Lots of Lousy Leaks in Florida

I arrived in Florida in October of 2017 to discover a leak in my bathroom.  This was especially distressing because I had "treated" myself to putting wood flooring throughout the house.  Needless to say, that was rather expensive.

I had 2 handy men, a plumber, 2 roofers,and Gary all scratching their heads.  Every time they found a leak they were pleased it seemed to be fixed............  BUT not really............

Shower on right, leaks going into bedroom

My shower

They found a leak in the shower from a connector hose and fixed it........

spots on floor kept growing....

They found a 2nd shower leak where the temperature control handles went into the wall and fixed it..........

but the spots kept growing........

They found a 3rd leak in cracks around the floor drain so took the shower out and discovered a wet wall.


They traced that and found a 4th leak source from the roof.

I felt sorry for the guy who had to do the work because the wood was glued down.  He had to chip each tiny piece with a chisel.


I told him I felt bad for him.  He shrugged and sweetly said, "That's life."  You can bet that he got a good tip from me!

So, I got a new shower........but the spots kept growing......

Finally, they found a 5th leak in the toilet shut off valve.  And we were  PRETTY sure that that was the end of the leaks!

I replaced both bathroom floors with a laminate that looks like tile.  Luckily, I found a box of leftover wood boards under the bed and there were enough to replace the boards in the bedroom.

Sounds like the end of the story, right?  Guess what...... there was ONE more issue........


When the truck delivered the shingles, my driveway cracked due to the weight of the truck.  


Thankfully, my insurance covered the new roof, the new shower, and the floor work inside.

By then it was time for me to go to Virginia so I left the driveway people to finish the work, which they did.  Dare I trust that the repair and the driveway painting are done?   Guess I'll find out when I return to Florida.

Winter in Florida 2018

When I get ready to post on this blog, it makes me realize what a good life I have carved out for myself.  This is my 9th winter in Savanna Club (the name of my 55+ community) in Port St. Lucie, Florida.  I have made friends in here, at church, and have kept up with dive buddies from long ago.  I'll just share a few highlights from the winter/spring of 2018.

Women's Club "Basket Meeting"

This is one of our best fundraisers for the year.  (The Woman's Club donates to many causes, focusing on local charities.)  

What is a Basket Meeting?  Ladies form themselves into groups and each group creates a basket with a theme.  They get together at someone's house to plan, shop, and execute their idea.

Themes include anything from gardening to cosmetics, to chocolates, to movies, to beach accessories, cleaning items, to first aid items, to pet items.  It's always fun to see what clever themes and catchy titles people come up with.

One of the especially popular ones is Dinner Around the World, which includes gift cards for various restaurants.  Ladies also like the wine and cheese baskets.

At the meeting, you buy tickets, go around and view the baskets, then drop your tickets into bags by the baskets you would like.  Then they have a drawing.

There are over 300 gals in the Women's Club, which makes for lots of fun and games!

Sweetheart Dance

Every February the Social Committee hosts a dance to honor all the couples who live in Savanna Club who are celebrating their 50th anniversary during the year.  This year we honored 8 couples (although there were a few more who didn't choose to participate).


Here are the Social Committee members who helped put on this lovely and elegant celebration.  I am way down near the other end.

It's a lot of work but we always enjoy seeing the beautiful decorations and sharing this monumental occasion.  In this day and age, it's quite an accomplishment to stay together for 50 years!



Hattitudes Paint with Attitudes

I am in two Red Hat groups.  One has 26 members, therefore I call it my Little Red Hats group but their real name is the Hattitudes.  On February 22, 2018, we Hattitudes painted with attitudes.

In 2015 we went to another place like this.  Here are my two paintings - the vertical one is the 2018 one. 

It's not the finished product, but the process that is fun.  But, if I ever have a chance to do this again, I don't plan to paint another black palm tree!

Sunday Lunch after Church

I go to the First United Methodist of Port St. Lucie in Florida.  This is my 8th winter in Florida as a snowbird and I have made many friends at church.

I met Judith Beckman in my UMW (United Methodist Women) Circle.  Here we are at Grandpa's Diner after church.  We both had eggs Benedict (Gary's favorite!) 
 

Meeting Dive Buddies for Lunch

Gary and I met Julie and Russ Manhold, my longtime dive buddies.  We were in the same Undersea Adventurers dive club in Ft. Lauderdale back in the 1980s.

Gary and Russ hit it off and we had a delightful lunch at the Cheesecake Factory in West Palm Beach.  Gary and I had plans to take the Diva Duck tour after the lunch but that fell through because someone (me) didn't do her homework.  They are not open on Mondays!

Soooooo....... we met Russ and Julie again for another lively lunch!  When it came time for the Diva Duck tour, the company cancelled it because it was too windy that day.  Looks like a third lunch might be in order when Gary comes to Florida again. Oh, well........

The Elliot Museum

We took my two dear friends, Bobbie Steinberg and Norma Pennie, for a little day trip.  We went to the Elliot Museum on Hutchinson Island in Stuart.

The Elliott Museum was built to honor Sterling Elliot (1852–1922), who was a prolific inventor.  He held more than 125 patents, one of which was the "knot tying machine."  The museum has permanent and changing exhibitions, including baseball, bicycles, over 90 cars and trucks, and many, many more more.

One of the neatest features is a unique robotic racking system with 50 vehicles displayed.  You press a button for the car you want to see, it gets the car and brings it down onto a turntable.  

The Elliott Museum has one of the largest collections of historic Ford Model A and Model AA commercial vehicles in the world.


These are some of the highlights of the winter/spring of 2018.  Hope you've enjoyed reading this half as much as I enjoyed living each event.

Mail Thief

It was a Friday evening just before Valentine’s Day 2018.  I was visiting my neighbors, Jane and Gene, when a knock came at their door.  There were 2 security people from the Post Office (with guns) and they were holding 5 of the 12 Valentines that Jane had mailed that morning.

It seems that one of the part-time mail carriers had opened Jane’s valentines.   Jane had stickers for her grandchildren so the thickness of the RED envelopes (the RED indicates it’s a card) probably made the thief hopeful that there was money, a gift card, or a check inside.  (The gift cards can be used in pawn shops to get cash.)

Now for the next part of the story: 
My friend, Norma, who lives in our development about a mile away, arrived to her home that same afternoon to see about 9 police/security cars and a man on the ground with handcuffs on. 

It seems that this guy had been a suspect so the Post Office “bugged” a letter.  When it was opened, it set off an alarm.  When they approached his mail truck, he had a lap full of gift cards.

Jane had added tape when she sealed her envelopes and you could see where her tape had been opened and had replacement tape placed on top.  This guy was even prepared with scotch tape!

I saw our regular mail lady the next day.  She said this guy had quite a jail record and had been in rehab.  This last time, he bragged that he had completed rehab and was “dry.”  She said he had always seemed to have sob stories as to why he needed money and she had given him money at times.  She always wondered why he kept getting hired back

In the past my mail lady had mailed checks that were stolen and “washed” – meaning they changed the amount and who the checks were to.  She says that registered (or certified?) was a safer bet but even that is handled by people along the way PLUS, it costs over $20 bucks to send a letter!  

She also pointed out that we sometimes go to main mail boxes to mail things because we think it will be safer.  However, those boxes are picked up by human mail carriers.  Think about it, the guy who stole the things from the individual boxes here also had a key to all the main boxes.

It’s a shame to feel unsafe mailing something through the United States Post Office, isn’t it?

Happy 2018 from Florida

Gary came back to Florida to visit me the week of New Year's.  We went to a New Year's Eve party at the theater here at Savanna Club where we sat with my neighbors/friends, Jane and Gene Pinson.

 Happy New Year!

Small World

This is a small post but it's such a small world that I want to share it with you.  On Christmas eve I sat with Michael and his mother, Verle Slifer.  I posted this photo on Facebook.

Shortly thereafter, friends from my home in Harrisonburg replied that when they lived in Maryland, they went to church with Michael and Verle!  What are the chances??

Halloween 2017

Gary drove me back to my little house in Port St. Lucie, Florida and got to experience some of the Savanna Club activities.  I'm not big on too many dinner dances but Halloween is the exception.  People really get into the spirit and think of such incredible costumes.

I wore my Mexican skirt and Gary wore a guayabera shirt.  We are standing with a couple of very scary characters.  

Warning for Krista:  The next picture is going to be too gory for you 

but look if you can because this costume is really unique.

The Headless Horseman from The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.

I don't know where they bought this but it was really, really gory and fun!

We were at a table with Diana and Stu Kauffman.  They had created sandhill crane costumes.  Check out their painted legs and their heads were created with milk jugs.  I'm crazy about sandhill cranes so I especially liked these costumes.

Time out for a little science lesson:

My day is made when I see a few sandhills around. 

The coloration on their heads is quite unique.

 Hurricane Irma followed by the rainbow and pot of gold.

The Nerdy Professor

 This is one of my all-time favorites:  Cotton Candy and Popcorn

Wendy and Judy said they used yards and yards of pink tulle!  Their husbands were good sports, too and they also gave out free popcorn.

BONUS:  Here's my blog post from 2012  
Click here --->  Staid Halloween - Senior Style

 If you want to have some Halloween fun and laughs, Savanna Club is the place to be!