The Sky Is Falling

Ok, the sky isn't falling. Our porch roof is.

We're still in the midst of the saga with our homeowner's insurance about the porch roof. As far as I'm concerned they can take their deadline and shove it up their ass. But the fact remains we need to get it fixed. As you can see in the photo, the porch has become a repository for furniture on its way to the garage - not to mention we didn't even put the cushions on the patio furniture. Hell, I didn't even clean out the flower beds back there this year. It's just dead space right now. Presently, there's a pole jack giving the roof extra support. Very attractive.

We got estimates for the repair - we figured we'd get it framed out right away so we can enclose it. Looks like it's going to run us around $4K. Ouch. After the several thousand we spent on getting the driveway done in spring, this really hurts.

We're now waiting for the contractor to get back to us - apparently timely responses are not in his business profile. Dave was going to send out the down payment - half the total amount - right away. It was my opinion that no check gets mailed until we at least hear from the guy and schedule a date. I'm not shelling out 2 grand now if he's going to come back and say he can get it done in October or something.

In addition to reroofing the porch and getting it ready to be enclosed, we're also putting up a fence back there so we can let Cragar out unleashed. We started on it this past weekend - Dave did most of the work, but I helped a bit with getting the lumber (heavy pressure treated sons of bitches!). We started Saturday night, but it quickly got dark and we only had two posts in the ground. Sunday, it was raining quite a bit, and I was looking forward to a little backyard respite, but Dave got the bright idea to get a dining-canopy-type-thing so we can work in the rain. A little meterological data about Sunday: when it wasn't raining, it was about 95% humidity. It was also about 90 degrees. We were both sweating like pigs (wait - do pigs sweat?) Hell, when it did rain, I gladly stood in the middle of the downpour just to cool off. Again, Dave did most of the heavy work, but I was goaded into digging one of the post holes. A 22" post hole. Dave compromised with me and he took up the slack after I dug to 12". It didn't help that I apparently can't dig a hole straight down into the ground. It was all-which-ways.

Now all of the posts are in the ground and all that's left are the crosspieces and boards. I did, however, learn the drawbacks of working in swampy, hot, humid conditions - the last time I counted, I have about 15 mosquito bites. They're still popping up, even today. I even have one on the back of my hand! The ones that suck the most are the 5 that are right around my sneaker line. I can't walk without feeling like I need to scratch the skin off my ankles.

Hopefully this backyard-improvement-project will be completed soon.