NOTE:  There are no photos in this post.

 

SATURDAY 10 & SUNDAY 11 August 2024 — Cruise shore excursions, and continuing work on electrical wiring, deep-cleaning, and the CAD layout of our oak floor

 

Saturday 10 … A big day for cruise shore excursions, and continuing electrical work and deep-cleaning

We continued to defer yard work in favor of house projects, a decision made easier by the continued presence of mosquitos.  But first, it was time to make decisions about shore excursions at each port of call for the cruises we currently have booked.

For the Virgin Voyages cruise in December (2024), we have never been to most of the islands we will be visiting, and wanted shore excursions that would let us see them and give us a feel for each place, so we selected and booked a shore excursion for each port-of-call.  I won’t describe the details at this time, but generally speaking, we selected experiences of moderate length with a cultural or nature focus, and a combination of touring on a bus, and moderate hiking/walking.  We did not book excursions that involved snorkeling, beaches, drinking, or ATVs.  With the shore excursions taken care of, Linda texted Nancy to let her know what we had booked.  They had only booked one so far, and we booked the same one.

For our Princess repositioning & British Isles Cruise in April 2025, we selected and booked a shore excursion at each port-of-call except for Brest, France.  Only one (1) shore excursion was on offer for Brest.  It was short, and not very interesting, so we decided to wait and check back occasionally to see if additional excursions became available.  If not, we will just get off the ship and walk around or take a city trolley into the center of town and explore on our own.  We did this quite a bit on our NCL Alaska inside passage cruise and it worked well for us.  This is the only port-of-call in France, and since neither of us has ever been in the country, we have to get off the ship and put our feet on French soil (or pavement, or whatever).

With the shore excursions taken care of, Linda returned to her cleaning project and I finished up the electrical work for the new circuit for the new clothes dryer.  I tested the GFCI receptacle and it was functioning properly.  I put the cover back on the main distribution panel and updated the circuit breaker legend that I maintain in MS Excel.  It’s an 11” wide x 17” tall document that uses up the entire sheet of paper, except for some margin space.  (Our inkjet printer can print up to 13” x 19” format.)

I put all of the suspended ceiling tiles back in place.  Linda helped vacuum the carpet and move the coffee table back into position by the sofas.  We had to move the table as I needed to work directly above where it normally sits.

 

Sunday 11 … A breakfast treat, and trying to finalize the CAD drawing of our oak floor

After our morning coffee, we had pancakes for breakfast.  Pancakes or waffles for breakfast are an occasional treat that is usually reserved for Sundays.

After breakfast, I finalized the CAD drawing for the hardwood floor area/project.  With the changes/additions I had made, I was able to calculate/approximate the linear feet of shoe molding and baseboard that was needed.  We now had a document that provided a fairly accurate estimate of the square feet of flooring to be refinished, the amount of new wood to be installed, and the length of baseboard and shoe molding required to complete the job.  We were able to look up “average costs in our area” online and get a rough idea of what this project should cost.  This will allow us to decide if an estimate/quote is “in the ballpark.”

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