The Roof Saga - Part I.

I haven't been writing much these days because my life has been in an uproar since the beginning of October. First there was the TV interview which was a good thing, I think. (I hedge a little bit here because I have not yet seen the actual footage and I can't recall what I said!) But I had a great time and the producer, Cheryl Webb Scott, was fabulous.

Then there's the show at the Gafney Library with my friend Sharon. The artists reception was last night from 5-7 pm and I was late because I had a gentleman coming out to look at the New Furnace which is leaking a fair amount of oil (!!!).

Add to that the beaver invasion and all it's associated flooding of the yard and septic problems. Plus the little buggers stole my nice birch tree out on the point along with an apple tree that I was fond of.

And then on top of that, Hurricane Irene signed the death warrant for my ancient roofs. The kitchen roof developed 5 leaks, and rain began pouring into the barn that houses my bead shop. (I need to have three buckets handy to collect water which drips inconveniently on the front counter where I display my Daily Bracelets.) So I decided to get them all replaced.

The house is one of those typical old New England styles designed so all of the buildings are connected. (There is a marvelous book called Big House, Little House, Back House, Barn: The Connected Farm Buildings of New England that I discovered soon after moving here.) I'm having three roofs done: the "Little House" which is the kitchen, the "Back House" which is my gallery and mineral room, and the "Barn" which is my bead shop. The back porch roof, which is covered only in tar paper, will get new shingles as well.

All three of the roofs have 3 layers of old shingles that have to be removed first. They started by stripping the kitchen roof. When the building inspector saw the condition of the wood underneath he would not allow them to shingle it until new plywood is installed. The whole disaster was covered with tarps and then it rained for two days.

So today the sun is out and they are back at it. I have to close my bead shop today so they can work. I just went down to make a cup of tea in the kitchen and overheard the man in charge say "this is f---ing bad news" as they tore off the old boards to expose the timbers underneath.

I want to move to Florida and live in a rented trailer.