Late February Updates

Fort Lauderdale

Wednesday Feb 22:
The drive across 'alligator alley' from Englewood was no problem at all.
However we did get held up when we got closer to F.L., a car had burned just off the slow lane.
But really just a bit of a slow down.

Dinner with Randy and Wayne was fun, good food, and we got to meet Wayne LeBlanc.  Randy had said that the pool was cold; but I tested it, it was warmer than any pool I ever swam in NB.

La Quinta Inn had a very adequate breakfast.  Their pool was really great, nice and warm, no kids.
The issue was that our room never got made up.   We'd have been happy with clean towels.  Eventually I swiped 3 towels from one of the maid's carts; I expected that when the maid got to our room, the dirty towels would go; but she never showed up.  Now, we did have the no trespassing sign on the door for awhile in the morning, while Jack was getting his beauty sleep.

After the Robert Tolkan  real-estate tour around Fort Lauderdale, I realized that we can't identify 'black neighborhoods' from the listings.  That means that if we find the perfect house 'online', it may be in a black neighborhood and we wouldn't know.  Robert did the right thing, showing us different neighborhoods, and some less than ideal houses.  One of the places we liked (from the online info) turned out to have serious water damage in the stucco, with a wet smell inside the house.

We went on Thursday night to the Tropics Restaurant and Piano Bar.  There were several musical instruments, none of which was a real piano, and several singers.  The volume was good, the drinks were cheap, there was a good 'older' crowd.
At one point Gary pointed out three older gentlemen at a table nearby, and said, "There we are in a few years."  I responded, "Which one of us is going to be Jewish?"


2012 02 24, Friday, Cocoa Beach

The drive from Fort Lauderdale was uneventful, (if slightly hung over).  Bob drove most of the way; gave me time to sober / wake up.

However, as I expected, we didn't get to use the pool in F.L. in the morning because we left too early, and it was so f'n hot here in Cocoa Beach in the afternoon that we didn't go outdoors until after 4 pm.

Around 4, we went to the beach.  Great beach.  Very large, very flat, soft fine sand, light colored so not too hot to walk.

Had supper at a Thai / Sushi restaurant last night; very good and one of our most expensive meals. ($76 plus tip for 3 people)

2012 02 25  Saturday

Great breakfast at La Quinta Inn here this morning.  Even had hot cereal.

BJ, Gary and Jack are out to the dog park this morning.  He'll like that.  BJ is afraid he won't be able to control Jack if there are other dogs around.  He with his broken toe.
This morning Jack refused to eat any of his pills.  He's been reneging on one now and again, but this morning he ate none.  We'll get a banana to hide a pill.  If that doesn't work, we'll sprinkle the pill's contents over his food, and he can eat or not. 

Today is overcast, threatening rain.  Glad Jack is getting his walk in early.

We're going to meet at real estate agent somewhere this morning.  We're seeing two houses, more to get a feel of the place than to seriously consider buying.

House Hunting

We went house hunting yesterday with Mary.  Mary showed us four houses in total.  We had picked two of them and then she added two others.  Here is what we saw and some of our reflections.

The first house was just a short walk from where we are staying in Englewood, Florida.  It went up for sale in late-January.  It was one of our picks.  It is a beautiful home, cedar siding, three bedrooms, two bathrooms, situated on 4 building lots.  Almost three of the lots are fully cleared so there is lots of yard.  Two garages, an outdoor shed, and a 'carport' (of sorts).  Inside is immaculate.  Lots of space.  A good-sized lanai with a hot tub.  All the windows and doors are hurricane proof.  The owner is willing to negotiate the sale of the contents.  Asking price:  $135,000.  This property is move-in ready.  We liked this property very much.

Our second pick was on the other side of Englewood, nearer to Venice.  It was much smaller, needed repainting and recarpeting, is right on a main road.  I had picked it because it was the same price as the first house.  Wanted to make that comparison.  Probably located in a better neighbourhood but much less yard for Jack.  We moved on.

The third house, one of Mary's picks was listed for $128,000 and had a pool.  Two bedrooms, two baths, smaller yard because of the enclosed pool area.  This house will need painting, carpeting, electrical work.

The fourth house was the cheapest of the bunch - $119,900; two bed, two bath, more yard that #3, very large lanai.  We arrived while the house was being shown to some folks from Ontario by a different agent.  It had much to commend it.  However, it was also going to need some sprucing up inside, the yard was not being tended since it is empty, and there are some concerns about the tile roof.  Rob noticed some damage to the living room ceiling.  Houses 3 and 4 were just around the block from one another in probably the best neighbourhood of the four houses we looked at.  However, we were not impressed by the houses.  They would need some work.  The neighbourhood has much to commend itself. 

There will be more about house hunting.  We go out in Englewood again on Thursday with a different agent.  Then, next week, while Gary is here, we are already scheduled to look at some houses in Fort Lauderdale and Cocoa Beach.  Stay tuned.

Chilly in Florida

Well, it has been a fairly quiet week here in Englewood and mostly warm. We've been reading, computing, walking, biking, and grocery shopping. Sunday we went to some open houses. We went out for supper on Thursday to Nicola's Italian Kitchen. It is actually just a short walk from the house here and we had a very good meal. The waitress was not the best we've ever had. Once she took our order, things came promptly. However, she seemed to disappear once our food was served. We were just about finished when she came by to ask how our dinner was. We were not impressed but we will probably go back for the food and the ambience. It was very busy!

We went to the 'people' beach here in Englewood.  That is to say we went without  Jack because there are no beaches in Englewood where dogs are welcome.  It was very windy, the water was rough, the beach is mostly crushed sea shell.  We did a bit of a walk but did not stay too long.  The beach is fairly steep though not steep like the beach in Barra de Navidad.  It was difficult walking in to the wind on our way back up the beach to the car.  Another time, we will try a different spot and see if it is sandier.

We have a busy week coming up. I spent some time this past week setting up two house hunting forays here in Englewood as well as similar outings in Fort Lauderdale and Cocoa Beach when we are there the week after next with Gary. On Monday afternoon we are going to see three houses. One is very nearby. On the website seems like a beautiful home on a huge property - three lots. Outside it looks very nice. On Thursday afternoon we go out again with a plan to see six houses possibly - two with pools. This is mostly just to get an idea of what is out there.

Then on Friday, Gary arrives for his visit. Looking forward to it.

We have had good weather this week until the last two days. It was cool and very windy yesterday. It was still windy today but even cooler - high of 11C - compared with 27C two days ago. This is supposed to change and be warmer on Wed, Thurs, Fri but then turn cooler again on Sat/Sun next weekend. We talked to Gary today and told him he better bring a jacket or a sweater, just in case.

House Hunting in Englewood

Like many of our more recent trips to Mexico, our trip to Florida this year will include opportunities to do some house hunting, re: a possible long term stay arrangement in the sunny south. We did some house hunting today. We viewed five different properties in total but actually only took the time to walk through four of them.

The first property we went to was listed for $339,000. This information was NOT included in the Open House advertisement in the weekend paper. We drove up to it but did not go in. First, we were 30 minutes early. Second, it was not in our budget. Third, we were not impressed by what we did see. The house and large property are located on Gottfried Creek in Englewood. The Creek empties in to Lemon Bay and thence into the Gulf of Mexico. 

Next we went to a relatively-new (built in 2007, still 12 empty units) condo complex on Beach Road in Englewood. This is on Redfish Key off of Lemon Bay. This beautiful 2-bedroom condo was listed for $444,900. Again, way out of our league. It was very nice, though. It had a nice pool. But no yard to speak of and on a very busy roadway in Englewood – the main access to all the beaches. This was one big condo building – 3 floors, 20-plus units ranging in price from $300,000 to $600,000.

Our third property was in a large development on the way to Venice from Englewood. The agent was just opening as we arrived. This was an empty unit in side-by-side duplexes. No yard to speak of. Very nice but not much for Jack to enjoy. This was listed for $169,000. The agent said properties in the development were selling around $165,000. She suggested we consider going up the road to the next property to make a comparison. So we did.

The fourth property was about a mile closer to Venice than property #3. It was a very new development. There were two different floor plans we looked at. One obviously more spacious than the other. They were both nice. We preferred the larger. These properties were in side-by-side duplexes listed at $159,990 and $169,990. Getting more into our league. Another gentleman was also looking at the same time we were. We all agreed that the larger floor plan was much nicer.

The fifth property we looked at was back towards central Englewood...closer to where we are currently staying. It also was a condo development but much older. The unit we looked at had much to commend itself. It was spacious. Had a huge screened lanai that ran the full length of the front of the unit – 32' by 8'. You had entrances in to the lanai from the two bedrooms and the living area. There was a 2-car carport at the back of which was the laundry room/storage area. There was much more yard between units here. There was a swimming pool. New appliances, a lot of work done recently to the unit by the owners. Very nice condo listed at $117,500. The owners were the ones who showed us the unit.  Rob noted that of all the properties we looked at, if we wanted condo living, this would be his preference. It was nice! Maybe we will return in March when Dave and Barb are visiting, that is, if we don't see something else in Fort Lauderdale or Cocoa Beach or Venice which takes our attention.

Filling in 31 winter days

So, when one travels south for an extended period of time in the winter – to avoid the cold in Canada, what does one do to occupy one's time? Here is a quick review of our first month in Englewood, Florida, i.e., January 2012:

• grocery shopping 17 times – thus enabling us to prepare 30 breakfasts, 30 lunches, and 26 dinners
• dining out 6 times (1 lunch, 5 dinners)
• 35 mostly morning and a few afternoon walks with Jack - BJ
• bicycling: Rob 15 times, BJ 8 times (most of Rob's rides were considerably longer than BJ's)
• we read books: BJ read six novels/paperbacks (working on the seventh) and Rob read two of the same books (working on his third)
• took Jack to the beach in Venice twice
• watered the gardens numerous times, made several batches of muffins, replaced both tires on Rob's bicycle, wrote several blogs, three trips to the nearby library, laundry, house cleaning, Rob took Jack for many shorter evening walks, a few drives around the area, online searches for real estate to see later in our time here, made plans and hotel reservations for a trip to Fort Lauderdale and Cocoa Beach while Gary is here, Rob is doing an online program from MIT to learn a new computer language (python), I did some stuff for St. Croix Presbytery online, we gave each other haircuts, several naps, watched TV: numerous episodes of Jeopardy, Merlin, Nikita, Being Human, Once Upon A Time, Criminal Minds, etc., and a lot of basking in the sun and soaking up the heat.

In many ways it sounds a lot like being home except we are much, much warmer. Haven't regularly worn long pants for over three weeks.