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Home in Port Charlotte, high of 73
Merry Christmas to all of my blog readers! This is my third Christmas in Florida, having arrived here December 3, 2007. For the second year in a row I completed a do it yourself project to shore up the canal seawall with rip-rap. Last year I placed 3 cubic yards, just where it appeared to be needed. This past summer we found a great deal of new erosion. We elected to wait until the summer humidity passed and planned the job for December. I used 15 more cubic yards this time but also enlisted the aid of a helping hand. I hired a local laborer and mostly used him to wheel barrel the rock from the front yard, where it was dumped, to the backyard, where he dumped it down the hill to me awaiting on the beach below.
There, I separated the rocks into three sizes: Basketballs, grapefruits and hand grenades. The rip-rap comes 6"-12" in diameter but we had our share of 3" - 16"ers too (baseballs and watermelons?). We started by laying a weed mat filter fabric, then the rock, followed by fill dirt and sand. It was quite physical project and I can't imagine having done it all alone.
We were very lucky to have not had any hurricanes, tropical storms or storm surge in 2010. We're not taking any chances in 2011.
For Christmas, we are staying home...just the two of us. We will do a nice baked ham dinner and perhaps go see a movie. We've had very nice weather so far, with just a passing cold front here and there. There's no change in the status of our boat. I had it advertised on craigslist for a few weekends. It drew lots of interest online and we had two prospects come see it but received no offers. I will resume advertising it after the New Year but there's really no urgency to sell it. It's running great and we've got visitors schedule to come in January and February who will want to go out. Let's hope the weather hold up nice for them too.
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