Vacation my foot...

Some updates:

The House (Renovation)

Back into the hall bathroom to get it finished out. I’ve got the shower doors installed and that was a pain in the posterior. Seems the shower walls aren’t what we could consider to be totally plumb. It’s somewhat infuriating to get to the last step and find that somewhere along the line the wall is now off by about an eighth of an inch. Maybe I should tear it all back down and fix it. Nah…

Remember this?

Well it now looks like this.

I’ll get the vanity top on order this week but it probably won’t be in until after the first. I’m not in any massive hurry to complete this room as it doesn’t get used anyway. 

The kitchen is starting. It sort of feels like skateboarding down a hill, very slowly at first but will pick up speed and eventually it will become crazy until the finish. Fortunately it starts out simple enough with demolishing the breakfast nook area. I want to raise the ceiling and add recessed lights above where the table goes. About a third of the kitchen will shortly become a construction zone while I try to keep the rest somewhat clean and useable.

I'll take a bunch of before pics in the next day or two just so I can have a comparison at the end.

I’m still extremely undecided about floor tile, cabinets, countertops, appliances, etc. I’m starting to hear that granite countertops are getting to be kind of passé. They’ve been very popular for quite a while now so it wouldn’t surprise me too terribly much. I’ve been looking at some of this solid surface countertop material and I like the looks and the prices I’m seeing. This could be a good alternative.

The House (Un-Stuffing)

Did some more in the kitchen cabinets in the last week or so. I’ve now got two or three cabinets emptied out and I’m debating about whether or not to consolidate stuff to the east side of the kitchen and demo the west side. Maybe I can do at least some of the work in halves and still keep the kitchen somewhat functional.

I also went through the garage again. I put a huge dent into the amount of stuff out there but still have a long way to go. I can see now that I’m going to have to make at least one trip to the hazardous waste dump. There’s too much stuff that I can’t just throw into the garbage can (paint, solvents, etc.).

RV/Truck Search

Looking forward to the big RV show over in Tampa on January 16^th. It’s possible that this may be my last time of being a browser as there’s an outside chance that I could actually buy my unit next year. Lazy Day’s always has a huge presence at this show and they could have my 293RK on hand. I would LOVE to be able buy the one at the show. It would afford me the chance to great a really good deal on it. I already know what the regular AND sale prices are so if the sales person tries to feed me a line, I’ll know it immediately. Of course there’s no way that I’m going to let them know that I’ve been researching this particular model trailer for more than two years until AFTER the sale is inked.

I’ve also been researching the ins & outs of buying a used truck. I’m finding it helps out quite a bit to know exactly what you’re looking for instead of just being talked into just any truck. Going in without a plan will probably net you that lot-queen truck that they haven’t been able to sell to anyone else or one that their ‘used car lot mechanic’ has done extensive work on (shiver).

Two things I’ve learned so far is that it’s ok to have the truck thoroughly inspected by a third party before purchase and that a recent Carfax report is a requirement, not an option. I’m now studying what the normal mark-up is for a used truck. Seems it’s extremely subjective, so knowing the blue/black/red/green/yellow/pink/chartreuse/salmon book values helps out somewhat (NOT!). I love it when somebody starts talking ‘whatever-color’ book values. Those NADA books are almost completely useless.

Jumping Off

Spoke to a realtor agent the other night that lives up the street from me. She is the one that I was going to contact anyway once I got a little closer in date, but I figure it couldn’t hurt to introduce myself now. Anyway, she and her husband were walking their dog and we got to talking. I told them what I have in mind and what I’ve done so far and she’s worried that I may have already done too much. I asked her if they would like to take a look at where I’m at so far and possibly give some suggestions or direction after the holidays and they agreed.

She did mention that houses are selling unbelievably fast so when I’m about ready to put it on the market, be prepared for it to sell super-fast. Like within a month type fast. That would suit me just fine if that were to happen. She did say to NOT go crazy in the kitchen cost-wise.

On another front, I did spend a good bit of time polishing up the (what I call) push-out plan. I pushed the jump-off date out about 7 months and everything really started to gel much better. I still need to work on the 'changeover' which is the period of time when I basically trade the house for the truck & trailer.

One other thing that helps is that I'll get underway in the springtime instead of fall. The original plan was to head south from here down to the keys and extreme south Florida to spend the winter. While that sounds very nice and all, it's also rather expensive. So by leaving in the spring, I can head out of Florida and chase the winter west and north.

It remains to be seen the actual path I'll take as I'll be making it up as I go along. My researched plans end at the Florida/Alabama border. After that it's 'Any direction is a good one' type of thing. Maybe I'll just do a total diagonal across the U.S. from Florida all the way up to Seattle.

Maybe I'll make a board with a spinning arrow on it and compass directions around the edge. Then every so often I could spin the 'Arrow of Direction' to see which way I go.

2015 Review and plan changes

Wasn’t quite sure how to go about closing out 2016, was it a good year, was it a bad year? Well, it had some of both. I guess it finished out as a sort of a good news/bad news type of situation.

The Good

The house is ahead of schedule for completion and on budget. I’m still running the whole thing completely out of pocket. No debt whatsoever. I’m very pleased to be able to say that. Yes, there are weeks where I'm scratching to make it.

I finally found a budgeting/financial software package that I like very much and is working extremely well for me. I now have good control over budgeting and spending. I only wish I had found it earlier.

The house is getting emptied out very nicely. A burglar breaking into my house would be unbelievably disappointed to say the least. Five rooms are completely bare, the rest aren’t far from it and getting closer by the week.

The Bad

The truck is starting to fall apart at an increased pace and is starting to cost a lot more than just gas and routine maintenance. I was truly hoping to stretch it another year or so and then trade it in on the new (to me) truck. Fingers are crossed on this one.

The stock market did a huge nothing for 2016. It bounced all over the place and was a scary ride, but in the end it ended up right about where it started in January. I didn’t lose anything, but I also didn’t make much of anything.

The Ugly

Because the stock market did a big zero, I lost a whole year of saving up to go. It then ripples into my having to push out the jump-off about a year. Yep, I've had to push off the start of my grand adventure roughly a year unless something highly unexpected good happens. I maybe could get by as is but the budget would be scary skinny. One glitch and I would be screwed.

Trust me I am so unbelievably bummed out over this, for several reasons. The first reason is obvious; I wanted to get out there as soon as possible.

Another bummer is that I wanted to be able to put a for sale sign in the yard about 30 seconds after the last brush stroke of paint. That way the house would be at its very best possible condition (think sale price). Now it will sit for nearly a year ready but I can’t sell it. Obviously I could sell it but then I’d have to get an apartment for a year and I’d be flushing rent money down the toilet instead of adding equity.

Maybe the biggest problem is that I’ll be asking the truck to hang on for an additional year. That’s a very chancy proposition at the very best and the odds are getting worse almost daily. I already drive it like a little old lady trying to not push anything hard mechanically. Even with that I’ve had two major breakdowns in the last two months.

The Plan 

There are however a couple of positives by waiting another year. It gives me time to save up for the adventure. It does allow me to spread out the last of the renovations which helps my monthly budget and it also builds more equity in the house. So I guess it’s not a total downer, but I would much prefer to get out there sooner rather than later.

I am exploring the idea of trading the truck and buying the trailer on the original schedule and then spending a good bit of that additional year going weekend camping. I would have to take out a loan (cold shiver) and I utterly hate the thought of that, but it would get paid off when the house sells.

At least I wouldn’t have to pay for storing the trailer as the north side of the house is still set up for trailer storage (remember the BBQ trailer?). I would have to extend the length a little bit as the fifth wheel is somewhat longer than the BBQ trailer was, but that’s no big deal.

I’ve also decided to forego the apartment or condo idea. To do either one of them would delay me even further. So the current plan is to go ahead with the truck/trailer purchase on schedule (with the loan that I absolutely abhor) and storing on the side of the house. Then when the house sells I will simply hitch up and go. That lets me spend the least possible amount of $$. Of course I will stay in the area for a few days to make sure that everything is closed out and paid off.

I’m thinking Jetty Park might be a good first stop.

Here’s hoping that 2016 is a much better year!

And now for something completely different...

Title of this entry from Monty Python's Flying Circus..... IT'S!!  You have to be a python nut to get that one.

Some of you may know that I enjoy gardening a great deal as it’s kind of a way for me to unwind. Well, that hobby sort of extended into another hobby. You also probably know that I am easily distracted into new and often very expensive hobbies. It’s a problem for me.

Anyhow, the new hobby was/is butterflies, Monarch butterflies to be exact. It started out from me noticing that butterflies of various types liked different plants, so I did a little internet searching and found that Monarchs only go to one type plant and are having a tough go of it lately. There are all sorts of theories out there about why, but I really didn’t research that angle very much. I was far more interested in how to help the little guys out.

Seems it’s pretty easy. Just grow the milkweed plant. That’s pretty much it. There are a couple of other things that help out the process but aren’t required. In Florida it’s predominantly the tropical milkweed that they prefer. It grows wild but with all the development it’s getting pretty scarce in some areas. Well, not in my yard! I’ve created a sort of Monarch rest stop.

Now before I get too far into the rest of the story, I should give a really quick and dirty lesson on how they work. They have four stages in their lifetime.

First is the egg stage. The previous adult will lay their eggs on the underside of the milkweed plant leaves. Probably not the best idea as I’ll explain a little further on. Sorry, I don't have a picture of this stage. It's not much to look at anyway. It sort of looks like a black speck on the underside of the milkweed leaf.

Second is the caterpillar stage. These guys will devour every single leaf on the milkweed plant. Hence why I think it’s not a good idea for the eggs to get laid here. The caterpillars have no regard at all for the eggs on the underside of the leaves. If the eggs get in the way of the eating caterpillar, then they just get destroyed. Their setup must work for them as they never listen to what I have to say. They start out really tiny and will grow up to 3-4 inches in length depending on how much milkweed foliage they can find.

Third stage is the chrysalis. The caterpillar will find an appropriate spot to hang upside down and develop a shell around them. They will stay in this state for about 7-15 days but I have seen some go a little longer. I believe its weather related but I have no proof of that.

The fourth stage is the adult. The butterfly emerges from the chrysalis pretty much ready to fly. They will sit on a branch for a little while until they can open their wings fully. Then they take off and go do their thing!

The adults will come back to the plants to visit the flowers for the nectar. They don’t let me get very close to take pictures. Two or three feet seem to be about the closest they allow. I’ve found that I can get a good close-up right after they emerge mainly because they can’t fly away yet.

Other butterflies that visit the yard will let me get much closer. I’ve got some black swallowtail ones that will let me get within inches and they don’t seem to care. I’ve got others that will actually buzz me pretty close. It can be kind of startling to get a close flyby of a butterfly right next to your face if you don’t see them coming.

Now, I can’t prove it but it sure seems like my guys always come back to my plants to lay their eggs. That or there are a LOT of Monarchs in this particular area. I seem them all the time depositing there eggs to the leaves.

My only problem is that I can’t seem keep the plants in foliage and blossoms very well. Every time I get a plant really going again, they come in and chomp it to twigs in no time. But that’s ok, I don’t mind that they do it. I just wish I had the time to grow more plants for them.

I thought about registering my rest stop with the butterfly society as a registered Monarch ‘Way Station’. But I finally decided not to. I only do it for my own satisfaction. I don’t really care if it’s not official or anything.

In one of my next entries I’ll introduce you to my hummingbirds. These guys are CRAZY fast but extremely friendly. They take a lot of time and patience, but once they get used to you they will let you get unbelievably close. Getting pictures so far have been very difficult.