Wednesday morning we packed a suitcase, packed up Tinker's food, bowls & toys and loaded up the car and then drove to Acorn Mini Storage here in Sebastian to pick up the U-Haul trailer Mike had reserved. After getting the trailer we drove south on I-95 to Ft. Lauderdale to our friend's house in Wilton Manors. On the way down we stopped at a McDonald's for a quick lunch.
We arrived at Doug's house about 2:30. It was good to see Doug again and we quickly got settled in our room for the next couple of nights. We are here to pick up a couple of curio cabinets and other furniture that Fletcher took when we sold our house in Dothan in 2006. Fletcher left the furniture here when he moved up to Washington D.C. We spent the afternoon visiting with Doug and packing up the items in one the curio cabinets.
Then later that evening Doug took us out to dinner at Rosie's Bar & Grill.
Thursday morning Doug, Mike and I went to The Original House of Pancakes for a late breakfast. We went back to Doug's house and finished
Yesterday Cyril & Elaine (my brother and sister-in-law) drove over from Kissimmee and brought my cousin, Frances, and her husband Jack with them. Frances and Jack are down here from Illinois and spending a few days in Orlando at their timeshare.
This is the first time Cyril & Elaine have been to see our new house and it was great to see Frances and Jack again. They got here about 10:30 and after giving them a "tour" of our house, we all sat down to have lunch.
We continued our visit after lunch for a while before it was time for everyone to leave and make the 80 mile drive back to Kissimmee. Frances said she and Jack are planning to come back to Florida in January and we're looking forward to seeing them then.
Of course no visit with family is not complete until we take a family photo.
Today we had a Florida Power & Light rep come by and look at our oak
Tuesday morning Mike & I went to WellMed for our follow-up appointment after the lab work we had done last week. When I made our appointments I was told that the doctor was on vacation and that we would be seeing the Physician's Assistant Joe today. Mike & I go back in 3 months and see our new doctor Cheryl Winchell then.
Thursday Chuck from B&C Cool Sun Screens called and said he could come at 8:00 Saturday morning to install the screens on our Florida room.
Mike and I got up earlier than usual this morning since Chuck said he would be here a little before 8:00. Chuck was on time and it took him and his assistant about 2 hours to remove the old screens and install the new solar screens. Chuck had already cut the screens before coming here, so that sped up the installation. We had also had a replacement screen made for the Florida room door since the old one was in bad shape.
We could definitely tell a difference this afternoon in the temperature in the Florida room after the solar screens were in. It is still too hot to sit out on the Florida room in the afternoon, but the solar screens are a big help. Now we just need to decide what shade tree or trees we to plant in order to block out the afternoon sun so we can eventually enjoy the Florida room.
Monday the Generac generator Mike had ordered online last week was delivered. Hopefully we won't need to use it any time soon, but it's nice to know it's here if we need it.
Wednesday morning we went to WellMed at 8:00 to have lab work done before we see our new doctor next week. Since we had to fast before our blood tests, we were definitely hungry and decided to try Southern Sisters Cafe here in Sebastian for breakfast. Mike ordered pancakes and sausage and I had eggs, bacon, grits and toast.
Thursday morning we took Tinker to Canine Design to be groomed and Diane did a great job. I drove down to Vero Beach that afternoon and while I was gone our next door neighbor, Lilly, came over and invited us over for
Tropical Storm Andrea came ashore in the Big Bend area of Florida on Thursday and even though the storm went north of Sebastian we had quite a bit of rain and wind from it. We got 3¼" of rain out of the storm and no damage. With all of the rain we got from Andrea we were glad we had the rain gutters installed.
Today we drove down to Vero Beach to attend the Hurricane Preparedness and Home Show at the Indian River Mall. There were a lot of vendors showing their products - storm shutters, rain gutters, generators, solar screens, windows, garage doors just to name a few.
We talked with Chuck at B&C Cool Sun Screens and signed up to have him come to the house and measure the screens on our Florida room. The room faces west and gets really hot in the afternoons and the solar screens would be a help.
We left the Home Preparedness Show with brochures from several of the vendors and stopped at Olive Garden for lunch. After lunch we did some shopping at Home Goods and went out to the Vero Beach Outlet mall before going back home.
Tuesday we called American Home Base to have our mail forwarded to us. We've been putting in change of addresses for our bills and the few magazines that we subscribe to, but we still get some mail at our Pensacola address.
We also went to the Indian River County office here in Sebastian on Tuesday to change our address on our vehicle registrations. We somehow forgot about that when we updated our licenses earlier this year.
Wednesday afternoon we drove down to Vero Beach to see the movie Star Trek Into Darkness in 3D at the Indian River Mall to take advantage of the matinee price of $7.50 each. As we are big fans of Star Trek (movies & TV) we really enjoyed the movie.
Thursday Mike ordered a Generac 7500 watt generator on line to have for the house. We do have a generator in the RV, but the way it is wired into the RV with the energy management system won't allow us to connect it to the house.
We've decided to cancel our Thousand Trails membership since we won't be traveling for a while and the dues are $499 (they do cover 30 days' camping fees) and today I made the last monthly payment for the 2012-2013 dues.
