Ouch!

We’ve recently found a way to spend a whole huge chunk o’change on something that’s absolutely important to our wellbeing but, alas, not terribly exciting. As I might have mentioned before our poor elderly house needs a new roof. Badly. The only company who responded to our request for an estimate also happens to be the best if not the cheapest one around. It’s been in business almost as long as our house has so that’s gotta count for something. It’s a very good thing that I put aside some of my inheritance from my late adopted mom. (Thanks, Mommy! Miss you!) Because the rising price of oil has caused the price of roofing shingles to also increase and of course we need to have the whole shebang stripped right down to the rafters. I had a big concern about all my stashes and equipment that are stored in our knee-wall attics but apparently the insulation covered in plastic sheeting should prevent most of the debris from getting into things. I’ll need to throw more sheeting over anything not in covered boxes just to be sure. And I’ll probably be hauling stuff out and vacuuming afterward anyway. But at least I don’t have to try to fit it all in the inner rooms while it’s all going on! That would just be too much.

I don’t have the worst job however. T-Man had to climb up to cut some branches away from the garage. There were walnut and chestnut branches of a pretty hefty size that met over the garage. The estimator guy was kind enough to supply us with a roofer’s brace that nails into the peak but T didn’t need it. Luckily he is fairly comfortable with heights. It’s a job that would cost big bucks if we had to get someone professional to do it so it’s great if we can manage ourselves. T still has to remove some arborvitae branches over the house and he also wants to check on the eaves while he’s up on the ladder because there may be some rotting wood that needs replacing. Then there’s the debris that needed to be dealt with! Good thing we have a chipper. Noisy old beast but it works great.

While we’re at it, we will have the company replace the flashing on the skylights and chimneys and add a roof peak vent system. Since the roofers don’t have the tools or skills for it, we have to pay for a professional to do the chimney flashing which has never been done correctly before. After all that someone needs to scrape and paint the eves. I’m sure as heck not going to fuss around under there 25 feet off the ground myself! Eep. But it really needs help badly since it’s all dirty and peeling. This last weekend T-Man painted all the lower wooden slat part of the house. Above that is white stucco so it just needs maybe a light pressure washing to clean it up. After all this house repair, it’s going to look pretty good. As long as you don’t notice the fence is falling over. It’s just never-ending. Sigh. Of course the only people I know who ever get it all done then promptly sell their house, so maybe never finishing is a good idea? I really don’t want to move!

In fibre news, I’ve gotten all the way around the Circus Blanket with single crochet. It isn’t perfect (a bit thick and some of the mess shows through at the back side) but it’s the best I could do. Hopefully some of that will disappear or at least blur when I finish the whole thing in the washing machine. Now I’m hoping that I have enough black yarn left to go all the way around a second time with a pointed edging I came up with. It seems to be taking forever but it’s a gigantic piece of fabric. Good thing it’s a bit cool today even though it’s mostly sunny. A perfectly lovely early summer day actually.