Clutter Busters in Naples

Furniture disposal problem.    Our problem was we didn’t have enough stuff for an auction or the time to do an auction and the consignment shops take forever and they mostly are looking for antiques and very high end items for a way to get rid of the furniture I found this company called Clutter Busters.  I found this company called Clutter Busters of SWFL 
http://www.clutterbustersofswfl.com/

The market they work with was a perfect fit for us.  The items are all in the garage and they say most are gone in 7 – 10 days.  They did a very thorough inventory/spreadsheet.  They have the items listed on craigslist.com but also sell most of it through their local client list.   It is a prety painless way to solve our problem.   I’m going to see if there is one around us in SC.

A very busy and fun week

To say that we had a good time with Amanda, our god daughter, and her sister April this week would be an understatement. We were joined for a few days with Kenny, April’s boyfriend, and Amanda’s brother Jeremy and his wife Meghan.  With the seven of us working on things we accomplished everything we needed to do. I thought I was organized and a hard worker but April and Amanda ran circles around me.

We worked very hard all week but also had time for a trip around the lake one night to shine gators (saw at least 50), a couple trips to the beach and a midnight swim as well as a couple day time swims.  April and Amanda got to visit with a couple families they knew down here and made the walk around Corkscrew Sanctuary where Kris and Greg volunteered.

We got things all ready for the renter who moves on Friday after we leave.  A liquidator, Clutter Busters, says they will have the remaining furniture gone in two weeks or less.  SCORE got a big selection of electronics and office supplies, the landscape company did a super job on the trees, shrubs and lawn.  We are set with routine lawn maintenance and pool maintenance.  The boat and trailer is sold.  We met with the real estate agent and had several maintenance companies out to fix various things like the gate/intercom, security system and new filters in the Culligan water system. The house and garage are spick and span. They made a couple trips to the attorneys office to process paper work.  There is also a huge pile of stuff to give away to neighbors, the renter and the rest to Goodwill which the renter volunteered to deliver.  That saved us three trips to Goodwill.

We only have paper plates and plastic silverware and the refrigerator and cupboards are bare.  Feels like camping.  We did keep out a couple real coffee cups.  Thursday night we have a nice dinner planned at a restaurant on the water where we will say our goodbyes to Naples.

We leave Friday morning and will drive about 8 hours towards Charleston.  Sat. morning we will drive to spend the night in Charleston with our friends Lyn and Bob and then a 4 hour drive on Sunday to Travelers Rest.

Although the circumstances that brought us here are sad we made it into a wonderful adventure while helping out a family that we love so much.  By far the best part was the time we got to spend getting to know the family better, especially April and Amanda because they were here a week.  They say they loved our stories, of which after 60 years, we have many.  It sounds like they would like to visit us in SC and we hope that happens often.

Sunday activities – Pool, dog track and flea market

Started out the day with a float in the pool and started a new book.

We needed to get out of the house so even though we aren’t gamblers we went to the Ft. Myers greyhound race track.

It is pretty small compared to Canterbury Park in MN and there weren’t many people there but we had a beer and placed bets on three races and had a nice time.  There are 14 races with 8 dogs per race so that is 112 dogs racing a day!

Below is a photo of  Fay closely studying the program of dog information and when I say “study” I mean exactly that.  I don’t know how to read a racing program but I figured out enough to pick a dog in race 7.  I got a little nervous when I saw him come out because it looked like he was limping on his back leg a little.My careful analysis paid off.  Bob placed a win/place/show bet on Flying Lovesong (light colored dog second from the right with black and red  5 in the photo).  Our $6 bet paid out over $26!  Luck or skill that I picked a winner?   You decide.

The afternoon was still young so we stopped at a flea market with 600 stalls.  We didn’t think we would buy anything but we were wrong.  I found bifocal sunglasses which I have only found on the internet.  Two pair for $12.  Bob got a lambskin billfold for $4.95 and I found a case for my new cell phone $9.95.  They have everything under the sun, which is what my sister in law Bette has been telling us.  It was not air conditioned and was getting pretty warm so we headed home without really shopping much more.

After that we stopped and got a few groceries and got home by 4 p.m.  Another fun day.

The Everglades

On Friday we drove to Shark Valley which is in the Everglades National Park.  We were here once before.  It is about 2 hours from our house and a very quiet pretty drive.  There is a two hour guided trolley tour which we took again.  Since this is the wet season we didn’t see many birds and no alligators but still learned a lot about the area and it’s wild life.

These photos are from the last trip we took here in 2007.

Hurricanes and tropical storms

Just a short post to let you know that right now the three storms in the Atlantic look like they will MISS us in Naples.  Good news.   The very last thing Bob and I and Tanya want to do is put up hurricane screens and shutters and evacuate to somewhere else.

Before and After photos and house for sale

In between all our tourist travels we have been working on the yard and house.  This link will show you a slide show of before and after photos of what we have been doing the last 6 weeks.

Finally have some good news here.  The house is on the market.
Here is a link to the virtual tour of where we have been living.  
http://tour.circlepix.com/tour.htm?id=739861&mls_tour=1

There are still photos and 5 virtual tours.  House is for sale for $1.3 million.

South West FL History Museum

Last week we spent several hours at the South West FL History Museum in Ft. Myers.  The museum wasn’t  large or fancy but they did an excellent job of covering the history of the area from the ice age to the Vietnam War.  It is in the old train depot. Included in the price was an audio tour.   You really had to see the tusks to get the impact of how huge they were and how massive the animal must have been.

Our favorite exhibits were the ones that talked of the Indian history for the Calusa indians which go back 12,000 and the Seminole indians.  Unfortunately the Calusa indians no longer exist.   Their population was wiped out in the 1700′s from diseases like small pox and measels.  I continue to be fascinated by the Civil War and what happened here during the war and after and the role the indians played.  This Calusa cat carving shows some of their talent.  I’m going to have to get a replica of one of these.

Cattle also played a big part in Florida’s history.   Did you know Fl was a big supplier of cattle to the Confederate Army during the Civil War?  The cattle were brought from Spain centuries ago and are small but very adaptable to this harsh climate.  This is a full size replica of the cattle.

The museum also had a restored private pullman train coach.  Original price in 1929 was $80,000 and it cost almost that much a year to keep it up.  It was really fun to see how efficiently they used the space.  I love the combo toilet, sink, chair.

Here is one other room.

Another example of an efficient space was the replica of a Florida Cracker house.  You can learn more here. 
http://www.oldhouseweb.com/architecture-and-design/cracker-farmhouses-1840-1920.shtml

After that we went to Joe’s Crab Shack right on the water and splurged on a huge steam pot of two kinds of crab, shrimp, boiled potatoes, sausage and sweet corn.   It was a delicious but messy lunch.I bet this place is really packed in the winter.   We had planned on going over to Sanibel Island again but it was raining like crazy and didn’t look like it would stop any time soon so we headed home.

Strange sounds

I was sitting on the lanai having coffee this morning and heard growls tomy left.  I know there are several black bear around here so immediately thought of them.  The noise sounded close by but I couln’t see any bears so I thought maybe I imagined it.  Sat down and heard the noise again to my right.  A short while later  I heard the sound coming from two directions by the island but no sign of bears and I figured if they were swimming to the island I would have heard them splash.   Very puzzled and then I thought ALLIGATOR SOUNDS.  We have been here 6 weeks and I haven’t heard them make any sound so I went to my trusty google search engine to see if I could hear what sounds they make.  Guess what – they growl.   Follow this link to hear them.  Click on link on right side of page. 
http://www.soundboard.com/sb/Alligator_sounds_audio.aspx
.

Doesn’t that sound like a bear to you?

Steak and Shake Restaurant – Two thumbs up

A couple days ago we ate for the first time at a Steak and Shake Restaurant.  We expected something like McDonalds and were pleasantly surprised to find a fun sit down restaurant with reasonable prices, a great waitress and good food and an interesting menu.  The shakes are huge  and made with real ice cream, whip cream and a cherry (at least 24 oz, maybe more).  You could easily split one or get a smaller size.  I could only drink half of mine.

As we checked out the manager came over to me and said “I see you only drank half your shake.  Didn’t you like it?   We don’t often see any leftover.”  I told him it was great but just to big.   He was really concerned.   As a person with deep roots in food service I was really impressed.   We will definitely return.

DelNor Wiggins Beach State Park

We finally made it to the beach this morning at one of FL State Parks.   The weather has been unseasonable warm, so the locals say, and it has just been to hot to even sit by the ocean.   This morning was lovely.  It was overcast and very few waves and even less people.  

There was an overlook tower where we took this photo: 

You can see how comfortable we were when we were out of the water.  The water was very warm. 

They also had showers so we could get cleaned up before we went to lunch at a nice hotel beach restaurant The Turtle Club Restaurant.  I had Mahi Mahi with yummy mango garnish and fresh vegetables and bacon potatoes.  Bob had a crab cake and of course we split a piece of Key Lime Pie.   Very good but pricey.  Lunch with two beers and tip was $60.  We were home by 2 p.m. just as it started to rain.  

We also finally finished the 17 CD’s of the last Harry Potter book.  Our second time listening to it and it was every bit as good the second time as the first.