Razed the Roof
So I said 8-ish, and people started showing up around 8:30, which is about what I had figured. Astrid went to spend the day with Odie the dalmation down the street (a stroke of genius on my part, I thought). Nate was still home, but I plugged in Thomas the Tank Engine and he plunked down in front of it to wait for his grandma to show up. Sometimes TV as babysitter is good. Not often, but sometimes. People showed up until around 10:30 or so, and almost everyone climbed up onto the roof right away, except for the one person who said that she would drive the trucks to the dump and unload. I got up on the roof for a while, and ripped shingles and yanked nails - I got most of the ridge vent off with the help of Brian Towey, who pulled. It took a little while for us to get ourselves sorted out, but it worked out to where we had 2 shingle rippers and a few shovels and a froe-type thinggy, and two wheelbarrows. Some people ripped, some loaded and hauled. 
Chow had set up a little living room on the flat part of the roof over the sewing room, with two folding chairs, a folding table, a bunch of cups with a marker (write your name on your cup!!), some tea, and some Kool Aid. Chas Towey must have gone up and down the ladders 10 times, getting water, going to the bathroom, whatever. As more people started to arrive, I decided it was time to start cooking, so I got down and went to the grocery store for beer, charcoal, chips, soda, and Gojo. Of course the grocery store didn't have Gojo, so I went to our little Ace H/W for that. I went back home, saw this,
, fired up the charcoal, and laid these thick, enormous ribs that were still mostly frozen on the next grill over. They got slow-cooked to perfection like that. By this time, all of the shingle, most of the nails, and all of the tarpaper had been removed. The decking turned out to be slats, and extremely widely spaced slats at that, at least at the peak of the roof. My power bill next summer is going to be about $20. 6 major rotten spots were found, as were 3 ant nests. There were 3 trips to the dump before it closed at noon, and another half-a-load to go after that. They also tore down the old chimney/vent for the long-gone oil furnace, which is when the oops happened. I threw some still-frozen chickens on to cook, and then some frozen burger patties. This started enticing everyone to stop the fighter practice
and come on down. We had fun sitting around talking in my livingroom while everyone ate ALL of the food. Nate and I had made icecream a week or so before, so I got that out and served it up, and it got snarfed too.
I kicked almost everyone out around 2:00 or so, because most people wanted to go to Maddalena & Athos's baby shower and needed showers first.
All of the pictures, of course, are here: http://www.franklinstpiper.com/gallery/House?page=3
All of the people I named yesterday are completely awesome.
Today, Chow spent the day at home hauling sheets of plywood up and cutting out the slats. Efenwealt and Melrakki showed again how fantastic they are, and Mike/Alexandre, son of Artus, came over and helped too. Our contractor came over to discuss the plans, and to loan us his big tarp.
I'd like to point out that my favourite person in the entire world is Chow, who has worked beyond the point of reason and exhaustion.
Chow had set up a little living room on the flat part of the roof over the sewing room, with two folding chairs, a folding table, a bunch of cups with a marker (write your name on your cup!!), some tea, and some Kool Aid. Chas Towey must have gone up and down the ladders 10 times, getting water, going to the bathroom, whatever. As more people started to arrive, I decided it was time to start cooking, so I got down and went to the grocery store for beer, charcoal, chips, soda, and Gojo. Of course the grocery store didn't have Gojo, so I went to our little Ace H/W for that. I went back home, saw this,
, fired up the charcoal, and laid these thick, enormous ribs that were still mostly frozen on the next grill over. They got slow-cooked to perfection like that. By this time, all of the shingle, most of the nails, and all of the tarpaper had been removed. The decking turned out to be slats, and extremely widely spaced slats at that, at least at the peak of the roof. My power bill next summer is going to be about $20. 6 major rotten spots were found, as were 3 ant nests. There were 3 trips to the dump before it closed at noon, and another half-a-load to go after that. They also tore down the old chimney/vent for the long-gone oil furnace, which is when the oops happened. I threw some still-frozen chickens on to cook, and then some frozen burger patties. This started enticing everyone to stop the fighter practice
and come on down. We had fun sitting around talking in my livingroom while everyone ate ALL of the food. Nate and I had made icecream a week or so before, so I got that out and served it up, and it got snarfed too.
I kicked almost everyone out around 2:00 or so, because most people wanted to go to Maddalena & Athos's baby shower and needed showers first.
All of the pictures, of course, are here: http://www.franklinstpiper.com/gallery/House?page=3
All of the people I named yesterday are completely awesome.
Today, Chow spent the day at home hauling sheets of plywood up and cutting out the slats. Efenwealt and Melrakki showed again how fantastic they are, and Mike/Alexandre, son of Artus, came over and helped too. Our contractor came over to discuss the plans, and to loan us his big tarp.
I'd like to point out that my favourite person in the entire world is Chow, who has worked beyond the point of reason and exhaustion.