Enjoying the beautiful Spring weather in South Florida.

This time of year we have highs in the mid 70s to low 80s and lows in the low-to-mid 60s.  It's not too hot during the day, and not really cold at night - Instead of running the a/c I just open the doors to the screened-in front porch and to the patio  with the screen room over the pool each morning until about eight-thirty and again in the evening from eight until ten-thirty or eleven (whenever I wind up going to bed). 

At the same time, it has been warm enough with that (with the thermal cover and new solar panels) the pool has been warming up to 92 each afternoon so the heatpump doesn't have to run for it either.

The Wahoo (a type of fish) are running offshore, Pompano, Spanish Mackerel and Speckled Seatrout are in the inlets and intercoastal, and in the canals and lakes the Largemouth and Peacock Bass are beginning to bite.

In a couple of weeks I'm headed back down to the Keys for another camping trip; this time two nights :D

I really like this time of year in South Florida!!

Projects Progressing on and on

Today I finished up the drip irrigation for the planters, Palm trees and Oak tree in the front yard.  I still need to imbed the scalloped edging around the Oak tree, cover that area with landscape fabric and red (lava) rock.  On the other side of the driveway I need to set twenty-four feet of double forms and pour a concrete base for the staggered-block retaining wall, form a three-to-four inch drain-rock and landscape fabric layer inside of the wall and finish back-filling.  I already have about one-half of the fill from the red rock walk area on the house side of the driveway.  The rest of the fill will come from the area adjacent to the storage shed in the back yard – I need to have eight inches of footing exposed on the side for the inspection.  The ends will be OK with a concrete apron three-to-seven feet wide.  It will be nice to get at least one of my multiple projects completed; maybe some time I can actually spend some time fixing up the boat (25’ center console) to do some fishing and diving.

Finally looking like progress

Finally my backyard project is starting to look like I am making some progress.  Since I raised the first wall, it has taken me weeks to get the second wall up – some delays for rain and a couple of days delayed for winds.  Working alone I have been reluctant to take any chances that might result in one of the 26-foot long walls falling on me, or the fence, or the compressor.   But, finally, I am ready to begin the framing on the two end walls – since the two of them combined are 20% less than the length of either side wall, these should be relatively easy – I still do not have an exact size for the overhead door on the end by the Mango Tree and gate, but I can frame the end by the grapefruit tree.   I will spend most of today taking care of the “shiners” (siding nails that missed the studs) on the second wall to get ready for a partial shear and/or frame inspection on Monday.

Notice the Mango tree in full bud on the right :-)