Plan B

 

Florida Keys  (high 83, low 74)  windy

 

I think I’ve had too many blog posts with this same title, but it seems there is always a plan B in our lives!

We were supposed to have moved down to Venture Out yesterday, but we didn’t quite make it.

Nothing bad happened, we just putzed around too much and ran out of day/energy.

We got up and started getting ready first thing yesterday morning.  Al worked on getting the boat ready and I worked inside. 

Then, we decided to take a drive “up town” to the Home Depot in Marathon. It’s closer to go from Sunshine Key than it will be when we move, so we figured it was a good idea to go.

We wanted a few things from the garden center.   We picked up a bird bath, a big clay pot that was on sale for $20, and a few cheap flowering plants.  I wanted some color on our new site and I figured if I could buy a few plants and if they only lived until we left, that’s okay.

The main purpose of our trip was to get a “ho-er.”  We had one when we lived in Georgia and happily sold it at a garage sale, thinking we would never need to do any weeding again!     It was the best tool ever and we loved it.  We jokingly called it the ho-er (whore)   The new site is topped with small gravel, but a few weeds have started showing through.  We think it’s best to get rid of them now until waiting for them to grow and multiply all summer during rainy season.

If any of you still have property, we can highly recommend this thing.   Welcome back to the Lueck family  Mr. Ho-er.

 

Several of the comments yesterday mentioned putting some potted plants on the lot.  We’ve also thought of that, but I doubt many plants could take 7-8 months of neglect when we are not here.  Next year we’ll get some more pots and plant a few things. One thing down here is you can don’t have to worry about plants that freeze, since it never gets down to freezing.  I’ve always had to consider the cold tolerance of plants, even in Tampa.

After we came back from Home Depot, we decided to take the boat down to VO.  It has to live in an overflow lot because boats or trailers are not allowed on any of the lots.  Most of the sites there are waterfront so the boats are kept out back.  Lucky them.

We dropped some things off at the site, including our new purchases from Home Depot.  It is already starting to look better, with just  a few touches of color.

While we were there, we talked to our neighbor Ron who is in the house right behind us.

You can’t tell from the picture, but it’s a piece of paradise when you see if from the back “yard.”   It turns out we are on the wrong side of the tracks.    Ron invited us over to his “back yard” and to meet another neighbor on the canal who doesn’t have a boat.   You see where this is going, don’t you?   Ron is trying to help us find us a spot to keep our boat on the water. 

When we walked over to Ron’s house, we walked in the narrow walkway between his and the house next door.  It’s  shaded and lined with beautiful tropical plants.  The walkway is just beautiful.  There was a wonderful ocean breeze blowing through, and it was so much nicer than at our hot campsite.   When we got to the back of his house, man, what a different world it was.  Who knew?  So, close, and yet so far!   It was so different than our lot, but just feet from our lot.   He had a huge boat parked in the water on the canal.  The water was a beautiful turquoise green and if you turned your head just a little bit, you looked out onto the Atlantic Ocean.  He has a magnificent view.  The back patios are all pretty much connected by concrete in this area  and he walked us down through a few back yards to meet someone who has no boat and lives in the lot her mother owns.  Darned if I can remember her name!

One of the houses was up on stilts, and is high enough so that you can park your car underneath the house. They use this part not only for car parking, but as a beautiful covered patio. I never appreciated this style of house until I was there.  They must have a wonderful view from upstairs, but the ground level was gorgeous, with the covered and shaded patio over looking the canal and ocean.  The breeze blowing through was wonderful and they had it decorated beautifully.   I would have loved to have been able to take some pictures for you to see, but I thought it might be kind of rude.  Ya think?

Anyway, it sure made our little “dry lot” seem pitiful.  We’re not complaining, really, we’re not, but now that we saw how the other half lives, we’re lusting after one of those sites. 

Don’t they always say you should live in the cheapest house in the neighborhood?  

We went back over to our site and Ron introduced us to some other neighbors and every body seems very nice. 

By the time we finished gabbing with the neighbors, neither of us were in the mood to move the motor home down, so we came home, showered, and went down to Springers Bar for happy hour!

Will today be the day?   I hope so, but Mr. Al is still sleeping.  Imagine that, its nearly 6am.