November

[Micanopy]

Went out yesterday shopping for a shed. Not happy to be spending that kind of money, but it will be worth having access to storage. She has lots of junk to store and I listened carefully as she explained that the $6,000 shed was what she wanted. Only I know her and ain’t now $6,000 shed made that can hold her junk. I want the $ 8,000 shed as I see the smaller unit as being a waste of money if it can’t do what we need done.

I learn from others pretty well and I see plenty of folks that have small sheds. Usually they have a pair of them. LOL

12 x 20 is $ 8,000. Typical construction for our area. It will withstand hurricane strength winds for five whole seconds, and that rating is so helpful. Delivery and setup included, tax is additional. YUCK…….

The plan is to get shed, and fill it with all the stuff that is in our extra bedrooms, and the garage. The garage is a finished garage in that it has finished drywall. I plan to remove the garage door, and build a wall in it’s place with windows and a door for entry. This will add 600 square feet to the size of the house and make back every penny spent on the shed.

The garage will be our studio mostly. I will move my tackle stuff in there, and she her art stuff, and other things. The garage will be open to the main house and have a/c and heat. The heat pump unit we have now is too small to manage the extra space, but the good news is it is also twenty years old and needing replaced anyways. I have a good friend in the a/c business and he can get me a large unit and air handler and all for about half what I would pay otherwise.

Then I will add a lean to roof extending out over the new wall and over the concrete drive. She can pull up and hide under the roof while it is raining and take her time opening the door. She is excited to organize her stuff, and I am excited to absorb the garage space into the home. The floor height does not match the main house as it is a tad lower, so a step will be there.

The sales creature at one place seemed to be ambivalent about his hot customer on the lot. At another she had us in the office seated at the desk ready to go. I backed away from her and we left before she could run my credit score. I don’t like being lead about when it involves my money and my home. She seemed to know exactly what to say to my wife, and did her best to somewhat acknowledge me in between commentary with her.

I plan to call about one shed we saw and liked. I pay $500 over the phone, and they come and install and I pay remainder. My gate is 14” so I am limited in width, with 12 feet being max. The wife was trying to pick a shed that match the color of the house. I told her that the shed is always going to look like a shed and will never match the house. Even if it could, we plan to paint the house a different color anyways. She doesn’t care for the mold that grows on the walls that are shaded by the grand daddy oak trees. I think they make a mold resistant paint for that.

The inside is wood studs and I can add plywood shelving fairly easily. It will be expensive to outfit it, but it can be done. The sheds we saw were all wired for a light, but I have no plans to run a hot wire to it. I think some windows will work out just fine. The one we liked had a ridge vent that ran the length of the peak. It will be set back in a shady area so heat is not going to be excessive. Power wash it every year when the mold creeps up on it.

I told her I had no plans to store my zero turn mower in it, so we didn’t need a garage style roll up door, nor double doors that are doomed to fail. They use cheap stuff to build these things. I worked as a carpenter for a period of time and could build a very nice shed that would match the house, but SHE CAN”T WAIT FOR ANY OF THAT. I understand lumber costs are high now anyways. I can always build a shed later and make it a shop with a concrete floor. Man Cave style. That would cost about $20,000 to do right. Currently she has spent that money on her plans to install a metal roof, gutters, tile floors, and new paint and shutters, and landscaping stuff.

I am telling you that girl is as expensive as she is cute. Oh and now she is ready for me to get a dog. Oh joy, a replacement for my little buddy that died a few months back. I cringe because I know all my hard earned training will be utterly destroyed with her spoiling. I know she will do that and I will have to live disappointed in a dog that begs. House training I have down pat. I pee outside and the puppy pees with me, and after a few trips outside he will have it down. “This is where us big dogs go to pee”. This has worked six times in a row BTW.



Anyways, I have been experimenting with various materials and designs and ideas for tying jigs. Attempting various techniques has been both fun and challenging. Dubbing is not as easy at it looks on videos. I need three hands, six thumbs and seventeen fingers to manage everything. Still I shall endeavor to persevere. I plan to gift my experiments to the crappie club members who may not have an hand ties of their own. Put them in bags and let the club sell them to members for $ 1 a bag. I also plan to dump a few pounds of jigs with plastic baits attached, and some jig heads unadorned.

Caught up in the fever of life I am.