Wants and Needs

It started with a drop of water in the hallway.

We found a small leak in the attic, and the water had made its way between the walls and out of the top of the bathroom door frame. Some seepage, but nothing horrifying.

Then the roofers came out to make estimates. Turns out we have three layers of shingles. This is a gross violation of codes, and would be enough for a roofer to lose his license. But for us, it means roof repair suddenly got more expensive.

They also found some rot, results from long-term minor leaks. More expense.

So we finally decided on a roofer from the neighborhood with an excellent reputation and a reasonable estimate — about $7500 for tear-off, replacement of rotted decking, replacement of a couple of passive vents, and new 25-year shingles.

Wednesday morning they arrived just after daybreak, a huge crew so that the job could be done quickly (we’re at the tail-end of the rainy season here).

During the tear-off, they found that the plywood decking was disintegrating — it was too thin for a roof and it had all those shingles on it, which not only added weight, but trapped serious heat during the summer, causing the wood sealants to break down.

All the decking will have to be replaced.

Now we’re looking at just over $12,000.

It’ll be good to finally have the roof done right, but here’s some advice for homeowners, especially the previous owners of this house:

Don’t build a sunroom if the roof needs work.

Don’t finish off the garage if the bathroom floor is rotting.

Basic maintenance comes first. It’s much less expensive to maintain than to replace.

I love this house, but every time we go to do some minor renovation, we have to go back three or four steps to fix shoddy, piecemeal repairs. (I’ve cleaned up my language here.) Wall paper covering up gouges, unfinished dry-wall corners, and water damage. No water cut-offs anywhere. Several layers of flooring underpinned by patchwork particle board.

Spend a little to do it right. Geez.

My cynical side wants to believe that the previous owners spiffed up the place to help it sell, but most of the work we’ve had to undo wasn’t just from a few years ago. Three layers of shingles doesn’t happen overnight. It’s a long-term pattern, and one that we’re paying the price for, literally and figuratively.

But after the roof, there’s nothing left that’ll be nearly as expensive. There’s some repiping to do, and eventually we’d like to rewire the house, but structurally it’ll be sound, with no hidden decay waiting to burst forth.

Not yet giving up

Abby had trouble waking up this morning. I found her sleeping next to her bed, shivering. She finally came to with a start, unsteadily followed me to the front door, and stood out in the yard a while before doing what she needed to do.

I carried her back in. She’s lost more weight, her rib cage is clearly visible, and she no longer has the strength to jump on the sofa.

She turned down all food this morning, even plain chicken.

By 10am I’d decided tomorrow might be the day. I didn’t want to take her to the emergency vet because they’re not familiar with either of us, and the strangeness might frighten her, so I’d hoped she’d last the day until we could go into the only vet she’d ever known.

She’s been sleeping most of the day, occasionally with hard shivers. If she’d slipped into lethargy or had stopped taking in water, we’d have taken it as a sign that she was ready to go.

But she’s still drinking water, and when she’s not sleeping is attentive and focused.

So we started feeding her with a syringe tonight. She didn’t like it, but she didn’t spit it out. We’re still waiting to see if the food stays down, but we managed to get a good bit of food into her.

There’s no way to know what tomorrow could bring, but for now we’re not feeling helpless.

Life as a list

There’s little coherence to my life right now. Everything is just bits and pieces. Part of it is the nature of my job, and with all the mini-crises going on, it’s hard to settle into anything for very long.

Cooking more than usual, and now own a food chopper. Only the best for Abby.

Listening to Parliament’s Mothership Connection and Deee-Lite. I have no explanation for this.

Playing Perfect Dark Zero. Still. The Phantoms — grrr.

Compelled to buy a pink polo shirt today. Maybe it’ll work with camo.

Two of my favorite things — chocolate and shortbread — are now in one candy bar:
Cadbury Dairy Milk with Shortbread. Picked one up at the grocery today, but haven’t started it yet. This is the kind of thing I’ll want to concentrate on. Cadbury. Shortbread. omg.

Waiting for Days of Heaven and Grave of the Fireflies DVDs. My mood has lifted a bit since placing that order.

Hexic for Palm. Someday…

Instead of working…

Here’s the Polish Poster Gallery, a collection of posters for American movies. Compare these to the demographically-correct American versions.

When life’s a little too overwhelming: Cute Overload.

A new puzzle every day at Jigzone.

Katrina Transport

More pictures here

Driving Miss Daisy

More pictures here

We met Daisy during her trip from Texas to West Virginia. She’d been pulled from a kill shelter in Louisiana, fostered for about a month in Texas, and by now is settled in with her new permanent family. We don’t know anything more about her history, but we do know she is relaxed with everyone she meets, calmly watches scenery from the car window, and isn’t camera-shy.

Stopping some of the evil in the world

Learning to read access logs can be a blessing and a curse. It’s good to know exactly who to blame for sudden surges in bandwidth, but getting rid of it can turn into an obsession. I’m now looking at logs far too many times every day, knowing I’ll find referers for poker and drugs. There are no redeeming qualities to any of this — their ever-shifting tactics, their use of other people’s resources, and the products they’re pushing. If only they were trying to get hits on sites for feeding the poor or saving puppies. But no. It’s porn and drugs and poker.

I’ve been using a couple of solutions with great success. But since I’m becoming obsessed with stopping these guys — if only there were a way to keep them from even making it into the logs — I’ve added another layer of protection: Bad Behavior. All the configuration was done automatically; just upload and activate. The spammers are already getting consistently 412ed.

Hauling pups

More pictures here

Paying attention

I bought my first real camera back in the late 1970s when I finally had a job that allowed for little discretionary income. It was one of the first compact SLRs — a Contax 139 Quartz with a Planar 50mm/1.7. A simple darkroom setup came within a year or so, and I spent hours shooting images and meticulously noting exposure settings, then doing the same when developing negatives and printing enlargements.

The darkroom was a converted pantry in the basement, and though there were white spiders in the joists, the room was otherwise perfect, with no windows and a sink right outside the door. It was impossible to tell what time it was in the outside world — no clocks or sunlight, no street noise. Nights would pass quickly while I would carefully weigh the differences between Ilford and Kodak papers, learn how to push film, and work on the fine muscle control needed for burning and dodging. Even after printing hundreds of images, watching one emerge in the tray was still nothing short of magic.

But eventually I returned to college, and immersed myself in the abstractions of the printed word rather than the visual image.

In the past few years, though, I’ve started taking pictures again. There’s a little more money left over after bills than there was twenty-five years ago, so I’ve finally been able to return to an SLR. This time it’s digital — the Canon EOS Rebel XT. After outgrowing a few less flexible digitals (an early Mavica, a Cybershot), I figured it was time to spend money once rather than upgrading every two years or so.

I’m not yet worthy of this camera, but once in a while it looks like it could happen. A few pictures are here. The images show some degradation because they’ve been considerably reduced, but they give an idea of what the camera can do.

Garden blogging on a rainy day

Maybe this rain signals the end of the heat of the last few days.

A couple of pictures from the garden, one from a few days ago during the heat of the day, the second from around sunset last night.

The Black-Eyed Susans are flourishing, thought not exactly where intended. A few are sturdily filling up the Dead Zone, along with Verbena and an African Daisy.

A lot of people think Lantanas are a nuisance. Maybe they are, but they’re growing where even weeds hesitate to settle in, they attract butterflies like this one, and they root easily. Yes, they stink, but still.