WEEKS 48-51: Home stretch?

Pacha Mama House is quickly approaching her first birthday! We are scrambling to finish renovation projects we hoped would have been done months ago. But then life happened. Oh, and delays. MANY unforeseen delays. Oh well. At least now we are now the proud owners of …wait for it… TWO fully functional bathrooms and a beautiful new planter bed (no plants in it yet, but that is coming – really it is!).

• DECISIONS: to re-use miscellaneous bricks for a planter bed; to use pavers stones in forming a walkway down to the seawall (no more trudging through the weeds). And we decided to have a FIRST birthday party for our house - we had at one point hoped it would be an open house to celebrate a completed to-do list, but we just couldn't wait any longer to have a house party, so...
• LABOR: our new master bath double vanity was installed and now the master bathroom if fully functional - hooray! Meanwhile, M. built a laundry organizer, created a new planter bed plus mulched it. We also painted the last wall of our living room (phew!); primed the kitchen and primed all the interior doors.
  
  
• MAJOR BUYS: Char-Broil Electric Patio Grill; patio ottoman

Marriage is all about compromise. Here's the only grill we could agree on:

This all-weather ottoman is already living it up on our patio. We are using the storage space to hold lifejackets and our other boating goodies ;)

Our "3-hour tour"

Our little boat completed it's maiden voyage to Bahama Breeze, one of our fave waterfront restaurants in Tampa. We were nervous to go out on the open bay in our electric-pedal boat. First, we super-charged J's cell phone, placed it in a water-tight case and packed a cooler with emergency rations (sunblock and gatorade). Next, we threw the solar-panel on the back of the boat to supplement the charge on the marine battery. Finally, we asked ourselves if we were really doing this, and launched off the seawall. We began crossing a large stretch of open waters, and I was beginning to wonder would we see anything interesting, when M. began yelling "FIN! FIN!" I looked in the direction of his pointed finger and saw...nothing. Suddenly, I saw it too - a large grey curved dorsal fin in front of us! M. assured me that this was indeed a dolphin and not a shark since he had gotten a clear view of the blowhole above the head. My first thought was PHEW!; my second thought was WHOA! The dolphin was at least the size of our boat (9 ft long).

I'm kicking myself for not having my camera with me at that moment, although at other times, we've been lucky enough to photograph the Tursiops truncatus, aka. bottlenose dolphin. If you're wondering how close dolphins will actually get to boats in open water - it's closer than you think. Here's a pic from a dolphin tour we did at Clearwater Beach, FL:


We arrived at the restaurant's private dock in just over an hour total time and proceeded to celebrate with frosty beverages and live music. The ride home was less eventful and it even rained on us a while, but nothing could dampen our mood. At some point on the way home, I remembered I could take a picture with my cell phone. Sorry for the bad pic quality, but at least you can see our high-tech navigation system (wink-wink).


Arriving home, we calculated our trip had taken just over three hours. Yup, that's right: a 3-hour tour. Help! I still can't stop humming the Gilligan's theme song. Oh, and in case you forgot, here's a refresher of the famous first three verses:

Just sit right back
And you'll hear a tale
A tale of a fateful trip,
That started from this tropic port,
Aboard this tiny ship.
The mate was a mighty sailin' man,
The Skipper brave and sure,
Five passengers set sail that day,
For a three hour tour, A three hour tour.

The weather started getting rough,
The tiny ship was tossed.
If not for the courage of the fearless crew
The Minnow would be lost.
The Minnow would be lost.

The ship set ground on the shore
Of this uncharted desert isle
With Gilligan, The Skipper too.
The millionaire, And his wife,
The movie star, The professor and Mary Ann,
Here on Gilligan's Isle. (Source: www.lyricsmode.com)

WEEKS 44-47: Pacha Mama or Bahama Mama?

The past few weeks have been busy around Pacha Mama House, but you might not know it to look at all the house projects still left to do. Ha! J. went on a 4-day road trip from Plattsmouth, Nebraska to Tampa Florida and came back with her sister, and canine-nephew (Elmo) and canine-niece (Zoe). The arrival of houseguests was a definite motivator to get a few more things checked off the big ol’ honey-do list. Yay! Meanwhile, this past weekend, M. & I celebrated our 4-year wedding anniversary. We honored the occasion by taking a day cruise to the Bahamas!

• DECISIONS: decided against beadboard in MBA; decided to have seawall repaired (instead of rebuilt) next month
• LABOR: we participated in neighborhood yard sale and spent many hours yardening (all that stuff that happens before you can do gardening); M. finished linen closet install and the towels are no longer homeless!; Also, M. has moved into his new shed and begun the mancave conversion; our fave contractor installed all our interiors doors; J prepped the house for our first houseguest: welcome to N., Elmo, & Zoe!
• MAJOR PURCHASES: Anderson storm door w/retractable screen; guest room ceiling fan

Here’s a pic of us 4 years ago at our Caribbean destination wedding…aww...such innocent house virgins! [before]

Here’s a pic of experienced DIYers taking a weekend off of houseprojects by taking a Caribbean cruise! [after]

J. thinks she could get used to this...

M. is such a (coco)nut in Freeport, Bahamas!

1st Manatee sighting!

We saw manatees! Although some neighbors had mentioned past manatee sightings, after 8 months we had almost lost hope of spotting one…until Saturday. While M. was working in the backyard, he heard a giant SPLOOSHING noise behind him. He turned in time to see a full size gray marine mammal swimming about 20 feet from our yard and began yelling “MANATEES! MANATEES!” My sister and I ran to the seawall just in time to catch the two beautiful manatees playing in the water. My sis grabbed her camera and snapped a few shots as they swam away. Yes, the pics are a little loch-ness-monster-like, but we will definitely try to get more pics when the manatees come back.

The Florida Manatee, or Trichus Manatus Latirostris, is a mythical, magical, marine mammal native to the warm waters of the Gulf Coast. Manatees are known for being large, gentle and vegetarian ;) Although no longer considered an endangered species, manatees are still under the protection of many Florida state laws. Our house is part of a Hillsborough County designated Manatee Zone, which requires extra slow boat speeds so that manatees are not injured by boat propellors. More info about manatees can be found here. Ever since we went snorkeling with wild manatees last year, we have been in awe of these incredible creatures. Now, we can’t believe our luck - that we can spot them from our backyard!

Here's a pic of J. at our manatee snorkel tour in Crystal River, Florida last year... (M. took this pic)

And one of M. scratching a manatee belly... (J. took this pic.)

DID-IT: phatty-oh-patio

We did it: da patio redo! When we moved in, our backyard patio was an unappealing mix of concrete slab, bricks, and mismatched stepping-stones. After the brick layer was removed, we discovered more concrete slab underneath. In order to fit our 14 ft long swimspa, our contractor had to extend the patio by pouring yet another four feet of concrete. Yech! We hated the idea of our backyard turning into a concrete ocean, not to mention that the original concrete was cracked, rough and had a sun-bleached brick pattern on it. Our long term plan is to someday replace all the concrete with sleek interwoven pavers or tile. Our short term solution, however, had to be quick, easy, and DIY! Nothing says fast fix like fresh paint. Here's how we turned our blech concrete slab into our phatty-oh-patio in four steps.


1. CLEAN UP. We used a leaf blower to get all dirt & dust off the slab, then used a long-handled scrub brush to apply concrete cleaner/etcher.





2. PRIME. Using a long-handled roller, we applied a concrete primer/bonder. It goes on clear.





[2.5 RUN don’t walk to the ice cream truck! It’s important to take breaks in hot weather. Sorry for the blurry pic, I was running to get my waffle cone!]





3. PAINT. Use specialized concrete paint (we got ours at Home Depot) and have it tinted to your fave color. Roll on generously.





4. DÉCOR. Add gazebo, furniture, rug, solar lights, and plants.




Here's a few close-up shots: