Marie Javins's Blog, page 34

Roof Update

Bad news: The roofers had to stop by to add a "gravel stop" to the roof because water was coming off improperly. 

Good news: They rescued my drone from the tree.

Birding

 Hey, kids! Comics! Get 'em here.

Decision Made

Fate forced my hand, but in a good way.

Waffling

The upstairs bathroom wall has bubbling paint, and the roofers came over with their drone to take a look. They found a corner where water spills over and said they need to come back and put on a "gravel stop." I had to look that up. It's like a guardrail for water and diverts the rain into the gutter. (This is what I was trying to get a photo of when I steered my drone into the tree and lost it until it comes crashing down with the autumn leaves.)

My bedroom also has bubbling paint down on the ground floor. Is this related to the roofing or is it a coincidence? That's anyone's guess, but the roofers and their drone pointed out a lot of cracks in the stucco on the bay window and said "There's your problem."

They're happy to caulk everything with masonry caulk but it'll take a full day and cost $2,500.

I politely declined, but they'll still do the gravel stop. That's part of the roofing job.

For the caulking, I fretted a while and nearly went to Tsigonia for DIY masonry caulk. Tsigonia is the nearby hardware store where my new name is "my buddy." I guess I've gone there too many times. Michael Kraiger always made me laugh when he'd call Tsigonia "Tsongas," like Paul Tsongas, and I still call it that sometimes.

Poor Drone

Here's the last footage my drone shot before getting stuck in the tree.

Demolition

125 years worth of roof material is now on the convent lawn.

New Roof - Day One

The roofing team showed up around 8 a.m. One of them went to knock on the convent door to request the nuns open the gate to the side of my house, while a team got to work installing the "ladder-vator," and they others went upstairs to tear off the old roof. 

Demolition involved about an hour of some type of loud saw noise, various tarps being hauled up to cover the areas once exposed, and a lot of guys yelling back and forth. 

The neighbors probably love me right about now. 

One guy's son had the job of removing nails from the debris on the ground, thought I'm told I'll be finding nails and bits of roof for years to come.

I couldn't find the cats to try to lure them downstairs into my apartment. The second noises started outside, they disappeared. One of then learned how to hide behind the stove.

I'd been wondering how long it had been since the roof had been replaced, but the roofers told me likely never—new layers had just been piled on since the house was built in 1895. It's had at least four owners in the modern era, and there was a gap of about ten years right after the Great Depression when it was owned by a bank. An immigrant family from Hungary bought my house in the 1940s, and held onto it until the nineties. 

Lafayette Watering Hole

After seeing the local wildlife drink from the kiddie pool, I bought a dog bowl and filled it with water. 
I left it out last night along with a squeaky ball, since the little raccoons seemed to be playing with the pool ball in earlier photos. This is the same idea as a webcam on a watering hole in Namibia, only with opossums instead of elephants. 
Mileage varied.

Comics During Covid

This is easily my second favorite I've ever been on. (The first was when I called Frank Tieri from the other end of an SDCC stage for answers to a trivia question.) 

Backyard Water Park

 I found the most amazing thing on my backyard trail cam.