is there any more pie?

Two days before Thanksgiving.

When Nels, head of construction crew, called last night to ask if they could come today and start the drywall and the painting, I said “sure”.

Yes, it is the week of Thanksgiving and yes, I was counting on setting up tables and selecting and ironing tablecloths today.  And yes, I know it is important to get these important and time-consuming projects done before Thursday morning, but…who says “no” to anyone prepared to work on her house?

Not me, obviously, though I did have second thoughts immediately after I hung up the phone.

Which is why tequila was invented.

So at 7:30 this morning the work began.  The drywall has been screwed into place in various parts of the house and the taping is sure to happen any minute.

They intend to paint two of the walls and the ceiling, but I can’t remember what color paints we used in 2019.  I think we can come close.  I’m not worried about it.

The roof won’t be installed until December 2nd.  Fingers crossed for dry weather.

On the Austin front, the first half of the tiling project in the condo is happening.  I hope it’s going well.  I’m a little afraid to call Will and ask.  He is dealing with bronchitis, stripping baseboards, moving kitchen cabinets and moving all of the furniture into the one and only bedroom.

He probably doesn’t have time to answer his phone today.

Despite everything going on here, we are very much looking forward to Thanksgiving!

The local wrecker arrived Wednesday afternoon to lift the tree from the roof. It was quite a process, as you can see. Lots of ropes and prayers!

Bill, the tree removal expert, is on the left taking pictures as the giant limb is lifted into the air.

Now that the tree was gone, the contractor and the insurance agent arrived the next morning to survey the damage. An electrician arrived to make sure it was safe to turn on the circuit that controlled our propane fireplace.

I might be repeating myself, but the crew arrived early Friday morning to replace rafters, secure the broken ridge and waterproof the roof. Saturday they returned to cover the hole in the entry hall and remove damp drywall above the living room windows.

We were thrilled to discover that the header wasn’t damaged!

Now we wait for an engineer and a building permit. It could take a while, but we’re safe and warm and waterproof.

And grateful that the worst is over.

The tree branch is gone from my ceiling!  The crane came today and lifted the giant branch off the roof of the house and everyone involved breathed a sigh of relief.

And for those of you who asked about the quilt, I am pleased to announce that it escaped without any damage at all, despite the branch putting a hole in the wall even with the quilt wrapped around it!

The crew has had a very busy afternoon.

And now on to Phase 2, which consists of meeting with the insurance adjuster and a contractor tomorrow morning.  I have no idea what’s ahead of us, but we are very relieved that all of that weight is no longer on the house.

We feel very lucky.

Who knew that finding rubberized flashing tape would be such a project?

I’ll back up…

Yesterday morning I woke up and said good morning to the tree branch in my house.

I’d hoped it would magically disappear, but no such luck.  Unfortunately the local squirrels had discovered all the new pathways across our roof and one found its way into my attic.

He quickly found his way out again when Banjo Man crawled up there to bail out the tubs of water from the all-night-long rainstorm.   Daughter Nancy was here to do the ladder work for me, thank goodness.

About 9:30 my heroes drove up.  Bill, whose 93-year old father started the tree-cutting business, arrived with his helper, Bob.  Bob was much younger and had worked for us before as an electrician.  His father and younger brother spent days at our house during the remodel of 2019.

During that week I had sold my mother’s car to his brother, which had been the answer to the family transportation problems, and I was glad to hear the car was still running beautifully and had been as good a deal for the young man as we’d all hoped it was.

Anyway…the guys went up on the roof and started cutting, “whittling away”, they said.  Hours passed.  More hours passed.  The pile of branches and chunks of wood in the driveway grew bigger and bigger.  Banjo Man went out to survey the situation and told them to come inside and eat something.  I had plenty of leftovers–pork, sweet potatoes, chicken breasts baked with spinach and mozzarella, pumpkin cake, etc.

I was so happy to feed them.  Here they were, working on a Sunday, worried about our house, doing what they could to help.  I kept reheating food while we talked about Perryville characters we’d known and loved.  That was fun.  Bill the Tree Man said our house was the worst “tree on a house” situation he’d seen in forty years.  Both men offered names of contractors and then started calling people themselves.  I think someone is coming to look things over this afternoon, but I’m not sure (I was out of the loop during my odyssey to Home Depot and last night Banjo Man said he didn’t want to talk about anything tree related).

A crane will be needed to get the body of the branch off the house, so Bill made phone calls until dark.  No one is sure what is going to happen today.  In the meantime, Bill jacked up one section of the tree in hopes of taking some of the weight off the roof’s peak.  We are all concerned that the front of the house could collapse if we don’t get the weight off as soon as possible.

I try not to think about that.

And why did I need the tape?  Well, the tarps had had to come off due to the sawing, of course.  And we have at least six holes in the roof, so Banjo Man hired Bob to go back up on the roof and do something to prevent the squirrels and rain from getting in (I have forbidden my husband from going up on the roof again–enough is enough and there are younger men to pay to do the work and if we can’t find any then we just let the house get wet).  Bobby said he would get as much done as he could before dark, which resulted in my speeding to Westerly (20  minutes away) and needing four workers there to help my harried self find just the right stuff one hour before sunset.

So the saga continues today when hopefully the crane arrives and so do the insurance adjustor and the contractor who might take the job of installing and repairing new roof rafters or tell us who can.

I was up and dressed at six.  Just in case.

Photo by Jeff.

It’s still there.

We bailed water from the tubs in the attic until midnight because, just as we were heading to bed, noticed that water was dripping down the inside of the living room windows.

We’ll be bailing again–Banjo Man in the attic, me up and down the ladder–shortly.

But the good news?  We think the long night of rain is over.  We should have a few days to get a tarp on the roof while we await help.

Bill, the tree removal expert, said he’d get a crew together and head over after the rain stopped.  He is even trying to get a crane, but said that if he couldn’t then they would just “whittle away” at it.

I wonder how they will get the branch out of my ceiling?

Half of our living room is without electricity, as we had to turn off that circuit breaker when the entry light wouldn’t work.  Heaven knows what is going on in that ceiling, but we are certainly not going to take any chances.

Wish us luck today.