Merry Christmas

I know it's been awhile since my last update, and I apologize to those of you who read this every week, and for those of you who use it to waste time at work...Aunt Kate. With the holiday season things have been busy both at work and at home. I hope everyone had a wonderful and relaxing Christmas with family and friends. I also hope Santa was good to you and you received everything you asked him for.

Onto the house update...

Vic was up from Tennessee for Christmas for a few days. He spent last Friday and Saturday at the house with us. He did a little bit of everything. He helped me shovel out my house, helped Rick put sheeting on the garage roof, and helped put felt on the house roof in the dark. He said he's done some crazy things in his lifetime, and felting a roof in December after dark definitely ranks up there with them!

Rick and Bob came out last Saturday to help with the roofing as well. Rick did a lot of sheeting on the garage while Bob helped wherever anyone called him to.

A big surprise to me was that I actually got up on the roof...multiple times...within the last week. I'm not comfortable up there by any means, but being on the ground with nothing to do, watching the people on the roof work makes me feel pretty worthless. So I had to get up there and at least try to be useful. I actually did some nailing on Wednesday until the roof got wet and kind of slippery.

An even bigger surprise to me was that Laura doesn't like to be on the roof either, and she is more uncomfortable up there than I am! The girl who fears nothing was scooting along the roof on her butt to get wherever she was going.

Yesterday Dad finished some framing necessary to support the plywood where the garage roof meets the house roof. We put enough sheets on to put felt on the front of the house. The felting started sometime after dark. The entire family was up on the roof trying to get this accomplished before we get our 3-5 inches of snow today. However, once it gets dark it gets colder, and the wet spots on the roof soon got slippery. So Mom and Dad sent Laura and I home because we're big chicken-shits. I was doing ok, but probably wasn't going to be all that useful once the first row of felt was down. That also gets slippery when it's wet, and sitting on it while nailing is not an option because it pulls the felt down the roof. So Laura and I cleaned up the rest of the tools and went home...leaving Mom and Dad to finish the job in the dark. They both came home with bleeding fingers and Mom threatening lawsuits. So thanks to Mom and Dad, the entire house is now felted and protected from the elements.

Anyway, that's the update. I'm hoping to be a bit more regular once we get back into the normal groove. I hope everyone has a very happy and festive New Year!

Pre-Christmas Update

So do you think that Dad would be mad if I told him we were scrapping this house thing and that I’m moving south to North Carolina where it is 78 degrees in the middle of December? OK, maybe that’s not such a good idea. Don’t worry Dad, I like Michigan and the winters…I’ll be around for awhile. I will just enjoy the weather while I’m here on business.

Last weekend Rick came by to help sheet the south side of the house. Now all we have left is the front of the house and the garage. Tying all those parts together might prove to be challenging, but I’m sure between Rick and Dad they can figure out a way to do it. So much for Rick figuring we could get the roof sheeted, drip edge, and felt all done in one weekend huh? I do appreciate Rick coming out to help us get the house closed up as soon as possible. We did some more shoveling too. This time we brought a wheelbarrow out to haul snow from one end of the house to the front door.

Sunday Dad finished nailing the plywood on the south side of the roof. He also put some blocking in the trusses to support the plywood in a few places. Mom and I sheeted the south side of the garage walls. We also started to get some of the cantilevers buttoned up with visqueen wrap and Styrofoam. I’m sure we’ll continue those projects this weekend.

Maybe if I’m lucky some of this unseasonably warm weather will follow me from the Carolinas back to Michigan. I know it’s asking a lot, but a girl can hope right?

Please Don't Make Me Move

As I sit at my desk this morning at work I am very appreciative that I have a "desk job". Every single muscle in my body is screaming out in pain today. It's almost worse than the first swim practice after a long break...and that is pretty bad.

We've gotten a lot done since the last update, but not as much as we'd like. We're trying to catch up with the weather right now, and it's not working very well. All of the trusses were completed over Thanksgiving weekend. Consumers came out and hooked up power last week. That is a huge help because we don't have to haul the generator around anymore.

Rick and Bob came out to help Dad with the fascia. Most of the fascia is up, with a small amount on the front of the house and some of the garage left to finish. Rick and Bob also came out this weekend to help sheet the roof. A good portion of the west side is done and most of the north side is done. This is the reason my muscles hate me right now. I was very happy to have Rick and Bob there...that allowed me to stay on the ground. However, the job on the ground was a pretty tough one. I hauled sheets of OSB from the pile in front of the garage, through the house, and hefted them up through the rafters to Dad and Rick.

And while I thought I was sore on Saturday night, it was nothing compared to last night and today. On top of hauling plywood for Dad and Rick yesterday, I also shoveled the driveway at home, and shovelled out my house. It was a very wet and heavy snow since it was close to 40 yesterday.

The weather was less than desirable both days this weekend. Luckily it was not windy either day. That made sheeting the roof easier. Saturday was freezing cold, to the point of wearing insulated Carhartt overalls. It was 11 degrees when we started on Saturday! Sunday was warm, almost 40, but it rained on and off all day. Not just a light rain shower, steady rain. But we worked through it past dark and came home soaked to the bone with squishy wet boots.

So we will continue to sheet the roof as the weather allows, and hopefully I won't have to shovel out the house much more.