Wednesday 7 February 2024

We've had a few beautiful days - like this one with a record number of jet skis passing by, but mainly grey and cloudy - sort of British weather  ... very weird all winter!

9th January and another 'no-name' storm treated like a hurricane in terms of wind, flooding & tornado warnings.  Hurricane shutters rattling. Schools and events cancelled. 

Some parts of Florida will see temperatures drop into the 30s Tuesday (30 Jan); some cities hit record highs in the 80s Saturday, (27 Jan) forecasters said.
Boules on the beach

Apparently this December/January period is the cloudest in Florida for the last 84 years, I think since they began records! T​ampa had only three days characterized as "clear sky" days in December and January combined, according to National Weather Service statistics. These statistics consider a "clear sky" day as one with 30% cloud coverage or less averaged through the day. Tampa averages 20 such days each December through January.

Historically warm surface temperatures contributed to an increased likelihood of an El Niño for the record books, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Climate Prediction Center.

"Based on the latest forecasts, there is now a 54% chance of a “historically strong” El Niño during the November-January season.  In most El Niño winters, Florida is wetter and warmer than normal from January to March. With a stronger El Niño winter expected and the southern jet stream track pushing down further south, though, Florida will likely see wetter and cooler conditions this winter.

During the evening of February 7th, a 'rare' earthquake that registered 4.0 was recorded in the Atlantic about 100 miles from Florida's Cape Canaveral, the U.S. Geological Survey said. We didn't feel a thing.

Seen on the beach - big flyovers and washed up -- small hammerhead shark!













Below you can see the groins/groynes that protect our beach, along with the new sand dune (partially washed away!) and how high the tide got to the new duene (long line of light colored sand with small amount of wrack).

Groin is predominantly used in 🇺🇸 American (US) English ( en-US ) while groyne is predominantly used in 🇬🇧 British English (used in UK/AU/NZ) ( en-GB ). In the United States, there is a preference for "groin" over "groyne" (100 to 0). In the United Kingdom, there is a preference for "groin" over "groyne" (99 to 1).

Friday 29 December 2023

Mermaids - Really?


For some holiday fun we went to see the Weeki Wachee Mermaid Show - yes really ...

This is a piece of the 'old Florida' roadside attractions.

A first in 1947, Mermaids perform synchronized ballet moves underwater while breathing through the air hoses - but no longer hidden in the scenery.
They swim in a natural spring of circa 72F/22C year round.

For more history read on here

Our trip was really to St Augustine for a family celebration, and we encountered stormy weather. St Augustine, founded in 1565, is the oldest continuously occupied settlement of European and African-American origin in the United States. I guess I didn't take many pictures in the rain!

Of equal interest are the manatees at Blue Springs State Park - attracted by the 72F spring and the live oak trees at Fort Matanzas.  I can also recommend a visit to the St Augustine Lighthouse.

See the baby?


White Pelicans at Fort De Soto

Back at 'home' the dunes have been rebuilt after the end August Idalia hurricane, but washed out again in the mid December no name storm that rained on us in St Augustine - ah well you can't cheat mother nature.
December has been an unusually chilly and grey month for us, but still warmer than the UK!

Half the new rebuilt dunes gone since this picture

One can see the Cape Canaveral launches on a clear day -- here's one: 
https://nextdoor.com/p/M9LdX5DLw2Kg?utm_source=share&extras=MzI1NjAwNzk%3D&utm_campaign=1703877662176

Thursday 7 December 2023

August Hurricane Idalia and Beach Renourishment

Well I never did report on Hurricane Idalia which went by offshore on 29/30 August, but put 6 inches of sand under our building, storm surge greater than 3 feet, and created a river of water from the Gulf out through the parking to the street.  

The street outside our complex looked like this as the Hurricane passed - but fortunately, although I think the tires got a great wash, the car seems unscathed. Yup that's a river in our street.

And living above ground floor really helps!

Our complex, citing snakes and rats potentially living in the dunes,  refuses to have protecting dunes - hence all the sand in our ground floor parking area under the building. 

But The Board likes and plants palm trees which also harbour rats and palmento bugs (large flying cockroaches to you and me).

Fortunately we survived unscathed, with just a car wash and condo windows needing cleaning. Our barrier island was evacuated and we could monitor things from afar using posted video clips.  See news report here.

Our condo complex, however, took several weeks and $$ to clear the sand.  Some of the neighbouring dunes were decimated, so the county has conducted an emergency replenishment project.  We saw large earth moving equipment on the beach earlier this week.




And needing to avoid the renourishment works, the sand raker had a bit of fun . . .


Let's not forget the Rouge Wave (Jan 2, 2021), Eta (Nov 28, 2020) and Irma (Sept 2017; we evacuated) and 3 storms detailed in my post of Oct 8, 2016.

Wednesday 29 November 2023

So finally some real progress towards 'The End!' of this renovation/loft conversion project.

Quirky friends nudged me towards this one --


OK, so the main bathroom shower still isn't right and now in bits - the 'DIY panels' seem to be causing the builder a problem.  

Retailer said this is the worst issue they have seen in installation of the Fibo panels.  I chose this green metro tile effect, as that was similar to what was in the original bathroom.

We've had to get another plumber in, the loft bathroom floor & skirting board slopes and we still have issues, but -- 

Kitchen flooring delayed (I suspect retailer failed to place order in time) so we have temporary ugly flooring there --

Onwards and Upwards?!?

Wednesday 1 November 2023

What Can I Say ...

I am not sure hope springs eternal anymore.  After advising a Director of our building company of a long list of issues and several major items essentially not started, we got some action yesterday, only to have an Edwardian lead glass window pane or three broken ... and just left.  Didn't even tell us (but I heard it break), didn't clean up the glass, and have not offered to get it fixed! An apology - ha ha! Instead complained it was our tree's fault and ladder didn't get on with said tree!

Only action on one item and no further communication from builder/director ... so unclear how they now intend to proceed after missing several builder-set 'finish' dates they promised. Still no useable shower in the main bathroom. Also found found more ceiling damage from an earlier water leak. 

Builders have used and left in the rain some of Philip's tools, asked our decorators (independent company) to do the builder's work -- behind our back -- leaving us feeling confused, disrespected and out of control. Why are the separate decorators here at the same time as the builder's men you ask?  Well read above - builder way behind revised schedule and eaten a generous time contingency.

Yesterday found plumbing in loft bathroom not properly installed resulting in a slow leak which made a visible appearance after a week. Easily rectified once someone came round, and no major damage, but some wood will never be quite the same.  And at the moment I feel neither will I. 

Frankly the plumbing is a mess - many things need/needed to be rectified, the external back of house has higgledy-piggledy pipework all over in different colours and the plumber tried to sell us a new boiler blaming everything on our 'old boiler over 10 years old' - not true. Plumbing did not meet the specification we asked for and given to builder as condition of employing him.

Decorators seem to be in every room of the house with no concept of personal space.  Part of job was to install a new skirting board damaged by water - so they did this OVER TOP of mould!!  They seemed to think that isn't a problem - 'it will go away.' Hummm  They insisted on decorating the hall first which is the only access into the rest of the house which is now being decorated. Back and forth throught the hallway about 50 times a day.  Wallpaper under threat and already dirty in spots.  

There is no logic with the builders or decorators - I have never seen so much rework due to their own carelessness. Decorators also running over time and now think it is OK to work on the lounge whilst the carpet installers are here.  They just forgot that the space they want to work in will be full of furniture as other rooms need to be empty for the new carpets/flooring to go down! Everytime someone comes to fix one thing they damage another two!

I no longer have any words (swearing or otherwise) nor even anger. Despair doesn't quite cover it. I am not sleeping and not feeling well or thinking straight.  I do not know the state of my seaside flat as it is also overdo on finishing and I cannot leave this home to check as I never know who is showing up here when to do what. Giving builders or decorators free reign of my home is out of the question. Why you ask do both at the same time?  Well that wasn't the plan either ... 

Blind doesn't fit and has to be remade, stool arrives and doesn't go together, anti-vibration washing machine mat insisted by builder makes things worse not better and has to be removed, man comes to door asking for train fare with sob story and threatens to break our windows when we try to offer help via a charity ...  need plumber for days of work to fix what isn't right ... and so it goes.

And then there is the clean-up after the workers - we are talking weeks of work.

Not one or even 10 of these things is such a big deal.  It is the constant drip, drip of issues, broken promises, delayed work, wrong installation, breakage/water damage, small fixes promised and then denied and not done, total loss of control of my home/space and my time  -- it is grinding and wearing 😩😱

Saturday 21 October 2023

Beyond Dispair and Cat's Eye

Scaffolding down 14 August - only up for 4 months or 17 weeks - a bit longer than promised! Getting light back into the house a big relief. New roof lights delivered on 15th. Yipee! 

Making dinner I realized I was been supervised and watched from my rooflight ...

And speaking of rooflights, mine have just been replaced just in time for summer which only really began in September.

This September has been noteworthy for its unseasonable warmth.  It is currently warmer than July and August this year.

Well I didn't get to posting this and it is now 21 October.  Decorators started early October so we are squeezed up into the kitchen/lounge area to clear the other rooms for decorating. Living surrounded by boxes and dust seems to be my new way of life since mid 2022.

Plumber came to install a booster pump yesterday as part of the build spec (why this took so long I don't know). And now we have a leak from the new plumbing work in our loft through the ceiling light in our just (this week!) redecorated main bedroom which has also shorted some of the electrics in the house.  Not to mention the dust and dirt made with the work in my temporary loft bedroom space.  Happy Saturday!

The builder's work is not finished either so it was chaos with 2 decorators and 3 builders here Friday in my small house (exactly what was not to happen).  Existing back lounge flat roof is a mess after the builder resurfaced it.  The painting and window cleaning of exterior hasn't started.  1st floor bathroom still also has plumbing install issues and so shower is not useable.

Promises of stain matching the new loft banister to the existing banister was a diaster. The loft banister had to be resanded back to bare wood creating so much dust I have given up proper cleaning anything and live in prepetural dust being created. Builder has now given up on staining the banister!!

This I would say is before any snagging list.  The builder's invoices always have errors and require hours of checking. I am beyond despair.  

Our other coastal building project is now also long overdue - although last week I could at last get in and put it back to habitable order.  Hopefully our builder there will respect my cleaning efforts.

I can say I am very pleased with my designs and decorating choices.  One plus in all this. 

But I am very nervous about the sound of water these days, having had so many water issues . . . the builder says we have had more water issues than all his other builds combined!  Little consolation!!!!!

Nothing more to be said, I am numb, but still aware that although it feels like I am living in a diaster zone, I am grateful I am not in an actual combat zone such is the Middle East.  

Monday 7 August 2023

Glutton for Punishment - Yes 2 at Once!!

 What can I say?  If I had planned for both to happen at once, well never, but here we are. Be sure to read the previous post for the main event - this is just a frustratingly slow sideline.

First we built a cupboard into a void in a bedroom - these flats have no storage space! Well, it's almost done ...

    

Who realised it would take over the whole flat and become uninhabitable ...
this before an UNRELATED water leak occurred in our flat dripping downward to the neighbour.

Before
As we enjoy spending time in this seaside town, we thought to make the flat brighter and more useable we would move some doors and resite the washer & dryer into a long cupboard, now divided into two and opening both sides! Pictures to come.

During - Ok, the builder is making [slow] progress.


Here's the new door into the lounge (picture taken from opposite direction),

and an internal window where the old door was.  
This creates a big space for a window-high storage cupboard into the triangle space.

Standing inside lounge looking through new lounge doorway towards new kitchen door.
New door is moving from white frame to the area on the right (towards open wood door).

Here's a new fire-rated pocket door into the kitchen.
This gives us a better layout for a [future] new kitchen and better communication into the lounge.

Ensuite Our ensuite bathroom coming along disrupted for the new washer/dryer cupboard.

                                                                            Before

Can you tell we are on the beach?
I am selecting some Flotex bathroom carpeting - good on the feet and takes water too.


After - watch this space - one day we will be finished!