Adult behavior

For once we got a beautiful day: sunny, warm and just enough wind for good sailing. Unfortunately, I decided to act like an adult and got some pressing projects done.

Instead of sailing, I climbed up my roof and cleaned the chimney. Turns out the chimney wasn’t very dirty, but now I know it’s clean. Over the years my investment in good ladders and chimney brushes have paid for themselves many times over.

Since I was up there anyway, I inspected the roof to see if it needed any repairs. All in all, I was very pleased with the roof’s condition. There was one small divot where I’d once braced a ladder but that was easily fixed.

My lovely wife worried for years about the ice build up around the power entrance lines. With any luck, the assorted bits of flashing and aluminum shielding installed today should solve the problem. Speaking of problems solved, my buddy’s who’s roof I worked on a while back has had no more leaks. Not bad for a couple amateurs with donated materials.

By the time all the ladders and tools were put away, it was too late in the day for sailing. Actually, the day would have been a toss up between sailing and bird hunting. When the sun comes out after days of rain, they like to bask in the sun too. It would have been a good day to chase the birds around.

The weather is supposed to turn cool and wet again. In fact, by next Thursday, snow is in the forecast. Remember last year’s Snowtober? The October snowstorm took down many trees and power lines. Ironically, those of us in the cold north fared better than points south. Most of our leaves had already fallen off the trees. South of us, the leaves were still firmly attached. Snow stuck to the leaves and added more weight than the trees could handle. Down they came, taking power lines with them.

While I was pretending to be an adult, my lovely wife busied herself outside picking up things and putting them away. It’s possible to get a snowstorm in October and all your stuff gets buried until late spring. Few things benefit from being buried in snow for the winter.

So all in all it was a productive day, but a lot less than fun than it could have been.

-Sixbears