Day 3 of Roof Construction
January 8, 2014 - Wednesday
At this moment I am sitting in a 32 ft. camper, eating apple sauce. It is 9:11AM.
After a restless night of very little sleep, (perhaps two hours total, if that) I awoke at about a quarter after 7, took a shower, gathered some of my belongings, and headed out into the cold, to the warmth of the camper, which is our temporary home during construction (at least during the day; we're still sleeping in our house at night).
Looking out the window in the small back room, I can see our horse pasture, which is actually where the camper rests. I can also see cars drive by along the road and clumps of trees here and there.
The sounds I hear are not pleasant. Banging, hammering, sawing. Needless to say it's very annoying. However, be that as it may, I am glad that our house is being repaired from the fire damage that was done back in the beginning of November, and I'm grateful there wasn't more damage than there is.
Looking out the front window, I can see several men on top of our roof, throwing wood and other materials down into our front yard, where another man stands watching, or maybe I should say supervising.
We've got our three dogs out here with us, and, to my surprise and admiration, my dog is being so good about everything that's been going on. I was expecting him to act out and get into things, which would be understandable since his schedule has gone down the crapper just as much as the rest of ours. But I'm really pleased with how good he's being. He's so chill, not seeming to mind at all that life has been flipped upside down. Again. Maybe he's getting used to it. If so, he's doing a better job about it than I am.
Today we have some things to do, some errands to run. My sister has to work later, so I'm not sure what we'll do after that.
As far as I know, construction will most likely take up to two weeks, maybe more. Thankfully the weather is supposed to be warming up slightly as the week progresses.
That is all for now.
Later - 5:22PM
Another day has nearly passed, along with another hole in the ceiling. This time in Mom's and Dad's bedroom. I'm beginning to wonder if these people really know what they're doing. How often do multiple holes happen in roof construction? And we're only on Day 3.
But finally we're back in the house. Thank heavens!
It doesn't feel nearly as cold as it was yesterday. Of course, it hasn't been half as cold out as yesterday either. I'm extremely glad about that.
A few people are still out on the roof right now, spraying some kind of sealer, which I'm told helps to seal the smell of smoke in the wood that isn't being replaced. As it's getting darker by the minute, I'm guessing they'll be leaving any time.
We will be heading out again in about an hour or so to pick up the sister and her man. They decided to see a movie (Catching Fire) after she got off work. Unfortunately my presence wasn't welcome on the date, so I came back home earlier and took a nap in the camper. It definitely isn't a Tempurpedic, but it will suffice.
Tomorrow will most likely consist of the crew putting the roof back on, or as much of it as they can get done in a day's work.
As of now, we are planning on going to see 47 Ronin at the cinema, which I'm still debating on whether I want to watch it or not. I may decide to see something else. If you've seen it, is it good? What did you think of it?
I suppose that will do for today's entry. Headache. Gah.
Day 2 of Construction
January 7, 2014 - Tuesday
I woke up to loud, obnoxious banging coming from above me. I knew what it was, but I thought I wouldn't be hearing it this morning. We'd thought the construction crew wasn't coming because of the frigid temperatures, literally below freezing; about 15 degrees, no higher than 25 throughout the day. But, unfortunately, there was a miscommunication, and they showed up to work before we were ready, and had to rush to get out to the camper.
I had enough time to take a power-shower (a very fast shower) and grab my things and my dog and head out the door. As I was getting out of the shower, about to get dressed, I realized that there was no curtain on the bathroom window, and men were climbing onto the roof from right outside. So, finding a sheet in the linen closet, I climbed onto the bathtub in my towel and managed to cover the blasted window and preserve my dignity.
It was so freakishly cold outside that by the time it took to walk to the camper, my fingers and face were basically flash-frozen. Thankfully it was nice and warm inside the camper, though once the heat cuts off it doesn't take long to get chilly again.
Most of the morning was pretty uneventful. I read a chapter or two of The Book Thief, got on Facebook, and checked my email. But then things started going downhill when Mom realized that part of our electric-rope horse fencing had broken loose and she went out, braving the cold to try to come up with some way to repair it temporarily until Dad got home from work to fix it.
After managing to tie it up enough to keep our miniature horse safely inside, and freezing herself completely in the process, she went in the house and discovered a gaping hole in my sister's bedroom ceiling. Apparently, from what I was told, something happened and one of the guys nearly fell off the roof, and somehow the result was a giant hole in the ceiling. As unfortunate as that is, at least the dude didn't fall off and get seriously hurt. That would probably have been worse than a hole.
We stayed in the camper until the evening when the crew had finished for the day. It was cold and dark out and, to make things worse, our house was extremely cold as well. Even though our outdoor wood furnace was working overtime, it didn't reach any higher than about 65. Big difference when we're used to 75 to 78. Especially after coming in from outside and trying to get warm. We even had the oven on with the door open to let more heat in, though the house wouldn't really retain it, since part of our roof was missing.
Dad decided that we'd be better off getting Mexican takeout for dinner; its quick, it's delicious, and we didn't have to cook it. Needless to say, my sister, her boyfriend, and I were the ones sent to pick it up. And then, as if we needed another obstacle, the car wouldn't start. Awesome.
I called Dad from the car and he came out to see if he could find out what the problem was. Finally he did something that I don't understand and it started! Hallelujah!
It took a while for everything to heat up and we were able to turn the heat on, which helped but wasn't nearly as warm as it would normally have been had we not been having such a freaking cold night.
Once we had the food in our possession, (which smelled amazing, making me realize I hadn't eaten lunch) we stopped by the store for shampoo and then returned home.
My room was the warmest in the house, which was great for me, but not so much for everyone else. Mom decided to sleep in my room, being cold all day and not too keen to attempt sleeping in her bedroom, which was the coldest. I was more than willing to share, though I don't think she slept very much.
I'm hoping that these weeks of construction and restoration will go by quickly and that we'll be back in our house as soon as possible.
Day 1 of Construction
January 6, 2014 - Monday
The morning of day 1 was pretty awful. We all got up around 7 or a little before, thinking the construction crew would be here around 7:30, which is what they'd told Dad. It was messy and rainy and we weren't sure if they were going to start today or not. I don't think they knew either; they sat in their vehicles at the end of our driveway for the longest time, probably waiting to see what the weather was going to do. Finally they drove up and began working on the roof. We headed outside to the rented camper, our temporary home.
This was also the day we were planning to meet up with my sister's boyfriend, as he was coming to visit us, but at this point in the day, we didn't know for sure whether we were going to be able to make it or not. The weather channel predicted heavy snow in his area, and they weren't sure if it was wise to make the trip or not, since he lives a few hours from us. We waited and waited and after a couple hours he texted and said it was on. Hallelujah!
We decided that the best thing to do would be to put the dogs in kennels in the basement where there would be a bit less noise, though still more than enough hammering, banging, and God knows what else. Although, it was rather difficult to actually get in through the basement door because the construction crew had left giant walls of plywood leaning against the side of our house where the basement is. We ended up having to yank the plywood wall away and let it fall to the ground. They'll never know it was us, we said. They'll think it was the wind, we said. (They were on lunch break at the time, gone somewhere to eat.)
After getting our pets settled we headed off to meet the sister's man.
But first, something very important: Lunch. That's right folks - Chick-fil-A!
The food of zombie slayers.
The trip didn't seem very long now that I had chicken and waffle fries inside me.
On the way home a stop was made for chinese food because we were all tired and exhausted and no one felt like cooking anything. (I promise we usually eat much healthier than this.)
When we arrived back home we saw that the entire roof was gone from the back porch, so I guess the crew had made quite a bit of progress.
I stayed up too late, thinking I'd be able to sleep in since, I thought, the crew wouldn't be here the next day due to the frigid temperatures. How wrong I was. But, looking on the bright side, I did get the conclusion finished for my "Series of Events" short story, which will be up on the 5th of February. If you haven't read the posted chapters yet, what are you waiting for? Go check it out!
I'm really happy to have finished it, since often time I will have a great idea for a story and get excited to start it, but then something always comes up and I neglect to complete it. Hopefully I will work to do better about that this year.
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