I literally came out of my house and saw this guy fishing at sunup right next to the recently installed "Beware of Alligators" sign. Of course I had to go over and say hello and found out the deal of my lake, or body of water, and fishing in Sun City.
He says the fishing is really good, with his largest largemouth bass weighing over 7 pounds. He has lost count of how many ponds and lakes that are within The Bubble but it keeps him busy, and so do the alligators.
Above is the pond directly across from our house. Theresa talked to the guys who put the warning sign in last week and they put it there because, "He lives under the bank right there". That was great for her to hear.
But the angler said the alligators do keep him busy, adding, "The one here is the most aggressive I've seen". He follows him up and down and if he catches a fish it's a race to get it in and off the hook before the gator leaves the water and comes up on the bank. "He's a good one too, about seven feet long". Do you think Theresa's gonna walk Luke at night anytime soon?
And then later in the day it was time for the dreaded task of going furniture shopping. You know me, I'm all about good and clean stuff off Facebook Marketplace, all day and everyday, while my partner, well she does play sometimes, but when it comes to a sofa and loveseat, well, that's gotta be new. Happy wife, happy life.
So we've been looking. Looking at people's furniture acquisitions when they first get here like us. Looking online. Well yesterday we started at FWDG, a higher end furniture store in Beaufort. Huge place, nice saleslady, prices, well, yeah. Not for me.
I'll just use the above as an example. This is what we went in looking for. A sofa with a recliner on each end. Maybe not that style exactly but that was there in the showroom. The Labor Day deal took off 10%. Wow, thanks. So we left. Our goal, like everyone else that looks for furniture was to make it to Ashley Furniture. If you go through all the 9,000 homes in Sun City a majority of them have Ashley furniture inside, and all look very similar.
But before we did the whole tour-de-ripoff I "just want to stop at this place" I said to Theresa. I had seen the below ad on Facebook after the internet had "picked up" that I was looking for furniture.
"Oh yeah, we got our furniture from BoxDrop Beaufort". Um, not too many people say that and you won't see it mentioned in Southern Living Magazine. But why not? So we pulled up, um, yeah
that didn't look promising. I was thinking that this place would be filled with gaudy furniture and rewrapped mattresses. Or maybe the furniture had fallen off a delivery truck, if you know what I mean.
Inside we were pleasantly surprised. Wonderful saleslady. It's a family owned business headed by a Pastor, well there you go. So we started looking around and you know what, this stuff is pretty nice, and comfortable as well. It wasn't Ashley, and it wasn't Facebook Marketplace, it was right were I, and we, wanted to be. I don't think I'm cheap, but more frugal, and realistic.
To be honest furniture is furniture. All these stores are pretty much selling the same stuff, under different names. The only thing about this place is if it's here they have it. The stock changes every week and you get what you get, and we got it.
So rather than spending $6,000 on just one sofa, we were out the door for $2,700 for a legit leather sofa and love seat, each with two recliners. Delivery, on Wednesday, which includes putting it all together ran us $165. And the Labor Day deal saved us the taxes. Game, set, match. After that we headed to St. Helena Island for a Facebook Marketplace checkout or pickup, and after $150 via Zelle, we were driving home with a barely used Ashley Furniture coffee table and two end tables. So for $3,000 we are done.
And while up in Beaufort we stopped by Lowe's to check and see what James Hardie products they had for The Fly Barn. They pretty much have everything I need so I know where to go.
I definitely going this route over the cheaper, and less weather and bug resistant, way of just replacing the T1-11 siding. I'm looking forward to getting going with this, but I have to tackle the fence first.
And then the name, The Fly Barn, that's it. But I did receive an email from someone who suggested The Fly Farm. That stopped me in my tracks but, while it rhymes, the Farm thing just didn't sound right.
A, The Fly Farm, already exists down in Tennessee. It's a wedding venue and if I used that name any Google search would bring you there. A quick search on the internet and "it" already has a database and search history for it.
The power of the internet and AI and whatever is out there is amazing, and scary at the same time. I swear it's going to be the downfall of free thought, creativity, and even the safety and security of the world we live in. I just hope now the internet world up and out there knows we're good when it comes to sofas, love seats, and recliners.