Nice is cutting it
Published on November 16, 2007 By KFC Kickin For Christ In Misc
This is Day Three for us in Florida. We are in a mess still. Lots to do. We still have many unopened boxes to work on and others we just have no room to put the contents, because we need to build shelves first.

We spent the day today mostly doing errands. We set up bank accounts, went cell phone shopping, got groceries and went to Home Depot. That store is going to be our favorite for a while. We walked around the store looking at shelving units, cabinets for the laundry room and even stone for the lanai. I'd love to win a shopping spree to Home Depot right about now.

We definitely need shelving. I don't have as much cabinet space as I did back in the other place. But even there I remember we built units and closets in the cellar as well as around the house. We don't have a celler here but we have a nice laundry area and garage we can make do with. I did get rid of alot of stuff before moving here, but I think I'm still going to get rid of more.

We went for our first three mile run in weeks yesterday. Less than a quarter mile from the house is a beautiful golf course littered with big Palm trees. We ran by the brand new swimming facilities as well as our mail boxes. You can go for a dip and pick up your mail while you're there. What we noticed is there are drinking fountains right there which may come in very handy during our runs on a hot day. It's beautiful here. It's very well landscaped and cared for.

We would love to get a golf cart but may have to wait until we sell our house trying to keep expenses down. It's really quite the mode of transportation around here. As we ran, the golf carts would go whizzing by with friendly hands in the air.

We've had two sets of neighbors come by to visit so far. The last couple after a few minutes of chit chat came over to see our house after I invited them in. Of course the place is still a shambles. Since we were standing out by the lanai they came in that way. They noticed our view and commented how we had the "million dollar view." We purchased this house basically sight unseen because of the lot. It overlooks a body of a man-made small lake with houses built all around it. We were able to see the neighborhood before it was really a neighborhood. Back in August it was nothing but empty shells; this house unfinished both in and out. All we could see were studded rooms.....ahhhhhhh but the view was what drew us here.

We seem to live for the moment in a ghost neighborhood since we must be one of the first to move in. The two neighbors that came to visit live behind us, their homes facing the next street over. The homes on either side of us appear vacant although around here some use their homes as second homes. This whole neighborhood is brand new as of October so it's not really surprising we have a quiet street right now. That's sure to change soon.

The weather here is unbelievable. It's like our best May days back in Maine. We heard it might get a tad cold and we laughed. Ya, how cold can it get? We had the wood stove cranking more than once before we left. In fact quite a few nights in October we ran the woodstove at night instead of turning on the oil. Today in Home Depot we looked a a few woodstoves in disbelief. Do they really have a need here for a woodstove?

We missed Rudy today. He was going to be right here in my neighborhood two miles from our house. We wanted to ride our bikes down to the square but found ourselves in the bank looking at our watches saying...."it ain't happening." Now if it were Mike, we would have gone to the bank tomorrow. It's funny but the day before we left Hillary was in our neck of the woods up in NH which was about 10 miles from the house. But the difference between Hillary and Rudy was Hillary's visit was restricted to only those invited. Today anyone could go see Rudy and listen to what he had to say and many were expected to turn out for this.

Tomorrow it's back to Home Depot to get more shelving, get our cells and continue unpacking those boxes. I still have to find those pink and white Nike's. Now which box do you suppose I put them?






Comments
on Nov 16, 2007

A couple of guys I work with transferred from other areas of the country.  But they kept their cell phones and service.  Why?  Free long distance.

You will get acclimated in about 2 years to the weather.  Then, while the winters will not be Maine ones, they will be nippy!  But you did move at a good time.  The summers are down right nasty!

on Nov 16, 2007
Sounds like a pretty place to live, KFC.


It's very pretty LW. Alot different than the white mountains of NH which also was a beautiful place to live. Here, it's pretty palm trees and many beautiful golf courses.

I do hope you're aware that there isn't a single body of water in the state, natural or man-made, fresh or brackish, that is not prone to attract alligators?


Yes, I'm aware of that now. But I did find out that this place will come out and take care of any alligators that may show up in this pond we have out back here. For sure they don't let any that are in excess of five feet stick around as they tend to be more agressive than the little ones.

Dunno if your brought your poor old dog


No, I left Quincy Dog with my neighbors. It was a very hard decision but was best for him. They have two boys aged 11 and 13 that just adore Quincy as well as mom and dad. In fact when we decided to move, they actually asked if they could have Quincy. He shared both houses almost equally anyhow. He would hate it here and with his disposition he would have been very much out of his element. His freedom would have been curtailed for one thing. His anxiety would never have been able to handle this. It almost broke my heart to leave him, but it was for his best interest.

But as far as the grandkids...yes, I thought of that and I actually voiced this a few times, but everyone laughs at me saying when was the last time you heard of alligators eating small children? How often? When does this happen? You may hear of someone getting bit once in a while they say but then you find out someone was either teasing or trying to feed them. So far I've read all the newspapers down here and haven't read of one alligator story yet. Hopefully it'll stay that way.

Seen any big bugs yet?


Nope, not really except for all the dead ones plastered all over my screens outside the lanai. Not sure why they're on there tho. They just look like mosquitos tho. Not sure how I'm going to get them off. May try the vaccum later.

You will get acclimated in about 2 years to the weather


So far so good. It was a cool 50's today. More like jeans and sweatshirt weather. Saw alot of people in coats and am really bummed that I sold my black leather coats. Really not happy about that now. II wasn't really that cold today...more like just a little chilled just tonight after dark when I went outside. I heard it might get down to freezing here tonight. I also heard it snowed in our hometown today. Not much but still.....snow.

The summers are down right nasty!


I'm not so sure although I know that seems to be the scuttlebutt. We were here in August for a week, and it was the hottest of the year and it didn't really bother us that much. We've been watching the weather between both states for over a year and found that sometimes it's actually more humid in Maine in July/August than Florida. The only diff is Florida has more humid days in quanitity, but not necessarily in quality. We moved from a pretty hot part of Maine in the summers, away from the coast. I grew up on the coast of Maine so I know what it's like in both places. The coast is cool in the summer (hardly did I ever get hot) and warmer in the winter. Inland (where we just moved from) was one of the coldsest parts of the state in the winter, making the nighly news almost nightly, and usually almost always the hottest in the summer.

I do like the heat much more than the cold but not having spent a summer here, I might change that tune next year. I think I'm ok, but like I always say.....time will tell.