Monday, October 20, 2008

Updates and Downdrafts

Sorry I haven't posted for a bit...but it's not been because I was sitting around.

Saturday: appraised all day for the Johnstown Historical Society's fall festival. Johnstown ("Johns-town") is about an hour's drive away, tucked into one of Colorado's longer plains. Not too far from Fort Collins, but the houses are worlds away -- this is the same warm-and-friendly small town feeling we loved so much when we first moved to Castle Rock. (Alas, things have changed. How they have changed.)

I had a full plate, so didn't get much time to look around -- but Daughter #1 and I wandered some, had the chili lunch special, and I bought a very pretty pair of gold iridescent beaded earrings -- for only $5. What warm, friendly people, too.

Our fall colors are just over the peak, but they're still beautiful. Heart-wrenching yellows, vivid golds and now and then, a sock of bright red, make this my favorite season. And I spent some time looking at them high up on...

Sunday: which was split between church and up on the roof! Carlos has been working for us, after the fiasco of Bob the Builder (who is still elk hunting somewhere in the boonies, for all we know). Carlos is quick, efficient and friendly -- and in two days, he managed to pull off a big area of shingles PLUS get that area repaired and tarpapered, as well. Bless him.
For our part, we got the northeast section of the house repaired and tarpapered, plus the chimney area flashing put on. (I should say Husband did, since I spent Saturday appraising or on the road.)

It will be some weeks yet before everything is done -- but the tarpaper will protect the roof while we gradually re-shingle. Which is just in time for...

A Storm! It was supposed to start last night, but is only here in the form of wispy clouds and cold, chilly winds. (Threatening banks of dark gray clouds are over the mountains, waiting to move in at a moment's notice.) Carlos arrived early this morning -- hopefully he can finish up tarpapering the rest of the houses. But even if he can't, we are so much more protected that it's not funny.

This week, I'm watching an insurance office for our friends, who are off on their 25th anniversary cruise. (Lucky stiffs.) Trust me -- in October, hardly anybody is doing anything in the insurance department. Even the (rare) phone calls have largely been pre-plugged political stuff. Yuck. So I take a payment now and then, cancel a policy or add a vehicle, stuff like that. And in between, I can get some other work done. (In my 'other' life, I used to be licensed for property/casualty -- I worked not only for these friends, but another insurance office for a while.)

So it's quiet. Maybe too quiet. And I feel that storm waiting. Hang on, Carlos!

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A free cappuccino?
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