New Roof

Or should I say "roofs?"

After putting them off for about 6 months, the roofers finally came and put on our new standing seam roof. I must say, roofers are a colorful lot, but a cool group of guys. No sissies in that bunch, and I have to confess, they were very nice to the kids, especially N, who was fascinated by all that they were doing. They were very patient and nice to him, allowing him to hang out and watch. I appreciate that.

The roofers took about three days, and worried a bit that they were going to go over the estimated price. They did a little, but not by much, and not without first consulting with us to see if the extra work required was okay by us. It was.

It did throw us out of whack, a bit, mainly because I found it hard to do things outside while they were out there, being the intimidating bunch that they were. Part of it was being self-conscious, and part of it was that I didn't want to get in the way. The kids were at clown camp, so they were out of the picture for half of the day.

Call me a wimp, but I found I didn't want to do things like hang the laundry or cook dumplings (which we now do outside) while the roofers were there. I know, I was a wimp, but somehow hanging laundry on the line outside just didn't seem like it would win me any "real man" points with these guys. Even mowing the lawn was not a possibility because the yard was overtaken by their tools and equipment.

They worked Thursday and Friday, and then told us that they'd be back on Monday to finish the job, which excited N because he loved to watch. I kept thinking that the extra day would translate into extra cost, but again, it didn't work out that way. Iron Horse was true to their original estimate.

On Monday, the guys were wrapping things up, and at one point I had to go and pick the kids up at camp. I left some beers for the guys, being the nice guy that I am, and asked them to save the bottle caps for N since he likes to collect them. The roofers enjoyed the beers and even took the bottles with them. They did, however, leave the caps, and left a few of their own that must have been sitting on the floor of their trucks, which was nice of them. They were all Budweiser, go figure.

Until the next time, thanks for reading.