Saturday, May 13, 2006

Transformation


brrr









Waccassassa Flats is a broad freshwater marsh and swamp system at the headwaters of the Waccasassa River. I cross the river every day, but a bit downstream of the flats. On days that I go to town after work, the route will take me down a tiny 2 lane county road and over a short, but very skinny bridge across the flats.

So it was, that on a gorgeous cold winter day a few months ago I couldn't resist stopping for a shot of the Flats in her brown coat. It was beautiful, but quiet. A solitary grebe and a handfull of coots were quietly swimming nearby, but the only sound was the breeze in the dead grasses. At the time, I thought, "Hey, I should come back in the spring and photograph the changes"



ahhh









Amazingly (for me), I remembered to do that. I did not remember the exact location on the bridge however so the angle of each photo is slightly different. Even so, the vibrant push of spring growth is evident rising from the brown.

Posted by Picasa


wow!








Last week, the green had conquered all. The coots were clucking, frogs jumping, dragonflies were patrolling, and a Florida Cooter was laying her eggs on the high ground of the road berm.

Full blown spring.Quite a transformation.


Speaking of transformations. You long time PureFloridians may have noticed a dearth of remodeling posts over the last few months. You may have actually welcomed it...me too. I hit a point in the bedroom remodeling where they were 98% done and liveable and they became inhabited, the pressure to complete it dropped some and I took a break...which now is apparently over.

My crew has moved out to a motel for the weekend, to get out of the way, and I have been instructed to "FINISH THE STAIR REMODELING PROJECT!...AND EVERYTHING ELSE...OR ELSE!

So, if you see my wife lounging by the pool, tell her I signed off from my blogging addiction at 8:00 am to begin working.
I may sign back on during my 15 minute lunch and supper breaks.

...I wonder if that's allowed...having a meal break ,I mean.



LUNCHTIME UPDATE: (if anybody asks, I took a whole 30 minutes ...or will have, after this update.)

The stairs which were once carpeted must have the whiteboard treads removed so I can put in purty ones of knotty pine with bullnose edge. The risers are knotty pine and just need to be finished...as long as I don't damage them in pulling off treads.

There are 14 steps, working from the top down, I have successfully removed 8 of the glued and stapled buggers. I also stained a mystery project this morning which will be a future puzzler, and ...(Leslie, are you listening?)...picked a basket full of bell peppers, squash, and fresh mint. I'll update again at my supper break. Hmmmm, I wonder if I get one since I took 30 minutes for lunch???

UPDATE: Supper happened after all. Just some takeout fried chicken since I had to run into town...which cut into some of the remodeling time.

Still, I did get all the treads off and all the risers sanded. It's 10:04 pm now, but I am tempted to do a wee bit of staining before I hit the rack.



10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Go for it FC! Wise you are to get the folks out of the house.

And that's a marvelous time series there on the flats.

Deb said...

What, she didn't stay there to supervise?

If I take the kids and go to a motel for the weekend, I wonder if my new house will be ready and waiting when I get back...

Good luck!

Anonymous said...

This is a great time-series of the Waccassassa Flats. I have many photos that were taken with the intention of returning for another comparison shot at another season, but I haven't had the discipline to follow through. Good going!

robin andrea said...

Great photo series, FC. It's very cool to see that transition. Well done.

I'm looking forward to the photo of the stairs. Good luck and don't work too hard. Take breaks.

R.Powers said...

Wayne,
Thanks, the flats and the bridge have been completely underwater at times...typical floodplain. Amazing how being home alone can speed a project.


Deb,
The critique will happen when she returns, but she's usually gentle on me. Actually, it was prom night last night 40 miles away, so the motel idea was to save post prom late night driving by my girls. Worked for everybody.

Hal,
Thanks. I need to get an end of summer shot to complete it.

dpr,
The name Waccasassa roughly translates into "place of cows" in the Creek (Seminole) language.
I did take before shots and will post a before and after series eventually.

Robin,
So nice by the way, to use your beautiful name instead of RD. Thanks, and I promise not to overdo it.

MamaHen said...

Great photos! As far as work breaks go, even on our commercial job sites we get 15 minutes at 9:00 a.m. and a whole 30 min. for lunch (12:00 sharp unless the concrete truck shows up then) and then if you're working overtime, you get another 15 minutes at 3:00 p.m. So I would say you're well within your bounds! And I would love to see photos of the completed projects too!

Sandy Hatcher-Wallace said...

Great contrasting pictures of the flats.
Sounds like your weekend is busy, busy, busy and how lucky for Mrs. FC and the girls to take a room in town...
Great Mother's Day weekend in the pool.

I noticed you didn't fix yourself any peppers for supper & if I remember correctly, you don't like squash...But I guess after all that work you did, you deserved some takeout fried chicken.

doubleknot said...

Good luck on the remodeling. I couldn't go to a motel - I would have to be the overseer and usually the doer.
Wonder pictures of the flats.

Leslie said...

Our remodeling projects usually get to "inhabitable" and then never get finished.
I don't know whether to be flattered by a personal call-out or to call you a poopy-head for gloating.
I think I'll preen.

R.Powers said...

Edificerex,
I got a lot done, but there's way more to do. When I finally get it done, I'll post some pics.

Abandoned,
Mrs. FC was actually pretty busy with both girls going to prom and 3 soccer games. She probably worked as hard as I did.


Doubleknot,
She just wants it done so bad that she is willing to give up her usual supervisory role.

Leslie,
Preening is good.