May 2023 Island Trip – Day 6

We had late breakfast, and then headed to the garden to address the home stretch of the irrigation. The long and short of all the steps is that we got there! The renewed garden is now on auto-water! The tenants are delighted! While they enjoy watering, this is a better thing.

Our tenants finished refurbing, minus more gravel, the steps between the two perennial garden beds today. These are steps that were created after I left, post high school, and were overgrown by the time I needed to come back. I knew they were there, but couldn’t see their structure. They’re not fancy, and they’re lovely in a perfectly country way. We think the iron pieces are tractor parts. They were buried under turf.

My DH’s boss and his son stopped by for a lovely visit. They live on an adjacent island. Mark was interested in some steel shelves we don’t need, and (bonus!) two boxes of plastic shelves minus their uprights. The uprights are available from the manufacturer. I am still astonished at how good it feels to see things go to others who can use them. And to a friend is a big bonus. We had a relaxing lunch before they headed to town and the ferry.

I joined a meeting, via Zoom, with our Mainland HOA, who has been begging for residents to join the board or the architectural control committee (ACC). Having been utterly ignored by the ACC in the past when reroofing our house, my folks house, and painting our house, I decided to step up and join the ACC. The meeting was a tad long-winded, the Zoom call dropped after 40-minutes, and there was some tech stumbles getting it reestablished 😏, but overall it was very worthwhile. Evidently there are only a few ACC ‘change requests’ a month from home owners. My position is that they deserve a prompt response. Also, the acceptable building materials specifications listed in the HOA CCRs are woefully out of date. Residents also deserve a current list of, say, roofing materials ‘makes and models.’

Tim joined us for dinner. This was our one chance this trip for the three of us to get together. After dinner our tenants invited us down for a drink. I wanted to connect Tim and our tenants. Tim is a long term Islander. Our tenants are feeling a little bit of ‘Island freeze’ as they work on their business. The first question out of everyone’s mouth is, “How long have you been here.” If the answer isn’t long enough, you aren’t always accepted/taken seriously/given the time of day. If you know the right folks… That can help. Tim is the ‘right folks.’