Day 4788 - Groundhog Day

I didn't need Punxsutawney Phil to tell me that we were going to have six more weeks of winter. All I had to do was look out the window. The freezing rain actually stopped around noon today and the temperature eventually climbed to two degrees above freezing. This was good news for anyone out on the roads, but it was bad news for me. The thawing ice on the roof just caused my roof leaks to get even worse. I've got more leaks than I have buckets now. The pumps still aren't working either.

It was hard to get to sleep with all the leaks last night. Every time I'd hear a different cadence of dripping water, I'd jump out of bed and investigate to make sure nothing was being damaged. Janet eventually went to sleep with headphones on to block the noise. Fitbit says I fell asleep too, but it doesn't seem like it.

The first thing I did this morning was empty all the water buckets. The whole process seemed to take several hours. Whenever you remove a full bucket, you have to have another empty one ready to immediately slide under the leak. I try to put a sponge at the bottom of each bucket to dampen the splashback, but as the water rises in the bucket, the sponge becomes useless. Sometimes the leaks are too close together for the dripping water to fall into the five gallon buckets. I also need a few large rectangular plastic tubs like people often store sweaters or winter clothes in. I always have to put a towel under each bucket because water inevitably splashes outside as the water drips. If a leak is near a wall it is very hard to capture the water. Trust me. It's a huge mess.

I typically have to empty the buckets three times a day. I have to do this one more time tonight before I go to bed. There is so much standing water on the roof that I will have to get up on the roof either tomorrow or Saturday, depending on when everything thaws completely. Slush is just as slippery as ice. I think this is probably the worst roof leak we have ever had. Probably because the roof is not in good condition. I called a roofing company today that came highly recommended by a friend we trust. I looked at their website before I called and it seemed like they were quite knowledgable about flat roofs and the problems they create. We'll see. At any rate, an estimator is supposed to call me back tomorrow to set up a time to come over. 

In between all my cleanup woes, I still found time to walk. Dawn remains in the yard for the time being because it is still too dangerous to get her down to the park. Maybe tomorrow afternoon we can finally give her a walk. I was able to walk my entire route in the park today. Except for a few bridges, the roads and pathways were free of ice. There was lots of slush, but it wasn't slippery. I had good traction with my Hoka boots and never felt I was in danger of falling. Yesterday I had fears of twisting an ankle while I was off the trails tramping my way through the icy woods. Today was just a regular long walk. The only difference between any other day was that it was messy. I also got rained on for a bit. The cold rain didn't last long, but my outer jacket was wet by the time I returned home.

I got my steps today and am doing the best I can to manage the leaks. I still feel very tired and discouraged though. This is the rainy season and even if I do get a new roof fairly soon, we're going to have to wait until everything dries out to remove the existing roof and replace it. Lord knows how many times it's going to rain again before that happens. I may have to be dealing with the bucket brigade over and over again until it drives me completely crazy.

The roads are definitely drivable now. I may go to Home Depot tomorrow to get more tubs and five gallon buckets, along with some rags and sponges. I may get a ladder too. It's not really safe for me to climb up the bricks anymore. I'm in a bad enough mood as it is. If I break a leg, things will be even worse.

Hopefully, I'll still like the roofing company after we talk. I'm ready to do this. A new roof on a house like ours will be expensive, but it's clear that I need a new roof a lot more than I need a new car. I'm looking forward to a reasonably normal weekend. Hopefully it will be warm enough to take Dawn on her Sunday outing again. She hasn't had a proper walk since this mess started and she's starting to get cabin fever.

Jasper is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 3769

It's bulky trash removal time again. I've never seen such huge piles of trash in front of our neighbor's houses. Everyone appears to be using the lockdown to clean out their garage and tidy up their yards. We added our own pile on the curb today by cleaning out the tool shed next to our carport.

As the pile became larger I kept thinking "What is this stuff and why did I buy it in the first place?" I have a habit of buying supplies for repair projects and then never getting around to doing the project. When I finally get motivated to start working, I can't find the supplies I bought and go to Home Depot and buy them all over again. I found unopened boxes of tile grout that had become solid bricks after years of sitting on a shelf. There were dozens of tubes of caulk, glue, and paint that had turned solid as well. Some sheetrock I'd bought for repairs had turned into a crumbling, soggy mess after sitting in the leaky shed for way too many years. I found four large and very heavy steel bars that I had bought for something but couldn't remember why. Such a lot of unfinished projects! There were rusty tools that had to be thrown away because they simply didn't work anymore. I found two large boxes full of gimme caps with different corporate logos on them. Lord knows where I accumulated those. We made quite a pile for the trash truck to haul away, but we're far from finished. The other half of the tool shed remains untouched. Sorting through thirty years of accumulated junk felt a lot like clearing out my Dad's house after he died. We weren't trying to save this stuff. It just seemed to grow and multiply.

After today's initial cleanup effort, I'm really dreading cleaning out my office. Nothing is rusty or ruined in here, but a lot of things will never be used again. In my line of work, equipment become obsolete fairly quickly. It's hard to throw the stuff away though. I'll remember how something saved the day twenty five years ago and fool myself into thinking that maybe I'll use it again. Truthfully. I'll probably never use a film camera again. Modern digital cameras are so much better. I'll probably never use most of my audio gear either. I don't play in a band or produce commercials anymore and the equipment is woefully out of date anyway. All this stuff is hard to throw away because there are memories attached to everything. Eventually, the stuff in the office will be just like the stuff in the tool shed. I'll forget what it is and then it will be easy to throw away.

We miscalculated on our walk this morning and ended up getting caught in a thunderstorm. Luckily, we were close to a picnic pavilion when the heavy rain started so we didn't get very wet. It was nice to discover that Dawn wasn't scared of storms at all. She just sat calmly at our side until the storm passed. It's amazing what a calm, well behaved dog Dawn is. She still doesn't like to ride in a car, but other than that, very few things seem to bother her.

We got a lot of rain today but the roof still hasn't leaked. I'm not about to declare victory yet, but things are looking good. When normalcy returns to the world it might be time to make some serious improvements to the house. We need a lot more than a new roof. I think it's time to find a good general contractor who can fix everything. It's probably better to spend the money and have a nice place to live rather than watch it disappear in an investment account when the next pandemic arrives.

One hidden benefit of these crazy times is that we are eating very well. Janet is quite a good cook. I imagine we'll go back to take out meals when things get busy again, but for now life is good. Long walks and great meals are hard to beat.

Marley is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 2160

We went to a rescue event today. Dash was an ambassador for Dalmatian Rescue at Pet Fair. We told him he need to be on his best behavior. This meant no excessive loud barking, no knocking over other vendors booths, and no pooping in front of a crowd of little children. Generally, Dash was pretty good. He was a little too eager to sample the treats at the Hills Science Diet booth, but he let everyone pet him and was very friendly with all the other dogs.

Dot used to go to rescue events like this all the time. Sadly, she had to stay home today. These type of public events are simply too tiring for her. I drove home midway through the event to check on her and she was sleeping peacefully. I took her out to pee and she immediately thought it was dinner time. It was actually only 2:30 in the afternoon, but how was Dot to know? When she wakes up from a nap, she usually eats.

It was good to give Dash an opportunity to do something social today. It has become so difficult and time consuming to care for Dot, that we don't get out much anymore. He was still a little timid, but he seemed to have fun, making friends with other dogs and begging for treats from anyone who would feed him. When the days start to get longer again, we should probably start taking him back to our Wednesday training class. He was never that wild about the training exercises themselves, but he loved seeing the other dogs.

Now that I've had a chance to look around, I realize that we've got quite a mess to clean up in the back yard. Although the tunneling crew did a good job of backfilling their tunnel, there is still leftover dirt and mud all over the yard. I naively thought that the cleanup would be so good that there wouldn't be a trace that anything had happened. They did lay a bunch of 4x8 plywood sheets on the ground to protect the grass, but a lot of the excavated dirt seemed to land elsewhere. I'm probably going to spend the rest of the Winter cleaning mud off my shoes. When I take Dot outside to pee at night, I inevitably step in mud now. I guess stepping in mud is better than stepping in poop.

If I have time tomorrow, I'm going to reassemble the screened in porch that I had taken apart to give the tunneling crew access to the leak. I had thought about replacing the aluminum screen panels and buying some new wood for the finishing trim. In theory this would have been a simple task, but nothing is simple with this house. The extra wide screen material is not generally available in hardware stores anymore and standard dimensions for lumber have changed over the years. To exactly match the existing trim, I would have to buy lumber and have it milled to the proper size. It's not an ideal solution, but I think I'll just reuse the old aluminum screen wire and try my best to replace the old wood trim without cracking or splintering the wood.

I looked at the dehumidifiers they had on display in the store at Lowes and most of them were crap. You could never use one of these smaller machines to dehumidify an entire house and since they were all made of plastic, they probably wouldn't last a year anyway. Commercial dehumidifiers cost well over $1000 and are generally made in the USA. The machines at Lowes cost around $200 and were all made in China. Like everything in life, you get what you pay for.

I doubt that I'll make it to the gym tomorrow. I've still got lots of website work to catch up on and the house is filthy. My shower stall repairs didn't really work either. I'd prefer to take a long nap, but it looks like wall-to-wall chores tomorrow.

Puppies are today's Dalmatian of the Day

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