Sunday, February 14, 2016

Key West - A day at the beach

Key West has huge Banyan trees
Sarah is back with her blog:
This morning we weren't able to get any donuts, but my mom made scrambled eggs that were really good. Then Natalie and I got ready to go to the beach! When we arrived at the front of the beach it was really crowded. We went into the beach, it really wasn't that bad compared to out front. There were seagulls, almost white sand, and the ocean that was such a pretty light blue. It's weird standing in a place that looks like a front cover of a magazine. Natalie and I ran to the water wanting to cool down , but the water was cold. I had to make Natalie go in when finally she came in so we could play with each other. After I got out of the water we went and got some lunch. There is a little shack there at the beach and it's the only one. The food isn't five star, but  I like the pizza. After our lunch we played in the sand and walked down the beach with my dad. We found some interesting shells and coral that turned solid. We went back into the water and I tried to get big rocks out of the water. There are  really big rocks next to are beach spot and it's fun to walk on. You got to be careful because my mom could see you and get her camera. After the photo shoot I carried on going on the rocks. There were seagulls and they didn't want to move, but I made them move. After they moved the rocks were all full of poop so I turned around. We went to the car and put our wet cloths in and toured Fort Zachary Taylor. People were setting up a wedding and it was so pretty. We went up on the stairs and there was this beautiful view of the ocean with the sun. I thought it was the perfect place to have a wedding. When we arrived back to the dock we took showers to get the salt water off of us and we headed back to the boat. My Mom and Dad are going out for dinner and we are having honey spiced chicken with beans, Happy Valentines day!

Yet more flowers
We got a wake up call this morning that our house in New York had lost power! The temperature at the time was -10 with a 15 to 20 kt wind, not good! I had prepared the house with antifreeze in the baseboard, water heating and RV antifreeze in the toilets. The water was also turned off but freezing is never good. Luckily, the power came back on after three hours but as I'm typing this I just got another notice that the power is out again! It's now 10 degrees warmer than this morning, all of 0 F. Hopefully, it will come back shortly. 

Meanwhile, the gang went to the beach for the day and had a great time. They got wet, got sandy and got sun, not bad for February. However, as I write this I see that I've lost power at home again in NY but now it's 10 degrees warmer, all the way up to 0F!



3 comments:

Fred Brillo said...

Reading about your preparations for your extended trip away from home really makes me happy that my parents decided to move to Ft. Lauderdale in 1955.

I ll take the occaisional hurricane and hot humid summers any day..when we travel for extended periods, all we do is adjust the airconditioner, trip the breaker for the water heater and turn off the water to the house...

I cannot imagine having to do the whole anti freeze thing for your homes water and waste systems.

Bob423 said...

Fred, I have to go through all those preparations in case I lose electricity. In fact, we did lose power at home two days ago, twice! The first time it was 10 below zero with 15 to 20 kt winds and we lost it for 5 hours, scary! I thought all was okay but then we lost power later that same day for 7 hours when the temperature had risen to a balmy zero. Under such conditions it's comforting to know the house can survive. Even if you don't suffer from cold weather you still ought to turn off the water I would think but that would also require turning off the water supply separately to the dishwasher, refrigerator and washing machine. In case you lose water pressure, those appliances usually require water pressure to close a supply valve, with no pressure they will open and spill whatever water is higher in the house. The dishwasher is especially vulnerable to this type of damage with water spilling out on the kitchen floor. It's a common insurance claim.

Fred Brillo said...

Fortunately, we live in a single story ranch house so there is no pressure head of water.... that last flush of the toilet as my wife prepares to walk out the door takes care of any remaining water...