Betcha been wondering where I’ve been.  What, no one noticed I hadn’t posted anything in the last three weeks?  Please say that’s not so!

It’s been a wild ride.

First, there was the horrendous windstorm – we had gusts to 69 mph.  I didn’t think much of it until the next morning when I took Cody out and found shingles all over our backyard:

Those couldn’t possibly be our shingles, could they?  Surely not.

Then I looked up:

Then, eventually, I walked around to the front of the house:

Yep.  The roof the last owner put on in 2013 had been partially blown off by the wind.

First I called our insurance company.  The good news was that wind damage is covered; the bad news was that we have a $3,000 deductible.  I had agreed to the high deductible to keep the premium down in order to qualify for the mortgage when we bought the house, and then I forgot to change it.  *sigh*  The insurance adjustor sent a roofing consultant out, and it was determined repair would cost just under $3,500.  They would gladly send me a check for $500.  We were free to use whatever contractor we wished.  Meanwhile, the insurance company’s consultant had tarped that section of the roof that was damaged, which took some of the pressure off when lining up our own contractor.

The prior owner had used a fly-by-night contractor, and even if we could have found him, we were reluctant to use someone who had already done a crappy job.

So, we called the roofing company we had used for our prior house, Wm. C. Rott & Son, and had them come out to assess the damage.  Yes, the damaged section could be repaired, but they couldn’t guarantee the rest of the roof wouldn’t fail.  Since that coincided with our own opinion, and since we already had doubts about the work that had previously been done and didn’t want to worry about that old roof for the rest of our stay in the house, we decided to just have the whole thing torn off and redone.  At the same time, we would have the crumbly old chimney removed – it was no longer of use because the furnace and hot water tank both vent out the back of the house.  Repointing, capping off, and re-flashing would cost almost has much as having the darn thing removed.  And really, those birds could find somewhere else to build their nest, right?

The additional good news is that my credit union gladly gave me a loan in an amount sufficient to cover the new roof and at the same time pay off two existing debts so as to keep the monthly payments the same.  The additional bad news is that I still had to cough up the $2800 work deposit out of my steadily dwindling savings account.

Mother Nature, at least, cooperated.  Snow this year has been light, and the weather warmed up sufficiently for the roofing work to be done.  As I drove around town, I saw lots of contractors – roofers, window installers, electricians – taking advantage of the break to complete outside work.

We got the call from the scheduler – the work could be started tomorrow.  Unfortunately, “tomorrow” was the very day my husband was returning home from the hospital after emergency surgery for a ruptured appendix.  We would have to wait.

But Mother Nature continued to be kind.  A week later, hubby was well enough to tolerate the disruption and felt himself able to go outside occasionally to “supervise” (typical male).  I called and asked to be put back on the schedule, thinking it probably would be several weeks.  But it was only a matter of a few more days!  Apparently we were rescheduled to the top of the list instead of the bottom, like most other companies would do.

Today, the work was completed, and we are very happy.  The workers (Steve, Josh and Jeff) left everything clean and removed all debris – they even wiped down a few handprints that had been inadvertently left on the white siding, and when a scratch was discovered on the brown gutter, Steve got some paint from his truck and touched up that minor defect.   I would recommend Wm. C. Rott & Son to anyone who’s looking for roofing work in the Western New York area.  We’ve used them twice, and would definitely use them again.

Some additional good news:  I got my very first order for a print of one of my photographs.  Guess that makes me a “real” photographer after all!

May your home be solid and your weekend worry-free.  Personally, I intend to just sit back and play videogames.

“Snowy Path Into Dark Woods”

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Images by Cordelia’s Mom/TeddyRosalie Studio, except as noted