Clean up, storm prep, work flow

Mama and I spent some time last night mowing and trimming. Neither of us felt very energetic but those activities are ones that can be done with a minimum of mental acuteness; and it seems to be a never ending chore. We have nothing to complain about. The recent rains have caused the grass to grow and if we want it to look nice that growing grass has to be kept mowed and edged. Last summer we mowed twice – all summer long. This year we are mowing twice a week.

The rains are forecast to begin again this evening. It is not hard to imagine they will be significant. When I walked out of the apartment this morning the air was very cool. The temperature was 61®. That is almost a forty degree drop from last weekend. Whenever there is that much of a disparity in the temperatures there is bound to be some strong weather activity following.

In preparation for the impending storms I double checked the damaged areas on the apartment roof and made sure the remaining porch roof was secure. At this point we can only pray that we can get the rain without the subsequent damage from very high winds or hail. The repairs are forthcoming; I plan to order the metal today.

Once I get the metal and lumber in place I should be able to make the needed repairs in a very long Saturday. It is one of those projects that requires a completion once it is begun. There is not a good stopping point between starting to pull off the damaged roofing and replacing it. In the middle you have an open hole in your roof – not a recommended practice no matter where you live.

Since I will be doing the work by myself I will try not to get too far ahead of myself. I am still pacing through the project in my mind. While I have large portions of the roof off I am planning to replace the insulation I removed to prevent damage to the ceiling when it got soaked. A “pop-up” shower during that time would be most unpleasant.

I have yet to contact the sheetrock company to get a bid on the cost of the repairs needed on the apartment ceiling. I thought it best to finish the work on the roof prior to getting that appointment set up. There are three areas that need to be redone and I would rather have someone who does it for a living do the work.

The pace of work at the office has picked up drastically in the past few weeks. As some of the larger projects I am working on begin to reach completion the number of little decisions required to finalize each of them also accelerates.

That is where I am right now.