Hurricane Elsa & New Doors

Last week we ended the week by prepping for the landfall of Hurricane Elsa. We moved everything not secured to the ground from the dock, made sure we had an extra bilge pump for the boat, and picked up all loose items from the lanai.

Elsa was supposed to hit our area Tuesday afternoon, but Clover was not concerned.

We ended up not have much beyond sprinkling rain until Tuesday night into Wednesday morning when the worst of it hit.

The winds were strong and we got a decent amount of rain, but thankfully no damage (water or otherwise).

Here's the level of the pool after all the rain:

You can also see the dock across the way was under water.

Our dock was under water too, by about 6 inches or so.

All the rain did bring a nice sunset:

While we were getting all the rain from Elsa, Scott took advantage of the cooler temps to clean the evaporator coils on the AC in the attic.

We had a company out last week to take a look because it wasn't cooling enough. It was running constantly, and the air was cool, just not cool enough to keep it a decent temperature in the house (our windows are also to blame, but they are a project for another day). The AC tech said our evaporator coils were caked in dust (not at all surprising given the amount of concrete grinding and drywall work we've done). We got 4 quotes to clean them, that all came back at hundreds of dollars, the highest being $1600. Yikes! Luckily, I have an uncle who works on HVAC systems. So a few texts from my cousin to my uncle and we had the cleaner ordered and saved a ton of money.

This was before Scott did any cleaning:

Dusty, dirty, clogged coils, not letting enough air cool.

After 1.5 cans of evaporator coil cleaner we were in much better shape:

We still have half a can left so Scott was going to let it run for a while and hopefully rinse itself a bit then clean more if needed.

It's been incredibly hot the last few days, but I've actually felt cool at night, so I'll call it a success!

Since getting the kitchen back together last week it's been difficult to find the motivation to start the next project because it means tearing something up again.

Saturday we had the perfect reason to start something though: a Costco trip.

We love Costco, and always buy our paper towels and tp in bulk, which is cheaper, but means we have to store it somewhere.

When we moved the fridge back into the pantry last week we talked about options for the space around it. There's still a "frame" around the pantry that can be removed, opening up a few more inches on either side of the fridge. The right side of the pantry also goes pretty far over to the side, behind the frame. We decided we'd add shelves so that when there's a cabinet (we'll build one!), it'll open up revealing the side storage.

If that's confusing, here's what I mean:

With our paper towels in hand, Scott added shelves to the perfect height to hold a full pack, plus some extra items:

While he had the fridge pulled out, he also patched the drywall where we cut into it to run electrical last week. We'll paint back there as well. If you're like me, you're wondering why we'd bother painting behind a fridge, but Scott doesn't want anyone to think we slacked behind the fridge, and think "what else did (we) slack on?"

One item that's been on out list for a LONG time got started this weekend, replacing the interior doors. The doors in the house are hollow, weigh nothing, and let all sorts of sound through, so we bought solid doors a few months back. They've been taking up space in the garage ever since.

Scott decided we might as well free up some space and get them up.

Here are some "before" pictures:

If you remember from when we replaced our master bedroom door, these aren't "pre-hung" in the sense that they're in one piece with the frame. The listing online said they were pre-hung, but that they were universal (Don't even get me started on "handing" of a door, or outswing...). The reason they're universal is because they come in pieces: the frame in 3 pieces, and then the door. The frame has pre-drilled pilot holes and recesses for the hinges, you just configure the frame so it's the right direction for the door.

Pro tip: if you're assembling with a friend, be sure you're both thinking about the door from the same side (either inside or outside). Not that we had any issues with that or anything 🥴.

Our door knobs have a squared off plate, so we had to score and chisel the recess in the door to the right shape, as the original recess was rounded. That's what Scott was doing in the second picture.

While we were putting up the guestroom door it was storming, so Toby had to wear his thundershirt and supervise closely to be sure we were safe.

He looks happy, but he was *stressed*, he does not handle storms well at all.

Once we figured out the correct way to install the frame, Scott spent some time getting the door to close nicely by shimming, adjusting, and screwing the frame into place.

The new door is heavy, and will help block sound while looking great. I'm still in love with the doorknobs too, they're also really substantial feeling and just elevate the look.

Sunday we woke up early (earlier than we wake up for work, but who's counting?) to take the boat out before the afternoon rain came in.

The fishing wasn't great, but the first two "fish" on our lines turned out to be sharks! Two bonnethead sharks.

We were just fishing under the sanibel bridge, and using frozen shrimp, so we weren't expecting these guys!

We caught a few other fish, nothing to write home about. On the way back Scott picked a sprouted coconut (and some trash!) out of the canal for me.

I'm going to plant it, just to see if it'll grow. We have three palms out front, but none are coconut palms. Padre says they're "missiles during a hurricane" (join me in "booing" him for this tidbit). He's right though (per usual), so I won't let it grow to be huge, for now I just want to see if it'll grow at all. Google says it can live 2-3 years on a pot.

After grabbing the coconut we headed back to the house for pool time and a trip to the store for burgers.

We officially have more grills than we do people living in our house after we got a camp chef flattop grill.

Scott seasoned the grill by cooking some oil and then some bacon on the top before making us smash burgers.

The burgers were DELICIOUS. They were two patties, swiss cheese, tomatoes, lettuce, pickles, grilled onions, bacon, and Wahl sauce (from Wahlburger's). The bun was toasted and the edges of the burger were crispy, so it was perfectly juicy and crunchy at the same time.

While Scott cooked, I planted my coconut in a pot I had hanging around. Google said to plant it 2/3 in the soil, so that's exactly what I did.

Grow big and strong, little guy! I'll keep you posted on his progress.

We settled in for some movie time and I crocheted while we relaxed.

This week our goal is to get the remaining two doors put up and to build a small recessed drawer for the trash cabinet to hold the trash bags (another of our usual Costco purchases).