More house repairs

I don't know if you recall the previous blog I did about repairing the hole in the wall behind this tile?

Well, after our recent big leak job that we needed fixing we were left with another hole in the wall.

Same as before, I built up a frame behind the wall.  Yes, I used paint stirrers again.  Nice and lightweight they stick well, I have to say.

Next step, replace the piece of drywall in to the space, against the frame.

Sadly, the tile I used previously was not available so I had to go with something completely different. Is what it is. We are not fussy.

I may or may not have intended to buy a grey grout.  I may or may not have bought a harvest brown grout.

After grouting!

Final stop is to do a line of white caulk all around the edge. Fun fact: Did you know caulk is pronounced cawk (silent L) over here, they all looked at me crazy in Home Depot when I asked for directions to the cawlk.

Home Repairs (Never Ending)

 Part ?/?? of the never ending story of "Things Always Break in Key West"  also entitled "Lol - you have to laugh or else you will cry".

1.Our shed roof has been slowly and steadily getting leakier over the last year or so.  We have had one or two roofing companies out to look at it, and they really were not keen on taking it on.  For two reasons.  Firstly, it is too small of a job.  These are companies that do big house roofing jobs. Secondly, our shed is too old and vintage (yay! Of course I love hearing that lol).

So! We took the job on ourselves.  Our good friend, Bill Who Knows Everything, advised us to look into elastomeric paint.  It wasn't cheap but we invested in enough for two coats.  We first did a layer of white paint (primer) and then the elastomeric paint.  It was a tough enough job but we got it done between us. I also used some crack and gap filler on the inside on any visible holes on the inside.  And now...now we wait for a big Key West rainy day.

2. One of the poles holding up the bimini cover on our boat became detached.  We went looking for a particular part in West Marine and it appears to not exist.  We managed to locate something that I thought might do and got in installed.  Miraculously, it appears to be holding.  Fingers crossed.

A great start to the year!

 It feels like since we came back from Miami we have just been celebrating or having a lovely time - whether with friends (OUTDOORS to stay covid safe) or our own eating out or eating at home.  It is like...things were good before that trip, but they are even better now.

New Years eve:

I worked until 3pm when Patrick collected me which was a nice treat.  Easy to throw the bike in the back of the jeep when the roof is off.  Later that afternoon/early evening we had a few drinks and a bottle of bubbly (prosecco) with our neighbours out the front of our house until about 8pm. We then had takeout of awful dirty sweet fire chipotle chicken wings which were fabulous! Toasted happy new year and were in bed asleep by 10.30pm lol (I was in work next morning at 7am fyi)

Half Shell Raw Bar:

Happy hour.  We were sat at the bar for the first time in forever.  While there was a big (nice) space between us and others at the bar which was good for covid safety, it still just felt nice and almost normal.

Saturday evening in our friend's house:

Yesterday we visited with G&K for drinks and dinner. We bought a bottle of bubbly (cava) and dinner was an amazing home made in the crock pot bbq pulled pork and divine mac and cheese. We ate outdoors.

Sunday on the baby boat:

Mixed it up and went out this afternoon rather than our usual Sunday morning trip.  Caught some throwbacks - an exotic looking (and foul tasting lol!) porkfish, and a big (but not big enough) mutton snapper.  And then caught some keepers of lovely porgy (aka "Sea bream" in Ireland). And three crab legs to add to our stockpile. 

Normally Patrick pulls the one crab claw off the crabs.  (Did you know? You take one, they grow it back. You don't take two as it leaves them defenceless).  Today I took over that task. It is hard! They are TOUGH! You need to be so careful you don't have your fingers near their pincers and then you really need to push/pull with all your strength to get the arm off cleanly.

Back to work tomorrow for this lad!  But I think he will tell you himself that he had a good break, and this was a great ending to his Christmas vacation

Weather report

This morning I woke to a grey overcast sky. It was coldish too. As I sat out in the tiki hut, drinking my first coffee of the day, I commented that it felt just like Ireland.  Specifically the West of Ireland...you know that greyish Galway weather? To be fair, Galway is always lovely no matter what the weather is like.  And I mean that!  Sure there's always the open fire and good live music in the King's Head or the Quays Bar when it is cold and miserable, right?!

Well what rolled in just two minutes later was nothing like anything I have ever experienced in Ireland.  Extremely loud claps and rolls of thunder, bolts of lightning, and torrential tropical rain.

I ran inside to take cover and I swear it has not let up since then. It has been a funny old morning of staying indoors because of that.  I finished work at 11 last night and I am not in until 3pm today so I did take a snooze at around 11am for 30 minutes.  Napping during the day is something I battle against/struggle with.  I always feel a little lazy or guilty doing it but to be fair I felt tired, and I fell asleep quickly so clearly my body needed it.  I really shouldn't feel bad, you need to listen to your body sometimes.

I also don't want you feeling too sorry for me about the weather.  Ahahahahaahha, I can hear the Irish cries of  "WE DON'T AMY!!" all the way over here.

Check out that weather forecast for tomorrow and onwards!

Already I am making nice plans for this weekend! It is a long weekend because of President's day so we are planning a fishing trip on Sunday (and cooking the fish at home that night) and then a fun Monday of some local pier fishing, a touristy tour (train or trolley) or maybe a museum, and then a nice dinner on the beach at "Salute on the Beach".

Side note. This blog post, and some of the sentences within, has reminded me how much I do love an oxford comma.