The Sky is Falling (Day 2)

 

How about that? I managed to get roofing AND a Doge image all at once!!! Inordinately proud of myself!

So where was I? Ah yes! More to the story... an entire day-full of thrills and spills!

So Day 2 dawned equally hot and sunny and sure enough, the crew was back and whaling away up yonder, applying the now correct Shasta White rolled roofing and redoing the flashing and edging.  I neglected to mention several pertinent fun-facts from our first day. Like the company estimated out all  the materials based on some satellite image from a company A1 contracts with. I had noticed on our contract that the figure of our house's square footage seemed high, but I (incorrectly) assumed that when they got here, they'd measure the correct square footage: pretty simple in our case as our  house is a large rectangle (21' x 48") with a smaller square attached (my studio at another 20" x 20"). They had used the latest fly-over drone technology (or something) to get 1800 square feet. It's actually closer to 1400. That is a 400 square foot difference, right? So I pointed out to A1 that they were wrong, prompting Bob and the supervisor (*1) on duty to measure our house and guess what? I'm now arguing that they're charging us for way more material than we needed. This caused Corrine back at the office to re-revise the figure down, all the while arguing with me about waste from cutting, how I didn't know how these things were measured etc etc. I explained how I work with materials and if you'd asked me to measure, I'd have a whole lot less waste than that!!!  Anyway, the work proceded.

That's us "raising the roof". But we looked way less chipper. There were a few "light-hearted" moments. On Day 2, as it was not as noisy and still hot, I repaired to the bedroom with Robin the Good (who thought hanging out at Bob's studio was just weird) where we have air conditioning. I was laying on the bed, playing a game on my phone when suddenly, the sky light gets lifted up and there's all these young guys and I eye to eye. We all laughed and I shut off the air conditioning and exited the room. (*2)

Did you think that was the end of this tale? Hahahhahaha! I then realized that if there was all this scrap left over, it's our property (as has been argued that the bread and other things on the table at restaurants). So I informed Donny at A1 that I wanted all the scrap as we're handy and could use it for repairs around our property. (*3) Turns out it went into yesterday's dumpster as "most people" (*4) don't want it. So further arguing insued and they actually conceded another mark-down on our bill for unused material. And then the supervisor left us a nice pile of under layment and rollled roofing and some aluminum edging and plywood...

As the crew was finishing up, I put in what I hoped was my last phone call to A1 headquarters. I had a figure (still way higher than I liked but significantly lower than their originally revised materials charge) and asked Donny to confirm how much the check should read. He quoted me a figure a couple hundred dollars higher (oh please god will this never stop!??!!?) and I asked (blood pressure rising yet again) where he got that from. He said, "Oh, we had to charge you for the building permit". I explained that Nick (the salesman) told us it was included in his quote. So they took that off, too. Major weasels!! Trying to add on from ne end of this job to the next!!!

This roofing adventure was a struggle from beginning to end. (* 5) Nothing pleasant about any of it. It always seems to me that if you spend thousands of dollars, there should be some modicum of pleasure involved. Mostly it seems to be the other way around. The roof is done and we have nothing but praise for the roof crew. The roof looks great, they cleaned up admirably, they were pleasant. But the company. Yikes. And now I've received phone calls and emails attempting to solicit "positive feedback" and "great reviews". Hahahahahhaahahahhahhahhhahhaha!!!! We're awaiting today's rain, hoping for no leaks.

(*1) Josh the supervisor corroborated our suspicions that this satellite technology was often incorrect... and very expensive. The supervisor also said that he'd worked on a job where the drone had measured the square footage of the wrong house!! Sometimes, a good old tape measure and a couple of sentient beings is all you need for accuracy.

(*2) Good thing I had clothes on. A bit later, a hammer fell through the skylight. Thankfully I wasn't there for that!

(*3) Like there's a leak in Neko's horse barn that we can fix. Although we all got a good laugh when I suggested maybe A1 would like to estimate that. Probably charge us $10,000!!!

(*4) We are NOT "most people".

(*5) There was a cheerful note on our contract that, "It's going to be noisy and messy so you might consider spending the day elsewhere". Wow. If we hadn't been here, the office people would have forged ahead with up-charging and over selling and we'd be a whole lot more poorer!!!

Up On The Roof (Day 1)

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_ksNvivbEI

                                                  

(Click on the above link for musical accompaniment!)

There they are... up on the roof.  The start of our sky-high adventure. I'm surprised this photograph came out at all as we were huddled down in Bob's studio, avoiding the inevitable noise and danger- like partial sheets of old festering plywood flying off the roof and landing stuck in the ground. It looked like a hurricane had hit!

But I'm ahead of myself. The first thing that happened was a truly gigantic truck arrived and somehow wedged its way up our driveway to drop off... our new roof in bundles.

Oh boy! I'm like a little kid! I LOVE when huge equipment comes to call. But in all honesty, Bob and I agreed that our roof could have come on a small pick up truck because here's the delivery:

That's it! It sat for a few days with Bob and I tempted to rip open the packaging to make sure the right color roofing material (Shasta White) had been delivered. (it wasn't...) But we were afraid if we "tampered" with the package we wouldn't be able to return it if it wasn't the right stuff. Which, of course, it wasn't but more on that later...

So the roof crew arrived on a day that promised to be super hot with really high humidity and we both thought, "Nope they're not coming! Probably put it off for cooler weather." But show up they did at 7:45 Monday morning. The crew all looked to be about 18 years old and only one young man (besides the supervisor) spoke English. But hats off to them! They got right to work, ripping and pulling up all our nasty, rotting roofing and throwing it down with gusto, as referenced earlier. See above picture of Men on Roof.

This is where problem #1 occurred. Our roof is stripped, we're waiting for the next stage... and we hit a major snafu. The company is suddenly quoting us another astronomical amount of additional money for "decking" (the plywood or similar sheeting). All of it needs replacement- entirely understandable as we knew there were leaks and spongy places. Bob went up and corroborated. But how did we think this was included in the price? (*1)I understood that the roof guys woudn't know the full extent of plywood needing replacing but let's just say that when a figure more than another third again of what we were quoted was bandied about, I freaked out. Needless to say, steam (along with blood and bile) started shooting out the top of my head. Turns out this must be why our contract was so much cheaper than the other companies. Bait and switch indeed! 

(Some of the lovely rotten boards pulled off of our roof.) I was on and off the phone all day, yodeling at some smooth office dude named Donny who kept saying, "Gosh I understand you're upset..." They started by quoting us 60 sheets (!!!!) of substrate at $150 a sheet. I was truly stuck between a rock and a proverbial hard place as the roof is removed and no one can get to work until we "approve" the cost of the sheathing. If I refuse, we've already paid a deposit and have no roof. I argued with these weasels back and forth saying I could go to Lowe's (or Home Depot) and without a contractor's discount, this stuff would cost me $17 a sheet! Quite the mark up!! And I had the quotes from thee other companies that came in- for the same material- at $90 a sheet (still plenty of mark up). How 'bout this company blithely requesting an additional $9000??!!??!?! And it's 100 degrees and humid and I'm now foaming at the mouth.

As anyone who knows me knows, I am nothing if not presistent (as our my sisters- especially Beatrice). I kept calling back and suggesting I/WE WAS/WERE NOT HAPPY. Through much sheer tenacity, I got them to lower the cost of the material and saved us over $3000. Yes, we still had to cover the additional plywood, but at a much lower cost. (*2)

This is the pile of materials and tools at the end of Day 1. I'm sure the roofers were exhausted. I was exhausted, Bob was exhausted and we were not happy customers. But again, in all fairness, the guys on the roof were really good, their supervisor was sympathetic to us, saying he heard this all the time. Apparently the sales people deliberately underestimate and side step the real cost of the decking. (*3)

So as the sun went down on the day, we were angry and I'm plotting my attack once the job is done. Not only is t head of A1 going to hear directly from me, but the Attorney Generals office is going to get a call. Stay tuned for Day 2. 

(*1) In our defense, their sales guy made it all sound so reasonable and we had interviewed five other companies, so many figures were swirling around and many facts and figures and pages of stuff were flying.  

(*2) Another gasket-blowing moment came when Corrine (some how related to the A 1 owners) got on the phone and started talking to me about FINANCING!!! I was so pissed I stated, "We do not need your stinking financing at probably something like 20%!!" Thank god we had the money but nothing like waking up suddenly thousands of dollars poorer!!!!

(*3) Nick the saleman is still going to hear from me after all the dust settles. He never came out and said, "You know that plywood? That's going to run you a substantial additional sum as we charge at $150 a sheet so be prepared. He alluded to having sheets available "as needed" and made it sound like it was included. Live and fucking learn!!!

July 4th 2024

 

Inadvertantly, our laundry was red, white and blue. It seems somehow appropriate as I was doing laundry to get my mind off the weird state of our "union" a day before July 4th. Crazy that we may well be "celebrating" our last year of freedom...

I know I- and everyone I know in person and on the Internet and beyond- is freaking out about the debates, the not-so-supreme court decisions, the rise of American authoritarianism, Climate Crisis, PFAS in our bodies and our food supply, Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine, Israel decimating Palestinians... you know: crazy stuff. And I'm certain I forgot to mention many others things worthy of a meltdown or two!

At least our Birch tree (Cully's Heritage River Birch) looks good and that white sheet is NOT about surrendering. (Actually, it has very subtle blue stripes). I had a terrible day and, as I mentioned, I was attempting to distract myself with low-key domestic chores like doing the laundry. I had hung out the wash and was thinking just how nice it smells when the sun and the gentle breeze dry the sheets and towels when I noticed that a bird had thoughtfully pooped all over one of the sheets. Cursing that I now was going to have to re-wash said sheet, I took it down to hose off the offending bird shit before putting it back in the washing machine. 

I laid it on the grass, neglecting to consider that the freshly mown lawn was adding to the ridiculous mess as multitudinous grass clippings were now clinging to the wet sheet. I tried hosing that mess off and only succeeded in soaking myself. Oy. I hung the sheet back up, waiting for it to dry so that I could wash it again. I felt for Sisyphus.

How are you distracting yourself? I am allowing me to spend a couple of days just being. Thne I have a whole series of new pieces addressing the state of our union. With Heritage Foundation heads vowing that "there will be blood" if "the left" doesn't go along with their nefarious and well-laid plans, I despair. Happy Fourth!!

The Daisy Murders

 

Looks pretty innocent, right? Hiding behind that "fresh as a daisy" trope... but let me tell you, the daisies were threatening to take over the horse field.

This is a small corner of what's left. The entire field was wall-to-wall, coast-to-coast daisies. We're talking a sea of the things. Yes, they are pretty but not only will Neko not eat them, but they crowd out useful stuff like grass. So I embarked on a daisy eridacation program. Pretty brutal!

Culling several dozen and putting them in vases was effective on a small scale, adding simple lovliness to our house but more drastic measures were required. I donned a pair of gloves, got my sharp, pointed shovel and spent a couple of hours laboriously digging hundreds of clumps out. I succeeded in clearing (maybe) the top third of the field but my hands were really tired and it was going to take weeks to eliminate the rest of these suckers.

Yesterday, I brought out the heavy weapons, fired up the mower and proceeded to chomp them all down. This took me two hours but it wasn't as hot as the rest of this week is going to be and I didn't want this invasion of floral hegemony to set seed and utterly defeat me.

And... Look!! A sea of green! (For scale, that small brown thing to the left of the tree is Neko. Puts into prospective just how much mowing I did. Yes, thank you, my legs were tired afterwards!) But I was satisfied with my handiwork and it was kind of fun as the clumps of daisies gave up easily- no match for raging machinery. You can't see it in the above picture, but there is still a small ring of daisies down by the fence line. I'm not done pushing up those daisies!!

Breakin' Rocks in the Hot Sun...

Here we are on another tip to the quarry (aka "The Moon") for a load of processed stone or "gravel". I love going there as it really is other wordly. All these guys are driving around really fast in giant trucks and hugumungous earth-moving vehicles. They look just like the toy trucks we played with as kids- only blown up a million times. 

It's a bit intimidating, too as everything is on an super human scale: equipment, random piles of rock and sand. Like that pile above? It's about 25 feet tall. 

The unhelpful woman at the quarry office told Bob that the stuff we were looking for was "on the other side of the asphalt processing plant". Uh... is that it? We circled around for around for a while before stopping a man in one of those afore-mentioned giant Tonka toys. He very nicely gave us a personal escort to the appropriate pile. We made it out alive!

So we arrived back at the driveway, which had developed a few sizeable holes. Equipped with our state-of-the-art shovels and rake, we commenced to explore all the joys of what chain-gang work must feel like on a very humid day.

One hole down and only ten or so more to go! 

Would you look at that?! Cleaned all that 3/4" processed stone and the driveway is much better for it! It was about 3/4 of a ton of stone, so we were kind of tired out after wards but look at the finished driveway:

A much smoother ride! Yay! (Until next time, becasue as carefully as you fill the holes, the gravel inevitably kicks back out and craters appeear...)

Horse in the Dog House

Evil pony! Neko has been really exasperating of late!

Neko lives to eat and is certain she's starving to death most of the time. Despite the vet (who was here for Neko's annual check up and shots) thinking she looked to be in good shape, Neko begs to differ. So Neko has been constructing ways to get to more food and drive me crazy.

As we all know, the grass really is greener on the other side of the fence. Twice, Neko has wound up in our neighbor's yard, with me having to go and retrieve her (with the neighbor's watching out the window). Talk about a walk of shame! Although Neko seemed unphased...

I watched- speecheless- as Neko proceeded to step through the tape fencing in my riding area. I thought I was doing her a favor by allowing her to graze while I did some gardening nearby and kept and eye on her. Ha! As I called out, "Neko! Just where do you think you're going?!!?!" she looked over shoulder and rolled her eyes and continued right through to the neighbor's yard. 

Neko is always at the fence ready to beg for a flake of hay or a carrot. One night when I took Robin the Good out for her pre-bedtime pee, I wondered why Neko wasn't at the fence. I went back to the house with Robin, climbed into bed and then sat bolt upright. Something told me Neko was up to no good. It's midnight by now, as I take the flashlight and walk all around Neko's pasture, calling her name. She's no where to be found. I'm thinking of all the terrible things that can befall a pony who gets loose, but where does one look for a horse late at night? For some reason, I thought to go look down by Bob's studio. Lo! there was Neko looking quite satisfied with herself, stuffing her face with lots of nice green grass. I locked her in the barn for the night.

I realized that the solar electric fence wasn't working and so I constructed and elaborate (and unfortunately unsightly!) barricade of additional fence post, plastic tubing, old sculpture... you name it. We purchased a new roll of mesh fencing to erect a smaller containment paddock up near the barn (which we still haven't erected because... who has the time?!??!?) Bob got the electric fence charger to work again, but cleaning the terminals.

I hate to say it but Bob and I got a big laugh (schadenfreude anyone?) when Neko touched her nose to the fence and freaked out and ran away. That'll teach her to respect the fence! I admit I also accidentally zapped my arm on the fence... YUP! Fence works!!! What goes around comes around!

New Hobby

 

(Not sure what happened- probably a brain fart! I forgot to "publish this post! Written over a week ago!)

Not quite sure when (or even why!) this started but I have a rather odd new preoccupation. Whenever I'm/we're out driving around, I count how many Teslas I see. I guess it's the fascination with 1.) how many people in this area can afford these cars and 2.) how many people actually are willing to give Elon Musk their money. The other day when Bob and I embarked on a short drive(under 2 hour round trip), we saw 24 Teslas! Two dozen!! (*1)

Here's the logo. Once I started seeing this symbol coming at me or in my rear view mirror I began to realize there were quite a few Teslas and it surprised me. (Or if you're behind on, there are no tail pipes and that looks strange.) I guess I'm glad that so mnay people are thinking about the environment and forgoing the use of fossil fuels but I also suspect there is a good deal of ego gratification and a smug trendiness involved. 

Yes, he's a first rate jerk in my book. Maybe smart but is not quite human and definitely not likeable. But he apparently has somewhere around 9 children; I guess someone "liked" him!

I admit to a bit of schadenfreude in my fascination. Like when I heard that in winter's cold, the Teslas wouldn't start. And then I wonder where all the electricity needed to charge these cars is coming from. Here in Connecticut, electricity is super expensive and there's always tension as to where we're sourcing it from. 

(*1) As they only come in a few colors, Bob posited that we were seeing the same 3 cars over and over again. (White, grey (maybe it's black?), red and one blue one.)