Insomnia: Redemption (plus bonus door fixing)
I mentioned how I was rudely awakened the other night. I didn't mention what happened that morning proper.
I didn't get up until about quarter after 8, which is an hour or two later than normal on the weekends. I probably went back to bed around 3:30 and had a hard time staying awake, plus any sounds were gone by that point. The cold front had moved through and chilled the house, to the point where we had to put the heat back on. There wasn't anything amiss looking out from the front of the house, but in looking at the backyard, there was a shingle on the ground. Aha. We *did* have strong, damaging winds the night before. I did go out to inspect the house but nothing seemed odd out front. The back, though, had a second loose shingle hanging off the gutter over the master bathroom. Because nothing else seemed unusual, we thought nothing more of it. And, after all, it'll be replaced soon enough.
This morning, though, it was bright and sunshiny when I left for work, and I happened to glance up at the corner of the house. There was a clear shadow on the gutter by my room. A-ha--there *was* a problem with the roof! At least one shingle was off, and it almost looked like you could see something under where the shingles should have been. Interesting. So, when dad finally got home--and he worked probably two hours later than normal--I did eventually show him the corner. By that time the sun was setting on the other side of the house, but you could still see the shingle jutting over the edge of the gutter. And then he said, ...it looks like feathers up there. Yes, like a bird was up there, potentially dead. I whacked his arm and went, SEE?!? Neither of them really believed me. Seriously, I don't wake up at 1:30 AM for no reason. Especially when "no reason" is freaking loud. Hello, vindication.
Meanwhile, when leaving the house this morning, I'd had trouble with our storm door...again. This has been a recurring issue for months now; I think it was on Halloween where I'd neglected to check that it was closed all the way, and it was windy, and my dad saw it had blown all the way back. Oops. Bad me. Ever since then, I've had to manually make sure it's closed, as it wouldn't latch on its own, and in the past few weeks it's gotten really bad. Like, it's been a struggle to get it to unlatch. This morning, I probably spent a good 30 seconds struggling with the door because it didn't want to open; I almost went out through the garage. And, upon returning, I didn't feel like dealing with it, even though I gave it a shot just in case, and ended up going in through the laundry room door. That door is notorious itself, but I wasn't sure I could get in through the back, and I didn't feel like going back into my car to get into the garage. This would also be how I saw our volunteer tomato and sunflower plants, growing on their own in the dog run planters. Heh. They're pretty big! With the impending work, there's no way my father would have planted anything there. Anyway, I've mentioned the door to my dad a few times recently, but today when I told him I couldn't get in the door, he finally broke down and looked at it. There is a problem with the latch itself; with one handle, it'll retract all the way, but with the other, it only goes partway. It's very strange, but this is why the door won't open; if the latch doesn't retract, it won't clear the plate. I forget the full name of it, the latch plate, the hit plate, something like that. Dad thinks he'll need to replace the whole part, the handle/latch mechanism, but for now he simply removed the plate and left just the hole in the doorframe, and like magic it closes on its own yet we can still open the door easy-peasy. That's really all I'm looking for at this point in time. You can't imagine how much of a pain this has been for a while now.
I didn't get up until about quarter after 8, which is an hour or two later than normal on the weekends. I probably went back to bed around 3:30 and had a hard time staying awake, plus any sounds were gone by that point. The cold front had moved through and chilled the house, to the point where we had to put the heat back on. There wasn't anything amiss looking out from the front of the house, but in looking at the backyard, there was a shingle on the ground. Aha. We *did* have strong, damaging winds the night before. I did go out to inspect the house but nothing seemed odd out front. The back, though, had a second loose shingle hanging off the gutter over the master bathroom. Because nothing else seemed unusual, we thought nothing more of it. And, after all, it'll be replaced soon enough.
This morning, though, it was bright and sunshiny when I left for work, and I happened to glance up at the corner of the house. There was a clear shadow on the gutter by my room. A-ha--there *was* a problem with the roof! At least one shingle was off, and it almost looked like you could see something under where the shingles should have been. Interesting. So, when dad finally got home--and he worked probably two hours later than normal--I did eventually show him the corner. By that time the sun was setting on the other side of the house, but you could still see the shingle jutting over the edge of the gutter. And then he said, ...it looks like feathers up there. Yes, like a bird was up there, potentially dead. I whacked his arm and went, SEE?!? Neither of them really believed me. Seriously, I don't wake up at 1:30 AM for no reason. Especially when "no reason" is freaking loud. Hello, vindication.
Meanwhile, when leaving the house this morning, I'd had trouble with our storm door...again. This has been a recurring issue for months now; I think it was on Halloween where I'd neglected to check that it was closed all the way, and it was windy, and my dad saw it had blown all the way back. Oops. Bad me. Ever since then, I've had to manually make sure it's closed, as it wouldn't latch on its own, and in the past few weeks it's gotten really bad. Like, it's been a struggle to get it to unlatch. This morning, I probably spent a good 30 seconds struggling with the door because it didn't want to open; I almost went out through the garage. And, upon returning, I didn't feel like dealing with it, even though I gave it a shot just in case, and ended up going in through the laundry room door. That door is notorious itself, but I wasn't sure I could get in through the back, and I didn't feel like going back into my car to get into the garage. This would also be how I saw our volunteer tomato and sunflower plants, growing on their own in the dog run planters. Heh. They're pretty big! With the impending work, there's no way my father would have planted anything there. Anyway, I've mentioned the door to my dad a few times recently, but today when I told him I couldn't get in the door, he finally broke down and looked at it. There is a problem with the latch itself; with one handle, it'll retract all the way, but with the other, it only goes partway. It's very strange, but this is why the door won't open; if the latch doesn't retract, it won't clear the plate. I forget the full name of it, the latch plate, the hit plate, something like that. Dad thinks he'll need to replace the whole part, the handle/latch mechanism, but for now he simply removed the plate and left just the hole in the doorframe, and like magic it closes on its own yet we can still open the door easy-peasy. That's really all I'm looking for at this point in time. You can't imagine how much of a pain this has been for a while now.