I have an entourage...

Okay, so my entourage is only 4 and they all have fur, but when I'm working outside, they trail me back and forth. If I break for lunch or a snack, they're right there; if I walk around a building, they're on my heels (just in case it's interesting, I guess). Not exactly rock-star status, but I do have a following?

So what's up in my world, you ask... Well, I'm up on the roof again. It just happened that the Universe (via Bill) donated a few carloads of 2x4's and deck boards and 2x6's. Since my finances went out the door when I paid back property taxes (had house refinance this summer, they always wrapped the back taxes into it, but they didn't this time; Sera handled the refinance, so I wasn't aware of this until August) and house insurance went up (August surprise, again) and I actually had a licensed carpenter (!! who, me? - older friend my sons hung out with) 'pitch off' 1/2 the main house (where the leaking redeveloped, and these folks like to use new materials) --- suffice it to say, I couldn't scare up another $500 to finish pitching the roof across the addition.

But there... growing in the yard... was a perfectly good pile of wood. It all seemed to fit together just fine to whack a 'snow support' over the addition - I empathetically refuse to consider this a deck. It happens to look like a deck just because that's the wood I had available to use, but I wouldn't have put out this energy now for a deck if this roof wasn't a continual winter hazard -- I would work hard though for a 'snow support' protecting the old roof.

No one thought this was the best plan, but it was do-able. I had enough 2x4's to double them as framing supports, under 7 feet long, so these became cross-beams between 2x6's. Three sets of them spanned a major portion of the addition, under which is my room. I had 3 main goals to accomplish with this: keep snow weight off the old roof, which is weak and a bit warped; prevent ice berms along the edge that back up water and create leaks at -20 temps (requiring chiseling and shoveling, which tears up the rolled roofing); create an air space, which is mostly missing in the 2x4 original roof design (which I didn't do!) during the worst of the cold.

Everytime I checked the winter forecast and it said, "cold and snow," I'd get jittery about what to do with this portion of the roof. I had a stack of used deck boards but not much else until Bill volunteered some of the wood stacked about his place "enough to get the job done". If the Universe is going to provide the materials, I'm going to put them where I think they'll do the most good; being on the ground doesn't accomplish much, so figured I'd put them on the roof.

Depending on what comes first, this is either a "2012 observation platform" or a temporary fix until we have a spare $500 to complete the pitch-roof Tom started, at which time I can pull this down in an afternoon and put a deck somewhere else. Odds of us having a few spare $500's around here doesn't look likely, and the other 1/2 of the main structure would benefit from continuing Tom's design - but that section isn't critical or leaking.

I'm thinking I'll cover this platform with a few tarps when the snow flies to prevent icing on 'the real roof'. I'm totally expecting this to be a huge bonus in the next few months when I'm not mucking around on the ##@! (gol-darned) roof at subzero temps. I'll post a picture when I take one, and I did meet a man who refused to let me tackle this project on my own, so I've had some back-up and experienced help (i.e. I'm not winging it totally on my own).

Whew. Getting this roof secured is a huge relief.

I do have a picture to share, but it's plants. I found something I can grow? Tobacco... Sure, my cantelope are only slightly larger than baseballs, but check this out:

Not a great picture, but the only one my son was willing to take when I interrupted his football game or such - does show how happy these plants seem to be, despite late planting and shade. I know, there are other tobacco-type products in greater demand, but I have my own lifetime habits - two in the picture, if you spotted the coffee cup. I won't get into health issues, since it seems everything Big Money touches is corrupted - chemicals in cigarettes, meats, veggies, shampoos and deodorants. And most the folks that scowl at my smoking happily toss back alcoholic beverages, so...

I won't mention the economy; I think we all know we're screwed until major changes occur (like reclaiming true US currency). I compared it to an elephant in the room, and all the professional economists are busy dealing with the crap but never realizing the elephant's there. Once the elephant is removed, the rest can be cleaned up. Shoveling it from one side of the room to the other is an exercise in futility - does make my 'snow support' seem downright logical in comparison.

If a person thinks we're in for a rough ride, then battening down the hatches is simply wise. I think they're b.s.'ing when they declared "the recession's over" - the same day Sera's work laid off another person. The good news is, folks are starting to be aware of the true problem, folks I meet on the street or at my job. Five years ago, I'd get a blank look if I mentioned some simple monetary facts, now others are aware and agreeing. This is a step in the right direction, unless you happen to be part of the elite monetary powers. I don't know anyone that qualifies, but someone's making a profit off the interest generated by the Federal Reserve - money won't be worth much, but asset ownership is going into the hands of the 'paper holders'. Ungodly suggestion off the internet, wherein the Federal Reserve (remember, private bankers) may buy up housing from banks "to help the economy" and just hold for resale... or creating serfs living on the master's property again?

Does anyone else realize how easily we could 'declare US of A bankrupt', close it down and reopen the next morning as 'the Collective States of America'? Old debts die with the old country, and nothing anyone could do about it. Clean slate, issue proper currency and take back our country. Does this make more sense than having so many foreign and international corporations 'owning' us? It seems logical to me, but then I built a 'snow support' against the advice of pretty much everybody because 'it felt right'.

For me, the next few months will prove if I'm weather-wise or not. For the country, the next few years will prove if we've got the brains to survive. In the meantime, I'll stock up on coffee and tobaccy and nettle for tea. Haven't tried growing coffee beans yet.

Life... Playing Dodgeball with the Universe

I was recalling days past and the game of Dodgeball in gym; I hated being a target and knowing the goal was to smack me as hard as possible from multiple directions and put me out. The way life's going, I realized this is a bit like the Universe, lobbing balls at folks and everyone trying to dodge 'em as best they can... And knowing full well one day "we'll all be out".

You're knowing what I'm talking about, I bet. Start feeling a little good about where you are in life, even if it's a bit patched up with hot dogs and beans, and then "never saw that one coming - whack!" Sometimes they're just small fluffy balls and don't sting too much, sometimes it's like a rubber-coated bowling ball plowing into you. Usually they're just 'life balls' one deals with, like suddenly discovering a piece of glass on the ground when you're barefoot.

Sometimes it seems you've attracted the attention of the Universe, and in Dodgeball, this is really not a good thing! As a kid, I'd try to keep a low profile in the back, but as fewer players were left standing, I knew I was going to attract attention -- really now, I had no desire to get hit!

Some would say, "It's just a game" referring to gym class, yet others would say the same thing about Life. From my perspective, all I saw were balls comin' at me.

A few unexpected balls landed lately, from a vet ER on Saturday and dog with a shunt in her leg for infection to Sera's car 'kind of requiring immediate mechanical attention'. Luckily a few 'happy balls' landed and made it possible to slog our way through a house-loan refinance (I won't mention daughter lost track of a few payments and went into a spiral catching up to appease the bank). Whappity-whappity-whappity-whap. Three Big Ones mostly targeting her, and she had the dubious honor of assisting the vet while the dog was being cut, cleaned, and stitched.

I caught the balls labeled "so the roof hasn't leaked until now, but with the really heavy rain, pieces of the bathroom ceiling will be plopping down" and "brake caliper time" and "strange lights on the dash". Truth of it, strange lights in the sky don't bother me as much as the ones on the dash do - luckily, this one was self-healing, car was just 'having a moment'.

So... 4500 miles spun in two months, two tires replaced and rotated to resolve a 60-mile an hour wobble, and The Day of the Corn. Oh, yes - that day. We'd finally switched the kitchen counters out, had the 'new-used' on the porch since December; we all know the fun of old copper water lines and moving sinks, I think. This did entail a bit of kitchen rearranging and building a 'jar shelf' while tearing out a cupboard, but that's... how it fit. Needed a new faucet, anyway, so did this while we were at it.

Everyone thinks I'm nuts when I bring home 10 dozen ears of corn to freeze up, but I've noticed they enjoy eating it (actually, Val's been eating it already 'as a snack' and I'm not too fond of this - she didn't help, and it's 'for winter'). Straight from the farmer's garden to the house, shuck it, blanch it, cut it, freeze it. That was the plan. Except there was a major puddle under the sink where a connection had got bent and failed.

Of course the kids were gone, unless one counts a 12-year old as a potential assistant, which made it My Problem. Unloading under-sink stuff, mopping, shutting off water to the house and flipping off the pump switch, finding various wrenches, towels, light source, plumber's tape; twisting into a pretzel to fit under the sink mildly cussing and filled with trepidation. Been there, haven't you? There's always the thought that you might really screw something up and the ensuing flood waters will engulf your house like quicksand.

The whole time I was mucking with this, I knew I had 10 dozen ears of corn waiting to be processed. Good news is, a few hours later I was able to get back to the corn, which took me into the later hours of the day.

While back on the roof... a family friend - also a carpenter - had the time right now to take on 'a real fix', so he's working with Dennis to build a proper slant over half of the house, i.e. the half that has all the fittings coming out over the bathroom. His way will also create a slant over the addition I'm in, taking the snow-weight off the shoddy flat roof (2x4 construction with 2-foot spacing) and adding an air gap. He'll frame it up, and we can take it from there, meaning once this is done, I can get on with the bathroom repairs and get the other tub in that's been sitting in the yard for a year.

See - 'living' is the stuff you do between balls, 'Life' is how you handle them. "That's life" - right, easier to say when it's not you behind the ball, hmm?

Oh, yeah, I also found out, while pulling the dryer and washer and wall out to get to the water heater for the vent pipe, that there is a faint whiff of foul stench, reminiscent of Decaying Rodent. This is quite possible, but it's one of those things if you ignore it long enough, it goes away; the only other option is to squiggle under the crawl space and try to locate the culprit, which is its own nightmare. We all know that smell, too, don't we?

Now then, hope the balls heading at you are all fluffy happy ones. :)