Last Entry to the Gator Bound Blog

Now that we are settling down to our lives in Florida, this will mark the last entry to the Gator Bound Blog.

Today is July 20, two days short of one month since we arrived at our new Cape Coral abode. We have been constantly on the go, from multiple trips to Home Depot and Lowes, to painting, cleaning and repairing various problems ranging from the front door to the kitchen sink…and everywhere in between. Shopping for furniture and a piano were some “chores” we enjoyed a lot more than the others. Now we feel like it is time to chill out and enjoy.

The last major difficulty we encountered was getting our Nova Scotia vehicle registered and insured here in Florida. After obtaining Florida drivers licenses, we realized that our car insurance and registration were due to expire at the end of July. Then trouble began. We were supposed to get a document when we crossed into the US from Canada with the intent of importing our vehicle. We neglected to do that and we could not get the car registered here without it. We could not get insurance until the car was registered. And of course, our Nova Scotia insurance would not cover us since we moved. It was turning into a vicious circle with no conceivable end in sight. Finally, a light bulb went off in my brain! Could we trade in the car without registering it? Turns out we could. The car dealers are very obliging if it means selling a new car. Sooooooo



Just goes to show that a problem is sometimes a blessing in disguise.



So that is the end of our Gatorbound Blog. Thank you for reading and I hope you have enjoyed it. I am considering writing a gardening blog as we get ourselves ready to begin the next project of landscaping this big empty meadow surrounding us. If you want to be in the loop, just drop me a line and I’ll be sure to add you to the update email.

Hugs to all,

Jeanne

One thing After Another.......

Hi Everyone,
Well, it really has been one thing after another here. We are having an infestation of big red ants! No one seems to know (Lowe's, Home Hardware) what kind they are or what they want from us, but every night as soon as it gets dark, they appear. We have been spraying nightly and they seem to be diminishing. Today I decided to wash the windows, window frames, blinds and sills. I thought I found the mother load of ants and eggs right between the window and the screen. Soon after getting it all cleaned up, I noticed some ants in the corner of the room by the floor. I wasn't too concerned at that moment because all the carpet is coming out tomorrow when the tile man gets here. After finishing with the window, I got some pliers and pulled up the carpet to vaccuum the ants and instead of ants, I found a puddle of water that appeared to be coming from the wall. Well, to make a long story short, after the plumber came in and cut a few holes in the walls, he discovered that the drain flange in the bathtub was not sealed. I had filled the bathtub with water to soak the blinds. When Doug (the plumber) was finished he asked if there was anything else he could help us with and I mentioned that the dishwasher would not fill up. He said, just put in a bit of water to prime the pump and it would probably work. After dinner, I did just that, and to my surprise, it filled! However, during the cycle, it leaked all over the floor. So that is how things have been going lately. And Brian's list is getting longer and longer, as he now has two nice holes in the wall to patch.

Yesterday we decided to take it a little easier and went looking at furniture and picked up a bunch of paint colour samples. We don't know what to do first, get furniture, choose our paint colour. I guess we will just wait until the tile is in and go from there.

Today we watched an osprey eat a fish on top of a telephone pole that has a platform built on top. If homeowners provide the osprey platform, the Lee County Electric Cooperative will mount it on a pole.


And most exciting, we found a nest of burrowing owls about a block from our house. They are the cutest little guys and it appears that there are still some young ones in the nest area. The burrow, the owls and their eggs are all protected from harassment and/or disturbance by state law. They are also protected under the Federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act.

So that is all for now. I will post another update in a few days. Thanks for checking back.

Day 3 in our new home

Recap of our trip-- 2203 Miles in 44 hours.

Sorry it has taken so long to update the blog. We have been so busy and so tired by night time that blogging has been on the bottom of the list. We arrived here on Tuesday at 10:30 a.m. and started unloading the Uhaul. We didn't bother turning on the air conditioner because it appeared that the compressor was missing. It wasn't until the Culligan water man came by to help us get our system up and running (we are on a well), that we learned the compressor is in the garage..that's why it wasn't outside, and the AC was working fine. What a relief as the temperature was in the 90's with the heat index, due to humidity, in the 100's.

After unpacking everything into the garage we started cleaning the house. The carpets are very dirty and there were spiders everywhere, so the first order of the day was vaccuum, vaccuum, vaccuum. I washed the kitchen and bathroom floors. Then we put the futon frame together and fell into the bed. We were totally exhausted, both from cleaning and from heat exhaustion.

Yesterday, I spend the entire day cleaning the kitchen. All the cabinets had to be first vaccuumed, then scrubbed with disinfectant. There were LIZARDS living in the kitchen cabinets and they left evidence everywhere. Luckily the people who were living here must not have liked cooking because the stove is like new and nearly spotless. Of course, I cleaned it anyway. There was an old refrigerator in the garage that is too big to fit into the house, so we went shopping and ordered a new one. While we were at Lowe's, we noticed a great sale on ceramic tile. As we planned on having the entire house tiled eventually, we figured it would be a good idea to take advantage of the sale, so we requested someone to come out and give us an estimate. Besides, the sooner the carpet is gone, the better! And of course, we needed to get a lawnmower and weed wacker before we get cited for having a jungle surrounding our house. When we got home, Brian unpacked the lawnmower and the axle was broken, so the grass didn't get cut and tomorrow its back to Home Depot for another one. It poured buckets today, thundered and lightening for a long time, power flickered but always came back on, and the sun came back out when it was through.

Today, I started unpacking the kitchen and we had our first cup of coffee at home. The kitchen is now in perfect working order, except for the refrigerator, which is coming tomorrow morning. Today Brian attempted to drain the hot water heater because the hot water smelled bad and Culligan is coming back on Monday to sanitize the lines inside the house. Because the house had been vacant for over a year, bacteria had a chance to grow. The hot water heater was so full of sediment that it wouldn't drain and we opted to just get a new one. The plumber who installed it also replaced the valve in our shower so we can now take hot, or at least warm showers, instead of cold ones, as we had been taking for the last two days. Can't say it bothered me having a cold shower in these temperatures. Then we went back to exchange the lawn mower and buy a mailbox and post. B tried to cut the lawn but the rain came pouring down again, followed by the sun, but by then the damage was done and the grass was soaked. Tomorrow is another day.

So that is why I haven't had time to blog. Tomorrow Brian is planning to cut the lawn and we intend to go shopping and fill up our new refrigerator with some healthy food. Still have lots of boxes to unpack, but I feel we have made great progress. The tileman won't be here for two weeks so that gives us some time to paint the whole house. Oh where are you my dear sister Marie, who loves to paint so much?

Tomorrow I will post a few pictures. Thanks for reading!

Day Five on the Road

Although today was our longest drive, we didn't get going until 7:15 this morning. We both had trouble falling asleep. Noisy AC, trucks trying to park late into the night, and too much ice tea at dinner I guess. The weather was bright and sunny when we left, and warm. It went up to 99 degrees before the day was through. We were getting anxious to get "home" as we said goodbye to the daylilies in NC, and hello to the hibiscus growing wild in the ditches in SC and Georgia. We passed at least 25 billboards in South Carolina inviting us to stop at South of the Border, but we resisted and drove on past the big sombrero with all its promises of what good things awaited us there.

It was around noon when we finally crossed the Florida state line and pulled into the "Welcome Center".

And welcome'ed we were, with fresh orange and grapefruit juice.



At 4:30 this afternoon, we reached the "last" hotel stop before our final destination. I don't know if internet access will be available to us tomorrow when we arrive in Cape Coral, so if I don't do an update, check back in a day or two.

Today - 494 miles traveled in 9 hours.

Day Four on the Road

We left our hotel in Aberdeen MD at 6 a.m. this cloudy morning. After about an hour, you guessed it, pouring rain. We thought it would be a repeat of the last two days, but in about 2 hours as we rounded the Washington DC bypass, the sun finally appeared. Too bad it didn't come out a little sooner or we would have had a much better picture of the Washington D.C. Temple.

Once the sun appeared we started to feel much better, or as Brian said, like our joints were oiled! Even my multiple Nova Scotia blackfly bites are starting to disappear. Ahhhhhhhh. After passing through Virginia we reached the North Carolina Welcome Center, and for miles and miles afterward, we were treated to the sight of thousands of yellow daylilies. If the daylily is not the state flower of NC, it should be.

We were nearing our hotel in Fayetteville NC, when I thought I had awakened from a dream upon seeing this sign.

Total miles traveled today 396 in 8 hours.

Day Three on the Road

Intense concentration and the NYC skyline.

The weather started out promising today but before long it was raining off and on. It was a long day driving from Massachusetts and continuing through Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Delaware and ending up in Maryland. Even though it is Saturday, there was lots of traffic. Here is the George Washington Bridge that goes from New York's Bronx, across the Hudson River and into New Jersey. It is actually a double decker bridge, we drove across the upper level as that is where the signs directed the trucks.



Imagine 16 lanes of traffic on the New Jersey Turnpike, with 8 going each way, separated into 4 lanes by barriers. It was crazy. Hard to believe there is a recession going on with all the gas being burned and people on the move. We felt like we were in one long continuous city for most of the day. We were so thankful that we bought a GPS for this trip. You can see from this pic how confusing it was with each lane sometimes leading in a different direction.



We left our hotel this morning at 6 a.m. and arrived at the Aberdeen Maryland Days Inn at 2:15. For dinner, we walked across the street to the "Family Buffet" where we finally had some healthful food choices to pick from. It will be an early night for us and another early morning tomorrow, hopefully with NO rain.

351 Miles traveled in 8 hrs, 15 minutes.

Day Two on the Road

We woke to cloudy weather that turned into a steady downpour half way to our next hotel stopover. Seems like the trees are getting taller the farther south we go. Saw a couple of huge turtles on the side of the road but going too fast (us, not the turtles) to get more than a glance, let alone a photo of them. Still see lots of moose…on the signs!

Many lupines for half mile stretches on the highway, mostly purple ones, but found these multicoloured lovelies at the rest area.



Sure hope the back of the truck is waterproof. No dampening of our spirits though, as we found a classical music station to help sooth us through the downpour. Crossed over the Piscataqua River bridge on the border of New Hampshire, and about 50 miles later, the rain stopped and the sun actually came out for a minute. Tomorrow will be a better day for driving.



When we reached our hotel in Marlborough Mass., we checked our email to learn that Sara (my daughter) was coming to the hotel to have dinner with us. What a wonderful way to end the day and the start of many more visits with her now that we are back in the US of A.

Total miles traveled today 375 in 8-1/2 hours.

Day One on the Road

After a restful sleep, we rolled up the mattress, slid it down the stairs and loaded it into the truck. Then one last drive to Dartmouth (we managed to beat the road crews today), to hook up the flatbed trailer and load up the Saturn. We were off at 9 a.m. We loved seeing the fields of spiky pink, purple and white lupines as we passed through Nova Scotia. We reached New Brunswick at 11:30 a.m. After a lunch on the road of cheese, pickle and mustard sandwiches (remaining leftovers from our fridge at home), we rode past miles and miles of ferns, hardwoods and evergreens, interspersed with incredible swaths of colorful wildflowers. What a beautiful green province, and not a billboard in sight. We were warned repeatedly to pay "attention" to the moose, but the only ones we saw were on the signs.

We will spend the night in room 230 of Ivy's Motor Lodge in Houlton Maine. (207) 532-4206

Total miles traveled today 375 in 7 hours.

ONE More Sleep!

That's the Hawaiian Happyface Spider gracing our U-Haul




And what a great sleep it was! It took us almost as long to get the truck home as it did to load it up, due to the heavy construction back-up in Cole Harbour. The dolly we bought proved to be a real life saver and we were finished loading in about 4 1/2 hours.



Then, on to cleaning the floors and bathrooms. I kept thinking of having to do all this again when we reach Cape Coral. But, as Brian says, at least no one will be knocking at our back door. We can take as long as we want.



After a hard day of straining our muscles, we were treated to a delicious Nova Scotia lobster dinner, by our good friends John and Ramona. We are so thankful to have made many wonderful friends since moving here four years ago. And to them we don't say "Goodbye", but "So Long, Until We Meet Again".

2 More Sleeps!

That lonely container holds the sugar that we are certain the new owners will use to make hummingbird nectar to feed all the little friends we will be leaving behind.

It certainly is looking empty around here. When all is said and done, there will be 46 boxes along with odd pieces of furniture and crates filled with everything from books to home made wine....all destined to go into a 14 ft Uhaul truck tomorrow morning. Brian says not to worry, as he will "make" it all fit. And we'll be towing our Saturn Vue so we can stuff it with whatever doesn't want to fit inside the truck.





"Don't worry little friend, you'll be taken care of when we're gone."

3 More Sleeps!!!

View Florida Move in a larger map


Here is the plan.
We will hitch up the trailer carrying our car and leave from Dartmouth, Nova Scotia on Thursday, June 18. We'll pass through New Brunswick and enter the U.S. at Houlton Maine. From there we'll travel 2151 miles through Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and finally reach Florida, hopefully on Monday June 22. Hope you can join us, on a virtual journey across the eastern seaboard.

Four More Sleeps!

We are moving from West Jeddore Nova Scotia to Cape Coral Florida. Today is Sunday and we just updated our plans to leave on Thursday, June 18, instead of next Sunday. We thought it would be better, traffic-wise, to drive through New York and Jersey on the weekend, plus we are getting anxious and tired of waiting. Just a few more boxes to pack and a few more visits with friends and we will be Florida bound.