Thanks to our federal tax return, we’ve finally taken the plunge on a few long overdue purchases.

First, say hello to our contribution to energy efficiency: two new scooters that get 87 mpg!

 

We’d decided on buying new instead of used due to the relatively cheap cost of new scooters and to both ensure we have warranty coverage and wouldn’t end up with Wilma-flooded castoffs. We only considered the 4-stroke 50cc models (technically 49cc) because anything larger requires a motorcycle license, and as they closed the Keys’ testing facility a few years ago that now requires a trip to Miami. While I’d be thrilled to ride a curvy model with chrome, the extra cost just wasn’t worth it. We bought two Kymco Agility 50’s from the Moped Hospital for about the same price as a single Vespa LX50. I’ll have to get my curvy chrome itch satisfied by my Karmann Ghia when that’s fixed and moves down. Now there’s a project…

Second, I pounced on two used Ocean Kayak Scramblers found in Sunday’s Classifieds. One is practically new, the other is beat up and patched (big deal - they’re plastic!), and they’re both bubblegum pink. So much the better for people with motors to spot us.

 

Just so you know it’s not all fun and games. Check out the evil scorpion I found in our laundry room. Chris did his thing with picking it up with the kitchen tongs and flinging it into the salt pond. Not bad karma, we didn’t technically kill it, it has a chance to survive if it swims. I’m not a girly-girl but that sucker made me shriek.

For those wondering, the front door and first half of the shutters are now blue agave. It makes a world of difference.

The weird people we bought this home from had redone most of the house, most notably opening up the kitchen/dining/living room areas. Two full sinks, two full fridges, and no dishwasher. I warned you they were weird, the stories keep piling up from the neighbors. Like removing the a/c because they “didn’t like air”, and things much more peculiar.

$956.93 is the cost of the new refrigerator Home Depot will deliver tomorrow. The side-by-side fridge finally succumbed to the effects of being flooded by Wilma a few months ago, and the compressor on the “backup” fridge notified me of it’s toasted status by nose and ear last Thursday. I donated the frozen seafood and veggies to neighbor Alex, trashed the new box of no-sugar-added Fudgesicles along with the fridge & freezer dregs, and moved all the condiments to the office mini fridge.

Not the triple-door model I’d been wanting, but the bottom freezer will placate me and the sub=$1,000 price will placate Chris. I’m relatively short (5′3½”) and having to lean down into the fridge under the top-mounted freezer was annoying the heck out of me. Of course that’s compounded by how often I use the fridge since I work out of my home office, but still I can’t imagine how much that irks taller humans.

Living out of a mini fridge for a week resulted in temporarily adopting the Progresso soup diet-in-a-can Alex told me about two weekends ago. He’s lost 25lbs so far by cutting out sweets and eating a can of soup plus some extra veggies on top for dinner every day for the past 3 months. Not shabby at all.

Travel to Dulles was uneventful. Upon arrival in Frederick I was greeted by an unplowed driveway from the last ice/snow storm and a house devoid of heat - an empty propane tank and the heat pump had tripped the circuit breaker, plus the cable modem was fried. Off to a brilliant start! Thankfully the HVAC guy proclaimed the heat pump fine, between that and the baseboard heaters I only froze while traversing the kitchen/dining room until the tank was filled Tuesday evening. Bad planning on my part meant that I stayed in on Saturday, and was snowed in on Sunday & Monday. So much for that to-do list. It’s okay, I have more of them.

Dial-up speeds of 26.4kbps and 28.8kbps are worse than I remember, can’t possibly multitask in the myriad of windows as I’ve become accustomed to. All web designers should be forced to spend a portion of their time throttled down to 28.8 - not all homes get 56kbps!

Travel home was hampered by a cascade of cancelled flights due to inclement weather up north. I ended up stranded in Atlanta overnight along with many other Delta passengers, many of whom haven’t yet come to the realization that being accusatory and hostile won’t help the situation. I was just glad for the hotel voucher. I caught a Saturday AM flight to Miami and shared a rental car with a nice lady from the Dolphin Research Center in Marathon, where Chris picked me up for the last 59 miles.

It’s good to be home, but bittersweet with Chris now beginning his 2+ week northerly excursion.

Time to paint the front door and shutters in Behr Blue Agave.