Living Our Dream

Working on the "To-Do" List

Wauchula, FL - Events of Monday, April 16 to Sunday, April 22, 2018

After spending a week getting the park model ready and moving in, we are now starting to enjoy its benefits. A few days ago, Paul watched a neighbor caulk the roof of his RV in preparation for hitting the road and rejoiced he wouldn't have to do the same. He also celebrated last Saturday when he didn't have to do the weekly chore of dumping holding tanks.

Another plus is we now have enough kitchen counter space to leave our Food Saver vacuum sealer out and plugged in all the time eliminating the need to drag it out of a drawer every time we want to use it, which we do often. We are also enjoying the convenience of our larger side-by-side refrigerator with its through-the-door ice and water.

One big thing we notice about the park model is how much cooler it is inside even without the air running. The dark color of the exterior of the 5th wheel and the relatively thin walls allowed the sun to heat it up quite a bit. The park model has 2x6s in the exterior walls with R-11 insulation, and it has dual-pane windows with low-E glass to reduce solar heating. As a side benefit the thicker walls and dual-pane windows also reduce outside noise though, unfortunately, it also muffles the singing birds. The mockingbird provides a euphony of songs.

Another thing that is immediately apparent is how much brighter the park model is inside. The 5th wheel had lots of dark wood, chocolate brown furniture, medium-tan walls, and it had only one small window on the off-door side. The park model has numerous windows on both sides. The windows have Venetian blinds that can be adjusted to block direct sun, but still allow light in. There is also a 6' sliding glass door on the north side so we normally only close those blinds at night. On top of all that, there is less wood inside and walls that are off-white.

Paul has a very long to-do list for the park model. Many things had to be done before we even moved in like cleaning up the dust and dirt from construction, assembling the pedestal bed Paul made, aiming the satellite dish, and installing the living room TV.

One of the first things Paul did after we moved in, got things put away inside, and got a number of smaller tasks completed was to install an electrical outlet inside the hall closet so we can plug in our printers without running an extension cord out the closet door. We have our own ink jet printer and also a color laser printer that belongs to the Co-op. The laser printer is used to print off the monthly newsletter, event notices, and sign-up sheets. Farther down the to-do list is the installation of roll-out shelves for both printers.

Next on the agenda was installing the bedroom TV. In order to make that easier, one of our special requests when we ordered the park model was to have pieces of conduit run from behind the wall near the potential TV locations down through the floor and out through the underbelly of the park model. Although Paul had to remove several pieces of skirting and crawl under the park model, the conduit made it fairly easy to run cables from the living room TV to the bedroom TV. We also had extra wood installed between the studs behind the drywall in the bedroom to provide a place to anchor the TV mount.

Bedroom TV

We had a roll-out trash container in the 5th wheel that we liked very much so we wanted something similar in the park model. The most convenient place to put it was next to the sink where the dish washer would have been. A dish washer came with our appliance package, but we opted not to have it installed because we don't have that many dishes to do and we wanted the cabinet space instead. We ordered a trash can that would fit through the narrow door and temporarily used it just sitting inside the cabinet.

Trash can in the cabinet where the dish washer would have been

Last Friday, the trash container made it to the top of the to-do list, so Paul used some of the ½" birch plywood left over from building the drawers for the pedestal bed and the end table to build the base.

Sanding one of the parts for the trash can holder

After a couple of problems with fitting the holder to the cabinet, Paul finally got installation complete on Monday.

Roll-out trash bin

Paul added a storage area for trash bags in the back of the roll-out drawer.

Storage area behind trash can

We ordered the park model with a bay window in the bedroom with the intention of putting a small cabinet or shelves there for more storage. We found a cabinet we liked at Wayfair and ordered it. The cabinet arrived late last Friday afternoon, and Paul got to work putting it together after dinner.

One of the things frequently mentioned by reviews for this cabinet on the Wayfair website was the fact the cabinet required the assembly of a lot of pieces, and were they ever right! Paul just kept pulling piece after piece out of the box. After getting all the parts out of the box, Paul made a final search for the instructions, which he eventually found among all foam packing material.

Searching for the instructions

There were at least 40 separate pieces that had to be assembled, not counting the hardware.

Collection of over 40 parts

Putting the cabinet together took all evening. The next photo shows the final assembly.

Assembled chest in the bedroom bay window

All our time hasn't been spent working on projects. Sunday was Margery's birthday so we took time to celebrate.

One of our favorite eateries when we used to stay at Blueberry Hill was OakWood Grill. They have delicious smoked meats including what we consider to be some of the best baby back ribs anywhere. Oakwood has several locations, and the closest one to our new home at the SKP Co-op is almost two hours away in Clermont.

Margery has been hungry for OakWood ribs since the last time we were there last spring so our plan was to make the trek to Clermont to have ribs on Sunday for her birthday. On the way, we took about a short detour to run an errand in Lakeland.

After our stop in Lakeland, Margery looked at Google Maps on her phone to check our route from Lakeland to Clermont. Uh-oh. Google said the restaurant was scheduled to close in 10 minutes. Wait, what? You can't be serious! A quick check of the OakWood website confirmed the 3:00 closing time so it was on to Plan B.

Someone we talked to recently about the ribs at OakWood said they liked the ribs at Ruby Tuesday. Margery had just gotten a coupon for buy-get-one-50%-off at Ruby Tuesday, and there was a Ruby Tuesday a few minutes away right there in Lakeland. Unfortunately, the coupon had expired the day before, but we decided to stop anyway to see if they might still accept it. Unfortunately, they said they couldn't. We were hoping they would offer some other discount when Margery told them it was her birthday (free appetizer, free dessert, or something), but no luck. Therefore, we decided to go next door to Texas Roadhouse because Margery also had a Texas Roadhouse coupon for a free appetizer for her birthday.

We ordered Rattle Snake Bites (deep fried cheddar cheese-jalapeño balls) for our appetizer, but there was yet another disappointment. They were out of Rattle Snake Bites. We chose Tater Skins as a substitute. The skins were loaded with cheddar cheese and bacon and were quite good.

We normally get 6-oz. sirloin steaks at Texas Roadhouse ($8.99 for the Early Bird special, $10.99 at the regular price), but by this time Margery had built up a real desire for ribs so that's what she ordered ($14.99 for a half slab). Since we were recently at Texas Roadhouse for Easter and had steaks, Paul ordered a grilled pork chop.

Margery with her ribs

The ribs were fall-off-the-bone tender, just the way we like them, and they were nice and smokey. However, they needed more barbecue sauce. They were okay, but not nearly as good as the ones at Oakwood. This was the second time Paul had had a pork chop at Texas Roadhouse, but this one wasn't as good as the first because it wasn't quite as moist and tender. Next time, we'll just stick with steaks.

It was a day of unfulfilled expectations but only a blip on the map of life. We still very much enjoyed being together, and the chocolate cake we had gotten at Walmart earlier was more than a fitting ending to a lovely day. Keeping a sense of humor goes a long way on days like that.

There are still lots more park model projects to work on, but we hope to also be able to start relaxing a bit and fitting in some sightseeing before the weather gets too hot. Stay tuned.

The Big Move

Wauchula, FL - Events of Friday, April 6 to Tuesday, April 17, 2018

Moving from our motor home to our 5th wheel several years ago only took one afternoon and part of the following day; but we knew moving into the park model would be more work, especially since we were supplying, moving, and setting up all our own furniture. However, we had no idea it would be THAT much more work.

When both our motor home and 5th wheel were new, we had sawdust in some of the light fixtures and more sawdust blowing out the AC vents so we expected to do some cleanup of construction debris inside the park model. However, we were totally unprepared for the fact there was fine, white dust everywhere from sanding the drywall joints. There were also a few paint specks here and there on the floor and on the baseboards.

After gently scraping off the paint specks, we vacuumed the floors, then wet-mopped with our new Swiffer. It did a pretty good job and got the floors clean enough that Paul could start assembling the bed.

Paul assembling the bed

Meanwhile, Margery started wiping out cupboards and drawers. By dinner time, we had the floors somewhat clean, the bed assembled, and some of the cabinets cleaned out.

On Saturday, Margery cleaned out more cabinets and started putting in shelf liner...

Margery cutting shelf liner for the cupboards

...while Paul worked on hanging the living room TV.

Paul installing the mount for the TV

Paul finished installing the TV after church on Sunday, and Margery worked on more cupboards. However, we didn't push too hard and ended up knocking off early.

We got a text Sunday night from Lowe's saying they would be delivering the washer and dryer on Monday somewhere between 4 and 8 p.m. When we ordered the washer and dryer a while back we requested delivery on Tuesday, but late Monday was okay with us.

Paul's goal for Monday was to get the propane hooked up and the stove operating. However, that endeavor was interrupted by a call from Lowe's in the morning saying they were 10 minutes away with our washer and dryer. We weren't expecting them until at least late afternoon, but earlier was better than later.

Paul thought the guys from Lowe's would take the washer and dryer into the park model, remove them from the boxes, haul the boxes away, and just leave the washer and dryer sit. However, they did the entire setup, including stacking the dryer on top of the washer, installing the stacking kit, hooking up the water and vent, and shoe-horning the whole stack into the hall closet. They were even thoughtful enough to ask if we had a piece of carpet to protect the floor.

Sliding the washer and dryer into the hall closet

After lunch, Paul finished hooking up the propane tanks. After we get settled, he will build an enclosure for them.

Propane tanks installed

With the tanks hooked up, Paul headed inside to get the stove operational. Most gas stoves are set up to run on natural gas. Because propane has a different heat value, different orifices are required to provide the correct flow of gas. Fortunately, the stove that we got with our park model came with an extra set of orifices for propane. Unfortunately, however, changing the orifice for the oven requires quite a bit of disassembly including removal of the oven floor to get at the burner. Several hours later, the stove was finally operational.

We had to interrupt our work on the park model on Tuesday morning to take Freeway to the vet for a routine checkup to get a new prescription for his heartworm meds. Paul's goal for the afternoon was to get our portable satellite dish set up at the park model, but that was interrupted by a gully-washer of a rain storm. We got almost 1¾" of rain in less than an hour followed by off-and-on showers that continued for the rest of the day. Therefore, instead of setting up the satellite dish, we did more cleaning and prep work inside.

On Wednesday, Paul got the satellite dish aimed, Margery finished with the shelf liner, and we finally started moving stuff in. We didn't get much moved, but it was a start.

On Thursday morning, we made the decision that night would be the first night sleeping in the new park model. Margery started packing food from the pantry into borrowed plastic bins while Paul busied himself doing more prep work in the park model. Each time Margery had three of four bins filled, we would carry them across the street, and Margery would start trying to find places for everything. After we got the pantry cleaned out, it was on to dishes and cooking utensils, refrigerator contents, clothes, and finally toiletries.

We finally took a break for dinner around 7:30, then we went back and made a couple more trips to bring over our computers and the blankets and pillows from our bed. It was a long day, and there were still more non-critical items to move; but we made it.

On Friday, Margery had an appointment for a haircut over in Sebring. She made the appointment a month ago thinking we we would be pretty much settled by Friday, which wasn't the case at all. Paul went along because we also had several things we needed for the park model at Lowe's and Walmart. While we were out, we stopped at Dee's Place for a late lunch of delicious half-pound burgers before heading back to the Co-op to continue carrying things across the street from the 5th wheel to the park model.

Winter Haven RV was scheduled to pick up the 5th wheel the following Monday so we hit the ground running on Saturday morning making trip after trip across the street to finally get everything emptied out. Even though the park model is bigger than the 5th wheel, the 5th wheel has much more storage space. Therefore, finding a place for everything was a challenge. Once we get settled, we'll need to sort, clean out, and organize. We finally got enough put away we could take a photo of the living area.

All moved in

Freeway was initially out of sorts in his new surroundings, especially with us running back and forth. His favorite perch in the 5th wheel was up on the back of the theater seating. The back of our new love seat is a lot thinner so it won't make a good perch. Therefore, we figured Freeway's new favorite spot would be on the side chair. Since the chair is a light color, we ordered Freeway a new bed to keep on the chair when we don't have company to help keep the chair clean. It didn't take too long for him to feel at home.

Freeway starting to feel at home

On Sunday, we picked up a few items we needed at Bed, Bath & Beyond and Lowe's. As soon as we got back, we headed over to the 5th wheel to clean it up a bit before Winter Haven RV came on Monday. We pulled in the slides and disconnected the utilities.

It turned out Winter Haven RV had a problem with another setup they were doing on Monday and didn't make it to pick up the 5th wheel until first thing Tuesday morning. There was sadness as we watched the 5th wheel being towed away because it meant saying good-bye to our full-timing adventure of almost 12 years. However, it also means we have our new home and new adventures in central Florida to look forward to. Paul is especially eager to tackle new projects around the park model and around the Co-op.

Many people in our little community have been supportive and excited for us. We returned home one day to find a triple planter of herbs outside our door. Another resident graced us with a hibiscus plant; and a neighbor down the street, famous for her incredible oatmeal raisin cookies, came by with a basket full of them.

We still have a long list of things to do in the new park model, but most of the critical things are done, and we have plenty of time to do the rest. Stay tuned for our next update

Park Model Setup

Wauchula, FL - Events of Monday, April 2 to Friday, April 6, 2018

After the delivery of the park model last Monday morning, the week-long setup process started. Winter Haven RV contracts with a separate companies to do their setups, and they handle the coordination of all the schedules.

The first step was to get the park model tied down. The tie-down crew showed up late on Monday afternoon and began boring holes through the existing concrete pad for the tie-downs. They had to pull the park model out into the street in order to get their boring machine in place. After removing the concrete plugs cut by the boring machine, the workers buried 4-foot anchors in the soil below the concrete.

Boring holes for the tie-downs through the concrete

In a previous blog about our visit to the factory, we mentioned that our park model meets Wind Class 3 even though our inland location only requires Wind Class 2. Wind Class 3 is required for coastal areas of Florida and specifies tie-downs approximately every 4 feet along the length. Our park model has 22 tie-downs. Unfortunately, the setup company only had 12 tie-downs with them so they didn't get them all installed, although they did get all 22 holes bored.

We were warned by Winter Haven RV that the people who did the tie-downs wouldn't start work until late in the morning, and they were right. They didn't show up until around 10:00 the next morning. They pulled the park model back out into the street, installed the remaining tie-downs, and backed the unit onto the site again. This time, they were careful to get the front-to-back position exactly where it was supposed to be.

Checking the front-to-back position

They have a machine on tracks that they rolled under the back of the park model. The machine has a hydraulic lift that riased the rear of the park model off the ground. The truck used to tow the park model has a movable hitch that they used to raise the front. With both ends of the park model in the air, the workers removed the tires and axles.

Hydraulic machine used to lift the rear of the park model

The machine at the rear rolls on tracks and was used to move the rear of the park model left and right. The hitch on the truck is also hydraulically powered to slide sideways about 18" in either direction. Between the movable hitch in front and the machine in the back, they can move the park model sideways so it is exactly where they want it. Raising or lowering the machine and hitch levels the park model front to back, and the hydraulic machine also tilts to do the side to side leveling.

Once they get the unit positioned and leveled, they bring in concrete blocks and build piers under the frame. The piers are shimmed to the exact height required using wedges of treated lumber. Once the piers are wedged into place, the workers remove the hydraulic machine from the rear and the truck from the front. Then they fasten the tie-down brackets on the park model to the anchors in the ground with metal straps.

Concrete block piers in place and tie-down straps being tightened

The tie-down crew was also responsible for the plumbing and sewer hookup, which they did after they got all the tie-downs installed. They completed their work around 5:00 on Tuesday.

On Wednesday morning, two workers from a different company showed up around 10:30 to install the air conditioner. They also had the job of hooking up electric power. Unlike an RV that just gets plugged in, park models are permanently hooked up to the power pedestal with an underground cable, which code requires to be buried at least 18" deep. The next photo shows the trench for the conduit for the cable.

Trench for the electrical conduit

After laying conduit in the trench, they pulled the wires through the conduit.

Pulling wires through the conduit

With the wiring in place and hooked up to the power pedestal outside and the breaker panel inside, the workers hooked up the AC unit, which had been placed on a pre-cast cement slab at the rear of the park model. By 5:30 on Wednesday, the AC was running.

We were starting to get used to the late start times, but when no one had shown up by 10:30 on Thursday morning, we called our sales rep at the RV dealership. She said the reason no one was there was that it was inspection day. She said the inspector could show any time up until 6 p.m. As long as we left the door unlocked, the inspector would just come and do his thing and there was no reason for us to hang around. Therefore, we headed out to Sebring in the late morning to pick up some supplies at Lowe's for the dryer vent and to stop at Walmart for a few groceries.

While we were out, we stopped for a late lunch at Dee's Place. We both had Philly cheese steaks, which were yummy. When we got back, we saw the inspector had been there and had signed off on the setup.

With a green light from the inspector, we were pretty sure the next crew would be there on Friday to do the final inside prep and install the skirting. As we said, we were getting used to the late start times so we were shocked when two guys arrived a few minutes after 8:00. They were from Winter Haven RV, which is located an hour away so they must have left at 7 a.m. Finally there were workers who were on Paul's schedule.

They got right to work. They installed the skirting, put the steps and railings in place, turned on the water and checked for leaks, ran coax to all the TV locations, and got all the the appliances, except for the stove, up and running. We specified a gas (propane) stove, and Paul will be doing the hookup of propane tanks himself once all the rest of the setup work was done. The workers did a quick sweep of the floor and were on their way shortly after noon.

Park model with skirting and steps installed

Now it's our turn to work. We'll tell you about getting ready for the big move in our next post.

Park Model Arrival

Wauchula, FL - Events of Monday, April 2, 2018

When we ordered our park model last fall, we requested they delay the delivery until after Easter. The reason was we knew we would be busy with Co-op activities at least until then, and there usually aren't very many empty sites until right before Easter. We needed an empty site, preferably close to our Co-op site, on which to park our 5th wheel while the park model was being set up.

Although we have been quite busy with Co-op activities this season, we also spent a lot of time preparing for the arrival of the park model even though its arrival seemed so distant up until last Friday. That's when we got a call from Winter Haven RV saying the driver who would be delivering it planned to leave the factory in Ocala around 7:30 on Monday morning. That suddenly brought the arrival of the park model into the present.

Our new neighbors across the street who are now gone for the season are graciously allowing us to use their almost-empty shed to store furniture and other supplies for our park model. Not only that, but they are also allowing us to use their site for the 5th wheel while the park model is being set up.

The Co-op is about a 3 to 3½ hour drive from Ocala so we were figured the park model would arrive somewhere between 10:30 and 11:00 on Monday which would give us plenty of time to move the 5th wheel that morning. We got up bright and early so we could get a head start on preparing for the move across the street.

Around 8:00, we headed to the clubhouse for breakfast. We go every Monday because not only is the food pretty good, but it's reasonably priced. Monday breakfasts are also a good time to socialize with other members and to hear announcements about activities for the coming week. Since this was the last clubhouse breakfast of the season, we didn't want to miss it.

After breakfast, we hitched up the 5th wheel, drove around the block, and backed into the site across the street.

Our 5th wheel on its temporary site across the street

Our site awaiting the arrival of the park model

We got a call from the driver around 10:20 saying he was about half an hour away. He requested us to meet him at the entrance to the Co-op so we could show him where to go. He pulled in right around 10:50.

Our park model pulling into the Co-op

We led the driver to our site, and he backed right in. He essentially made it in one shot pulling forward only twice about 6 or 8 feet each time to straighten up just a little bit. He ended up with the park model lined up almost perfectly parallel to the edge of the concrete. He has obviously done that a time or two before.

Backing in

Park model on our site

We were able to go inside to have a look around, and we liked what we saw. In addition to specifying the usual options like cabinets, flooring, paint, bathroom tile, and kitchen backsplash, we also had numerous special requirements like asking them to add a couple of extra electrical outlets, providing specific instructions on how to run TV cables to make hooking up our satellite TV easier, requesting a special location for the dryer vent, asking for the relocation of a few of the light switches, and asking to have the wall beside the refrigerator extended by several inches. We had a fear there would be something that got missed, but we are pleased to to find everything to be exactly as we specified. Not only did Winter Haven RV do a good job of communicating our requests to the factory, but the factory apparently has a good method of tracking special requests.

View of the dining/kitchen area

Winter Haven RV contracts with a separate company to do their setups. We'll cover their work in our next post.

Park Model Project: End Table

Wauchula, FL

Since the park model is due to be delivered very soon, we continue to make runs here and there to pick up furniture we ordered a while back. Our neighbors across the street at the Co-op have left for the season, and they have graciously allowed us to use their shed to store things. They are new to the Co-op so their shed is almost empty.

The latest furniture pickup required a trip to Lakeland. Afterward, we came home by way of the Ellenton Outlet mall to shop for new shoes for both of us. Since one of several locations of Anna Maria Oyster Bar is only minutes away from the outlet mall, we stopped for lupper after leaving the mall.

Anna Maria Oyster Bar

We both had fried clam strip baskets. Margery had cole slaw and green beans for her sides, and Paul had cole slaw and red potatoes. We also shared a complimentary order of onion rings with a coupon from a previous visit. The Ellenton of Anna Maria Oyster Bar has outdoor seating overlooking a lake.

Margery with her fried clam strips

In our last post, we mentioned Paul was working on an end table for the park model. Like the platform bed, he has been working on the end table between Co-op meetings, Co-op projects, and running errands. Unlike the bed, however, the table is small so Paul didn't have to assemble and disassemble it every time he worked on it.

The design includes a file drawer on the bottom and a smaller drawer for pencils, notepads, and other items we would like to keep handy on top. The body of the table is birch plywood, and the top is solid maple made from the wood we picked up in Lakeland when we went to Fred's Market Restaurant for the breakfast buffet we wrote about in our last post.

Paul started cutting pieces for the body and drawers several weeks ago. You can tell it was several weeks ago because Paul is wearing a sweatshirt while working in his outdoor workshop that morning. The weather has warmed up considerably recently, and the highs are now generally in the mid to upper 80s with lows in the 60s.

Cutting pieces for the body of the end table

After cutting, the parts had to be sanded. Sanding is Paul's least favorite part of any woodworking project, but it's one of the most important steps.

Sanding one of the parts for the end table

Paul started the assembly with the main body and then moved on to the drawers. He then attached the drawer slides fit the drawers in place.

Attaching the top drawer slides

The end table has a painted body and a stained top. With most of the assembly complete, Paul put a coat of primer on the body and the drawer fronts. It was so windy the primer dried very quickly making id difficult to get a smooth coat. Therefore, Paul sanded the primer lightly the next day after it dried to get rid of the brush marks, then put on the finish coat with the table in the shed to protect it from the wind.

Applying the first of two coats of finish color

Meanwhile, Paul cut, glued up, sanded, and stained the maple tabletop. After that, he applied several coats of polyurethane finish.

With the poly finish on the top and the paint on the body had dried, Paul did the final assembly last Friday. All that's left is to pick the drawer pulls.

Completed end table sans drawer pulls

We're not sure what kind of drawer pulls we will go with, but we're leaning toward wooden knobs stained to match the top. At any rate, the end table is all but finished just in time for the park model to arrive. More on that in our next post.