Making his Mark at Winding Oaks

In my last post about our subdivision pool, you saw a picture of Ripley assisting our neighbor who has been the moving force behind getting this project done. Even the current board of the subdivision would not disagree, and most of them were invisible over the summer as they stayed in their northern homes and seemed impervious to resident concerns that the project - promised for completion by this date LAST YEAR, was that important to them. Elizabeth and I were told by the President and Vice President of the Board that "our plan is to have this open by October (2010)" when we contemplated buying this house, which is very conveniently located in close proximity to the pool.

The Vice President of that board was defeated, while the President stayed on, but found himself surrounded by newer members more willing to spend money on improvements. One of those improvements was the park surrounding the pool, which I've also blogged about in terms of clearing out ten years of neglected debris and overgrown tree canopy. Again, credit flows to the man in the picture, who suggested it would take more than one day of labor to do this correctly and convinced the board to spend a little more to get a lot more.

The man pictured is Mark Hullinger, who bought a home here over a year ago, and proceeded to rebuild it from the foundation up. Mark also decided my own comments, snide as they might have been, warranted an "official" (although unelected) response, and he created his own Winding Oaks News Service, posting on YouTube his progress reports. They were quite good, and had very professional production values, including a nice intro to each report. Google Winding Oaks News Service, and you'll find multiple reports. When it appeared Mark had taken over the role of keeping residents informed (which the board had not been doing), I deferred to his work.

I'm going to lead a "DRAFT HULLINGER" movement at the next board election, as we need more resident Trustees, and Mark has earned this job if he'll take it. I'm already on a condo board for our rental unit, so one is enough for me.

Yes, that IS water in the pool. Mark says we have another week of minor work, but the fence is now in, and the restrooms are coming along so we can get Board of Health approval. Believe it or not, we are required to have diaper changing stations in both the mens and ladies rooms. I asked Mark who in this neighborhood of septuagenarians and octogenarians needed a diaper changing station. He answered "I guess it Depends".

Pool Project Progress

The pool project made some strides, but only because two men pushed vendors to perform and stay on schedule to complete the job by Christmas. Ripley is thanking one of them in the picture, and I add my thanks to Mark Hullinger, who is not even on the board, but has been the neighbor who embraced this project and decided that if it was going to get done, he was going to have to push all parties to complete it. Mark has done some fantastic videos on YouTube, very professionally done. Google his name Mark Hullinger or winding oaks pool update to see some of his excellent work. Ripley is standing next to his video gear in the small inset picture.

Bill Urban, the other guy I reference, is the Board VP, and fully engaged once he and his wife returned. I've seen Bill and Maggie doing other things for the neighborhood as well, including putting up Christmas lights at our entrances. This week the board will meet to approve a budget and several other matters, including choosing the pool colors after Mark sent out a ballot. In future blog entries, you will see what color palate was selected.

So now, we have gotten to the point where the primary concrete layer is installed, which allowed the "shade structure" people to come in on a Saturday and complete their part of the deal. In the next few days, fencing will go up, and repairs to the pool building will start. Mark and Bill promise this job will be completed by Christmas, and hopefully they'll be right. I'm just happy that somebody on the board cares - Lord knows some of our absentee board members have been less than engaged. That's what elections are for, I guess.

Christmas in Florida for the birds

That title reflects not my sentiment, but that of my wife, who today made an effort to get into the holiday spirit, and put out a few of our holiday decorations. She also purchased some new stuff, including a beautiful table runner with cardinals. Cardinals are also "the birds on the bat" and trigger thoughts of St. Louis, where we lived for almost thirty years.



So, here we find ourselves, living full time in Florida and one of us is enjoying that more so than the other. I'll let you figure out which is which. All I can say is "thanks, Caitlin, for getting pregnant a mere six weeks after I sold our Missouri condo, and eliminated a place where your mother could stay now that she's a proud grandmother. If you and Matt had succeeded just six weeks sooner, I'd not be in the perpetual doghouse with Ripley.

Oh well, your mother has started to make a Christmas effort, and we started with birds. A funny story to share about those wreaths hanging outside, which ties into the theme here. In the big house in Missouri, one year we had a seasonal wreath hanging on the front door. We tended to come and go through the garage, and unbeknownst to us, a small bird had taken up residence in the wreath. One day, opening the front door (which naturally swings inward), a bird flies out of the wreath and into the house. Today, when I helped change out the wreaths from the autumn wreath to the Christmas wreath, extra care was taken to avoid bringing any birds into the house. Of course, this being Florida, it wasn't a bird we were concerned about - it was the little gecko lizards.

To quote the little green guy on television, "fifteen minutes could save you....." but can these first glimmers of holiday cheer save Christmas? I sure hope so. Otherwise, I'm looking at a cold and long Winter in a very hot place.

The Perpetual Pool Project

Today, the cement trucks were expected to arrive, but of course they didn't, because this is the infamous Winding Oaks Pool Project. Disappointment and delay seem to have been the bywords for this on again, off again, costly project. It involved one arguably incompetent "engineer" suggested by the management company. The engineer was eventually fired, and the referring management company subsequently went south as well. The new engineer had to almost rewrite the entire project due to the many mistakes found - mistakes we homeowners paid for of course. I hope we remember this when it comes time to retire certain members of the homeowners association board.

Aside from this being "three years in the making" of which we've personally waited 14 months and counting, you can see that it is actually closer to completion than starting. I chose to use a larger picture which shows in detail the vapor barrier and the metal lattice work awaiting the pour of the initial "lift" of cement. A finish layer will then follow for painting. The pictures are taken from end to end, along the length of the new pool. The new pool is longer than the old, but not as deep. It does slope down to 4.5 feet where two defined lap lanes are established. Elizabeth hopefully will be able to get back to swimming after the first of the year, as that is one exercise she enjoys without too much pain.

The pool is convenient, I'll give you that, as it's just thru the recently thinned out trees behind our condo. Newer members of our board insisted on spending the money necessary to clean up the "park" area around the pool, and it's so much nicer now. In several months, I'll try to report on the fully completed project, which comes with several newer features like a "shade structure" which is a huge awning at one end of the pool. One of the residents has done a thorough job of chronicling the progress these past several months. His reports are on YouTube under Winding Oaks News Service or the like.

I'm ready for the "just add water" stage, but for now the signs that say "no diving" really have a consequence should one try.