There’s always something that needs to be repaired at Casa River, and sometimes that something is the Barn Mahal porch.
.
.
For some reason ( read – crazy Maine weather, massive frost heaves and lack of gutters ) one section of the porch lifted over the years with the result being smashed and then rotted wood under the corner post.
A cousin was called to assist… as there was heavy lifting required and yours truly sucks at that.
.
.
I also suck at not exclaiming WTF! when I go outside to check on the repair progress.
.
.
I doubt that set up was OSHA approved… but it did the job and supported the roof while the post was removed.
.
.
Rotted wood.
.
.
Please note I am not standing on the porch to take pictures.
.
.
Rotted wood replaced….
.
.
Corner post cut and reseated.
.
.
With a hammer, because fine tuning was required.
.
.
And yes, it’s a bit crooked now.
.
.
But my bat was rehung and the roof is still over our heads… so I’m calling it good.
My husband finally fixed two of the three leaking gutters he put up a while back. Although gerry rigged would be a more apt description.
The repairs involved rolled metal sheeting and so much cursing I disappeared into the house for most of it. But when I went to check the progress on the barn a few hours later….
.
.
I marveled at the non OSHA approved stabilizing device he had employed.
.
.
Extension ladder in fear of falling over?
Tie it to a post.
🥴
When that repair was complete, he moved onto the section of leaking gutter on the garage and gathered his tools.
.
.
When I followed him over and saw a section of tree limb was involved? I did what any self respecting spouse would do… and went back in the house.
Since the husband wasted our entire July 4th holiday weekend rebuilding the stone wall, before his helper left on the last day… I had my revenge.
.
.
And got them to put up the two missing shutters. You know, the ones that had blown off the house 4 years ago and the husband never got around to fixing.
That’s the husband stuck in the unforgiving shrubbery under the shutters.
.
.
Getting a ladder in there was no easy task.
.
.
But together they made quick work of it.
.
.
And the (extremely old, faded, really need to be painted or replaced with new) shutters were back in place.
It didn’t totally make up for missing fireworks and alcohol fueled celebrations, but I take what I can get.
Day two of roof repair was not without its pitfalls.
.
.
And Lord Dudley Mountcatten kept a close eye on the progress.
.
.
Yes that’s a giant copper and silver cicada on my coffee table. You mean you don’t have one…? How strange.
.
.
The weather that morning was awful.
.
.
Rain, wind and colder than average temps. Work didn’t even start until 10:00am.
.
.
At times it seemed like the black clouds were aiming right for them.
.
.
But progress was made in between the showers and I was glad to see the gap in the problem corner was tightly covered with ice and water shield. A gerry rigged solution to be sure, but an improvement none the less. Had this been done the day before (as I requested, repeatedly) our ceiling wouldn’t look like this:
While most people were at the beach or the lake enjoying picnics and barbecues with lovely waterfront views this weekend…. my view was somewhat different .
.
.
Because of all the times my husband could have picked to replace a section of our roof?
.
.
He picked Memorial Day weekend. You know, the long weekend where rain was predicted Saturday morning, Sunday night and all day Monday. I suggested he postpone the repairs. He ignored me. I asked him to postpone the repairs. He told me it wasn’t necessary. I told him it was going to frigging rain! He got aggravated with me, said it would be fine and told me to go in the house.
.
.
More on this later.
.
.
If you’ve been paying attention you know we’ve had a serious roof leak for a while now. Our living room ceiling is a mess and though the husband has ripped off and replaced numerous sections of shingles he could never figure out where the water was breaking through.
.
.
Me? I’ve complained for years about the gutter leaking in the corner right above the doors… but he never paid attention. What do I know?
.
.
Apparently more than he does … because when they got it all stripped?
.
.
The only part of wood that was wet and rotted was right over the doors. (Please note it took a boatload of restraint for me not to scream I told you so. And I wanted to. I really wanted to.)
.
.
Of course in true nothing ever goes smoothly at our house fashion? Lowes called on Friday to say the shingles that were supposed to be delivered Saturday couldn’t be because the forklift on the truck was broken. This meant my husband had to pick up 9 square of architectural shingles, tar paper, nails and water shield in his old truck.
.
.
The photo doesn’t do it justice, but trust me… that sucker was squatted down so far I thought the rear tires would pop.
.
P.S….. for those who might be interested? After exhaustive diagnosis tests, the reason the truck left us stranded in NH was a rotted vacuum line to the EKG valve. I have no idea what that is, but someone might.
I walked into the barn this morning and noticed it was a wee bit nippy.
.
.
We keep the new heat pump ( 3 months old ) set at 68 and with all the sun coming through the windows… it’s always been warm and toasty. But today? The temperature was rapidly dropping.
.
.
Lights were flashing and the unit wasn’t running. After spending an extremely annoying half hour troubleshooting with the owners manual, we broke down and called the guy who installed it… who also happens to be the son of my best friend.
.
.
He had me check the error codes and did some research. Then he called back saying he didn’t have the parts he needed to repair it in stock, and couldn’t get them right away… so he was sending his crew over this afternoon to replace the whole exterior unit.
.
.
Now that’s what I call customer service.
.
.
A path has been shoveled and we currently await the new unit.
While it’s true we like our beer and cocktails cold, we usually prefer to be well above freezing ourselves.
River's world..... 