Open, Sesame

Long time readers of this blog know of my soft spot for Glory Farm in Ellensburg. (here, here, here, here, & here for example)

In 2016 we elbowed our way into helping with next generation projects. Our moochdocking spot on South Hill has provided a short term base and some interesting projects more than once.

Before we left on our cruise, my niece contacted me and asked if I would consider a bigger project at their house. They wanted to install eight new doors, new trim on three sets of windows, and some new baseboard in their 90 year old house. Looking at the calendar, it looked like it was most logical to fly up and do the project rather than wait until we might get there in June on our 'normal' travels.

I agreed to help with the project with one caveat. They needed to spring for prehung doors to reduce the amount of work. Knowing that no house of that age would be square & plumb, I told them I could give them up to two weeks. (Turns out the only professionals that would even consider the project suggested a minimum of two weeks.)

I 'cheated' and got a bit of a head start Sunday evening by installing one of the doors. On Monday, Ellen's Number One Son (also known as my niece's husband) joined me. Together, we got the remaining seven doors hung by quitting time.

Tuesday and Wednesday were spent fitting and installing door trim. The closet doors were easiest since they could take the full trim that had been chosen. The rest of the doors required significant modification of the trim for it to fit.

I concentrated on window frames on Thursday and managed to have the new sills and trim in place by the end of the day.

I never did get a picture of any of the windows totally trimmed out, but this one was getting close. Unlike Ellen's house, where we were installing window weights that had been previously removed and the sliding sash decommissioned, this house had been refitted with modern windows that didn't require weights.

On Friday, I tackled the last of my projects. The hall linen closet had three drawers that were unusable. They were built of wood that couldn't be purchased today, but they didn't have any drawer slides. I disassembled the drawers, narrowed them to make room for full extension drawer slides,

and replaced the drawer faces. The old drawers had single pulls, while the new faces are set up for two pulls, so temporarily they sport wood screws for pulls.

The best part of this project, other than the chance to help family, was that I didn't have to do the painting. Unbeknownst to me, my niece worked as a painter AND planned to do the painting herself.

Done with my part in a week. Time to go play!

End of the Line

After two weeks of beautifully presented, and very tasty food that didn't get pictures taken before it was eaten,

(Even the one set of menu pictures I took was terrible, but it gives you the idea.)

it was time to see if everything still fit - in the suitcase.

We'd wandered around the Caribbean in a circuitous manner,

arriving back in Tampa before sunrise on our last day.

We spent the majority of the day sitting in the airport, where the food did not meet the same presentation or taste standards.

With a bit of time warp, I'd packed again.

This time, I'd head to the Northwet for some time with family. The primary draw was to help my niece & nephew with some finish carpentry. It's going to be a little strange not have the trailer at one of our favorite mooch-docking spots.

You Went Where???

Our visit to Grand Cayman was the only port where we used tenders between the ship and the dock. We didn't have any specific excursion booked for this stop. Our plan was to use the local bus, aka shared taxi, system. The onboard port expert insisted that we would need Cayman Island dollars to pay the fares so we made a stop at an ATM first. Turns out they would have accepted US Dollars as well.

Fares are fixed as are the routes. $2 Cayman or $2.50 US each direction would take us to the end of the line for either Route 1 or Route 2.

Our first destination of the day was the town of Hell. It's a little enclave but sports its own Post Office which is rather big busines given the name. There were three geocaches within about 100 yards.

For 25 cent Cayman we could sent a post card, so a few people got post cards although I was shocked to realize the number of people whose addresses were not in my phone.

The area got its name from this small area of eroded limestone that supposedly looks like frozen flames. It looked sharp to me!

The residents seemed as conflicted as we were.

As we left there, I noticed this sign. Some people might see a connection.

After visiting the three geocaches in Hell, we walked a short mile to the area near the Cayman Turtle Center where we completed the requirements of three more caches.

Another bus ride back to town took us past a long row of resorts before dropping us at the bus terminal about a block from the minimal remains of Fort George.

A couple more geocaches, a nice lunch overlooking the beach, a bit of shopping for BJ, and it suddenly was time to raise anchor for the (first &) last time for this trip.