them where the new site is.

Perhaps some pheromones are left behind, with instructions on how to get to the new site. Or perhaps, they go on to lead lonely, solitary existences, requiring years of therapy to overcome their abandonment issues.

At any rate, I am not surprised that I never witnessed or heard of this phenomenon before. Where I come from, we have lots and lots of trees, but they are mature, old-growth trees, hence this sort of thing is probably happening way above the heads of mortals, and therefore goes unobserved.

Here are the poor, hapless souls that got left behind -