Living Our Dream

Bradenton, FL

Bushnell, FL - Events of Saturday, May 24, 2014

We really love going to Anna Maria Oyster Bar because their fried clam strips are second only to the Ipswich Clambake Company in Massechusetts that we discovered last summer on our tour of New England. However, we only got to eat there once this year.

Anna Maria's has three locations in and around Bradenton, and we usually eat there after sightseeing in Bradenton or Sarasota. We stopped when we went to De Soto National Memorial with our friends, Marilyn and Alan, early in the winter; but our efforts to get back down to that area for more sightseeing were thwarted either by weather or, more recently, by work the contractors might possibly be doing on our site at Blueberry Hill.

Now that the work on our site is done and we are down to the last few days in Florida, we were looking for any excuse to go to Bradenton so we could stop at Anna Maria's for clams. Because it was the Memorial Day weekend, we were looking for something low key that wasn't likely to be too crowded. Margery found a farmer's market in downtown Bradenton on Saturday, and she also discovered Bradenton has a riverwalk that is very close to the location of the farmer's market. Perfect.

Since it was late morning when we arrived, the market wasn't very crowded so we easily found free, on-street parking right next to the market.

Bradenton farmer's market

There were several vendors with plants. We knew we would be leaving Florida soon so there wouldn't be enough time left for Paul to do any planting, but it was fun to look now that we have a place to put plants.

Paul checking out plants at the farmer's market

In addition to the plants, there were some crafts, jewelry, local honey and some prepared foods. As usual, we were hoping to be able to buy some tomatoes, and we did find some nice ones in spite of the fact there were only a couple of produce vendors.

Only a couple of produce vendors

The Bradenton market isn't very big - only about two blocks long. It is nowhere near as big as the one in downtown Sarasota, and it's even smaller than the one we recently went to in Brownstone Paddock Square in The Villages. However, the produce that was there was very nice, and the prices were very, very reasonable.

The other thing we wanted to see in Bradenton on our way to get our clams was the Bradenton Riverwalk. Bradenton is located on the Manatee River a short distance from where the river empties into Tampa Bay. The Riverwalk has numerous recreational opportunities that include a skate park, an amphitheater, a tidal discovery zone, a botanical walk, a fishing pier, a family fun zone, a kayak/canoe launch area and more.

Not only was it easy to find free parking near the market, we also found ample free parking at Rossi Park at the western end of the Riverwalk. There is a marina just to the west of the Riverwalk, so we decided to check that out first.

Marina to the west of the Riverwalk

Margery by the manatee statue at the marina

After checking out the marina, we headed east along the Riverwalk.

Start of Riverwalk

After a short distance, we came to a very interesting sculpture that consisted of a pair of stainless steel parabolic discs. When you walked between the discs, any sound you made was amplified. Even a soft whisper sounded loud. The other thing that was very interesting was how the sounds changed when another person entered the space and altered the way the sound waves were being focused.

Paul listening at one of the parabolic discs

We next came to the family fun zone. There were nice, shady benches for parents and a fountain where kids of all ages could splash around and cool off. There was also a playground with some very creative things for kids to climb on and to swing from.

Splashing in the fountain at the family fun zone

Another nice feature is the outdoor living room where you can relax, enjoy the breezes and watch the boats go by.

Margery relaxing in the outdoor living room

Even though the chairs were concrete, they were surprisingly comfortable.

Paul trying one of the chairs in the outdoor living room

There were other chairs we didn't try. They looked to be a little too low for us.

More chairs for lounging in the outdoor living room

Near the eastern end of the Riverwalk is the skate park. There are a variety of features like bowls, walls, ramps and railings for the kids to use to hone their skills.

Skate park

From the skate park, we retraced our steps along the Riverwalk back to the car and headed a short distance across the river and down the road to Anna Maria Oyster Bar. As we said, they have three locations, and we had never been to this one before. It is conveniently located right off I-75.

Anna Maria Oyster Bar

Dinners at Anna Maria's are about $11 to $17, and sandwiches are $8 to $10. Of course, we both had fried clam strip baskets for $8.99 that included two sides. Margery had slaw and onion straws (nominal upcharge), and Paul had slaw and red potatoes.

Paul with his clam strip basket

Everything was yummy! The clams were sweet and tender on the inside and nice and crunchy on the outside. The other thing that makes the clam strips so good is the batter coating is not too thick.

With our bellies full, we made our way back to Blueberry Hill where we relaxed the rest of the day. Over the rest of the Memorial Day weekend, we did some chores and ran some errands in preparation for our departure. We'll tell you more in our next post.

Wrap-up of Projects

Bushnell, FL - Events of Wednesday, May 21 to

With Paul planning to use part of the shed as a workshop, we thought it would be easier to keep the floor clean of sawdust, grass and other debris if we put down some one-piece vinyl flooring; and if we were going to put down flooring, it would be a lot easier to do before we put very much stuff into the shed. Right after we got the shed, we picked up a piece of vinyl flooring at Lowe's. The arrival of the landscapers interrupted Paul's plans to install the flooring, but he got back to it as soon as the landscapers were finished.

The first thing to do was to make sure no nail heads were protruding above the surface of the plywood floor. Then the depressions around the nail heads and any rough spots in the plywood had to be filled. Cutting the flooring to size was the hardest part because one bad cut could have ruined the whole piece of flooring. Paul glued down the flooring on Wednesday morning before we went to OakWood Grill for lupper.

Paul applying glue for the vinyl flooring

You're supposed to use a 75-pound metal roller to roll the air bubbles out from under the flooring, but we obviously don't have access to a roller. Lowe's may have had one available to borrow or to rent, but we didn't want to run all the way back up to The Villages to return it. Therefore, Paul improvised by using a small paint roller he bought next door at Walmart. You have to bear down on the paint roller pretty hard to get enough pressure to force the air bubbles to the edges, but it got the job done.

Using a paint roller to roll out the air bubbles

Finished floor

With the shed flooring done, we put a few things into the shed that we are planning to leave here in Florida, then Paul was ready to move on to another project. Some of the landscaping on the sites around Blueberry Hill have nice edging installed to separate the mulched beds from the grass. Unfortunately, with the larger than usual palm tree we requested and the extensive landscape area we have, there wasn't enough money left in the budget for edging. We decided we definitely want edging to keep the landscape beds neat, so rather than pay the landscaper extra to install it, Paul thought it would be a fun project to do himself.

We initially thought we would wait until we returned in the fall to add the edging; but on one of our walks around the RV park, we saw how ragged the landscape beds looked on a couple of other sites that don't have edging, and those sites were only planted a couple of months ago. Grass had crept into the landscape beds, and the bits of mulch had been scattered out into the grass. As unkempt as it looks now, we can only imagine how bad it will be at the end of summer. Therefore, we decided we wanted to do the edging before we left.

We chose to install the the same edging used on the majority of the individual sites at Blueberry Hill as well on the the general landscaping around the grounds of the RV park. They are concrete edging blocks that are readily available at nurseries, home improvement stores and even at Walmart. They seem to stay in place well and they look good, especially for beds with straight lines, which is what we have.

Unfortunately, the Walmart next door to Blueberry Hill was almost out of the edging we wanted to use. Therefore, we picked up some at Walmart in The Villages after our lupper at OakWood Grill last Wednesday. The concrete edging is heavy, and we needed quite a bit of it. Paul estimated the weight would be about 900 lbs, and we were afraid that would be too much weight for our Equinox. Therefore, we only bought about half of what we needed on the first stop.

Paul had made an appointment to have the oil changed in the Equinox on Thursday morning at the local Chevy dealer, and since the Chevy dealer is located about half way to the Walmart in The Villages, Paul picked up the rest of the edging after the oil change.

Edging stacked and ready to go

After lunch on Thursday, Paul started putting the edging down along one of the beds. Things went a bit slowly at first because he wanted to be sure to get the edging straight, square and level; but the pace picked up some after Paul got into the rhythm of digging, straightening and back-filling.

Getting started on the edging

First bed completed

Paul finished the rest of the edging over the next couple of days. The photos below show our site before and after the landscaping and edging.

Our site before

Our site after

We are down to our last couple of days in Florida, but we had another outing we planned to squeeze in. We'll tell you all about it in our next post.

Landscaping

Bushnell, FL - Events of Monday, May 19 to Wednesday, May 21, 2014

We missed a call from the landscaper over the weekend, but he left a voicemail saying he would be at Blueberry Hill on Monday and Tuesday to landscape our site and one other. He and his helper arrived about 9:00 on Monday. Their plan was to prepare both sites and confirm plant selections on Monday, then return Tuesday with the plants and put them in.

It took about 2 hours to rototill our landscape beds and to remove most of the sod.

Rototilling the main landscape bed

After the workers left, Paul decided he wasn't satisfied with the amount of grass that was left behind in the beds. The workers got all the big chunks of sod out, but left a lot of smaller pieces behind. Most of the grass that grows in Florida is very tenacious to withstand the brutally hot summers, so Paul was afraid some of the grass that still had roots attached might survive. If that happened, we could return in the fall to find our landscape beds filled with grass and have a lot of weeding to do. Since we gave up doing 'a lot' of weeding eight years ago when we sold our house, Paul went through the beds again and removed most of the smaller pieces of sod.

Paul following up on the landscaper's work to remove small chunks of sod

Paul wants to be able to plant cool-season annuals like snapdragons, pansies and flowering kale in the front part of the main landscape bed when we return in the fall. The landscapers ran the rototiller over the area, but Paul knew from having watched the workers dig for the concrete that there was a lot of highly compacted gravel along the road. Paul realized it would be a lot harder to loosen that up and add topsoil after the rest of the bed was planted and mulched, so he decided it would be better to do before the landscapers returned to plant the next day. He loosened the gravel, removed the large pieces of rock, dispersed some of the gravel into the back part of the bed and brought topsoil from the back and mixed it in at the front.

Paul digging out the compacted gravel along the road

Landscape beds rototilled and raked

Tuesday morning, the landscapers returned as promised with a truckload of plants and mulch. We decided on a queen palm, and we requested the largest one that was practical with respect to the budget and that would still have a good chance of survival. The one they brought was a beauty. It's approximately 10' tall, which is just about the size we were hoping for. They got to work planting it first.

Planting our 10' queen palm

They then put in the rest of the plants. We have several liriope (pronounced ler-EYE-oh-pee) at the base of the palm, three variegated schefflera behind the palm and several more beside the parking pad, Indian hawthorns (no thorns, but pretty white flowers in February and March) along the patio, and Chinese fringe bushes in front of the shed.

Workers putting in the last of the plants

Cedar mulch was spread over all the landscape beds. We are very pleased with the results.

Final result

With our concrete, shed and landscaping done, we will soon be hitting the road. We wanted to go to OakWood Grill, which is one of our favorite restaurants anywhere, one more time before we left, so we headed there on Wednesday afternoon. We made a point of going before Thursday because OakWood has their baby back ribs specially priced at $12.99 (regularly $15.99) all day Sundays through Wednesdays.

Margery came for the ribs!

We both had our favorites. Margery, of course, had ribs with cole slaw and onion rings for her sides, and Paul had a smoked turkey plate ($7.99) with slaw and lima beans. Everything was outstanding as usual.

Margery with her baby back ribs

We headed back to the motor home for an evening of TV. We had a few projects to finish up before we leave for Alabama. We'll tell you about them in our next post.

Our Shed Arrives

Bushnell, FL - Events of Friday, May 16, 2014

As we mentioned in our last post, the landscaper said he was planning to come to do our site last Thursday or Friday. It rained on Thursday, so we weren't surprised when he didn't show. However, Friday was beautiful, so when the landscaper still wasn't there by mid-morning, we decided to walk up to the office to see if the RV park manager could contact him to find out what was going on.

As we got part way down the road on our way to the office, we saw a truck rolling into Blueberry Hill with a shed on a trailer. He was heading our way, so Paul hurried back to our site while Margery proceeded to the office.

Shed delivery truck

At the office, the landscaper didn't answer his phone, so the park manager e-mailed him. We later found out his new plan was to come to Blueberry Hill to do our landscaping plus one other site the following week. We'll let you know in our next post if that actually happens.

In the meantime, we were happy that at least our shed had finally arrived. The installer backed the shed in through the site vacant behind us.

Backing the shed into position

The trailer is outfitted with rollers and a winch so the shed can gently be rolled off the trailer.

Shed rolling off the trailer

The installer placed a length of 4" PVC pipe under the shed and used the pipe to roll and slide the shed into position.

Moving the shed into position

He then used a car jack to raise the shed so he could remove the PVC pipe and insert concrete blocks and shims to level the shed.

Leveling the shed

With the shed in the proper position and level, the final step was to tie it down. Florida is hurricane country, so things like sheds have to be fastened to the ground. Metal tie-down rods were screwed into the ground using an impact wrench, and the shed was then bolted to the eyes at the tops of the tie-down rods.

Driving in the tie-down rods

Shed leveled and tied down

All the sheds being ordered by the RV park have wide double doors. However, in order to get our shed more quickly, we said we would take one they had in stock that had only one door. The narrower door actually suits our needs better because there is more wall space beside the door for the small workbench Paul eventually wants to build, but we were wishing the door of the shed opened in the opposite direction. With the way we chose to have the shed positioned, the door faced the site behind us when it was open.

Paul did a few measurements and determined the doorknob was centered vertically on the door and that the door frame appeared to be symmetrical top to bottom. Therefore, Paul removed the door and frame and reinstalled them upside down so the door would open in the opposite direction.

Paul reinstalling the door to open in the opposite direction

After the door was reinstalled, it wouldn't close properly. It turned out the door was square, but the opening in the shed wasn't. Therefore, Paul had to reposition the hinges to lower the door by about ¼" to accommodate the out-of-square condition so the door would close tightly. Fortunately, the weatherstripping is wide enough that it looks like there will be a good seal even with the door opening a little out of square.

Paul drilling new screw holes to reposition the hinges

Door opening reversed

Paul wants to build a small workbench for the shed, add some shelves, build a step and make a few other improvements. Some of the things might get done before we leave if Paul is looking for something to do. However, there is no hurry for any of the improvements, and most of them will end up waiting until we return next fall.

Like we said, we're hoping to get our landscaping done soon. We'll let you know what happens in our next post.

Brownwood Paddock Square Farmer's Market

Bushnell, FL - Events of Thursday, May 8 to Saturday, May 10, 2014

We finally got our pavement, and it had cured enough after about 5 days that we were able to park on it. In the fall and winter when the grass is dormant, we were constantly dragging brown grass into the motor home and into the car when the grass was wet from morning dew or from rain; and now that the grass is being mowed every week, there have been grass clippings to contend with. Having a paved patio and parking pad for the car all but eliminates the mess.

Concrete cured enough for parking

We really thought we would have had our shed long before the concrete, but the concrete got done first. The reason is there is a big order backlog at the factory where the sheds are made.

All the RV parks owned by Sun RV Resorts, at least all the ones in Florida and one in Texas, offered the same promotion of an allowance for paving, a shed and landscaping in exchange for committing to two years at the 6 & 6 rate. While different parks are using different contractors for the concrete, all the Sun RV parks in Florida are apparently ordering sheds from the same factory. The managers of the other RV parks must have gotten their orders in before Blueberry Hill because the factory is so far behind they can't tell us when we will get our shed. Oh well, at least we're getting in some major relaxation time. As a bonus, the weather has been fairly nice, albeit quite warm.

During our relaxation, we decided we were hungry for Chinese. Margery did some online research and found good reviews for Cheng's Chinese & Sushi located in The Villages. We headed to Cheng's for lupper on Thursday afternoon.

Cheng's Chinese & Sushi

Dinners at Cheng's range in price from about $10 to $14, and they have lunch specials until 3:00 for $6.45 to $7. We both had a lunch special with our favorite - General Tso's chicken.

Paul with his General Tso's chicken

The portion size wasn't huge, but since lunch includes soup, rice AND an egg roll, we got plenty to eat. The chicken was cut into nice, bite-size pieces with just about the right amount of breading. Many times, there is more breading than chicken. Everything was very good, although Paul thought the flavor of the hot and sour soup was a little bland. Fresh orange wedges and a fortune cookie also came with the meal for dessert.

On Saturday, we decided we wanted some fresh tomato for our sandwiches, so we headed to the farmer's market in Brownwood Paddock Square in The Villages. The Villages has three town squares, and Brownwood is the newest. At only about 20 minutes away, it is also the closest town square to Bushnell.

Each of the town squares has a central green with a bandstand or outdoor stage that features free nightly entertainment. The square is also surrounded by numerous shops and restaurants. On Saturdays, they block off the streets around the square at Brownwood and hold a farmer's market.

Farmer's market in Brownwood Commons

You can always tell you are in The Villages by the number of golf carts present. Although only about 1/3 of all Village residents are regular golfers, The Villages is home to over 50,000 golf carts. Not only are there 100 miles of cart paths, golf carts are permitted on many streets within The Villages. In the next photo, parked golf carts line both sides of one street adjacent to Brownwood Paddock Square. There was only one auto parked on the entire block.

Golf carts dominated the parking on one street

The market had a nice mixture vendors. There were a few booths selling crafts like homemade soaps, there were several food vendors (at least two were barbecue), there was local honey and there were artisan breads and baked goods. Several vendors were also selling landscape plants.

One of several vendors selling plants

But we were there for produce. We ended up with a couple of nice tomatoes, two zucchini and a large, sweet onion.

One of many produce vendors

The tomatoes were outstanding. We had them twice for lunch on our sandwiches and once on burgers on the grill for dinner.

We did hear from the landscaper for our site. He said he was planning to come to do our site soon. However, the weather forecast is also predicting an 80 to 100% chance of rain for the days he said he may come, so we don't know if we will see him or not. We'll let you know in our next post.