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My New Roof

-Summer 1996

It is raining out. I have to think about my roof again, wondering if it is going to rain in again. In preparation, I have a plastic on one corner of the bed in my guest room. In fact I haven't removed it for a number of days. The roofing company will come, -again, to patch the valley where they think the water is coming in. I'm worried. If it rains in again, will my plaster come down? What a mess that will be!

My house has a complicated roof. It has four valleys. According to the years since we put on a new roof, we should not have to be re-roofing again. But on the other hand, I am tired of being nervous about every rainfall. So I decided to have the whole roof redone. In another 17 years, I won't worry about it anymore.

So the roofers came. Tirelessly they worked day after day. What a noise and mess they made, as they ripped off the old shingles. I was worrying about rain again, but this time it was different. I didn't worry about it raining in, but I was concerned about the rain holding off until the job was done. We were lucky. The weather was nice. Only one time the rain interfered and the workers had to wait for the roof to dry off.

Two times I baked an apple cake for them. It helped me to keep my "worry time" to a minimum. I think they enjoyed the cake too.

So now the job is finished. Roofers really work hard for their money as they crawl around on the roof like monkeys. It is raining again. I can be comfortable, cozy and snug as I listen to it, knowing that now it is raining on my new roof and I have nothing to worry about. I have put away the plastic for good. I feel like I am out of jail, because I was cooped up for 8 days, unable to get my car out of the garage. The big blue truck was backed right up to my garage door. But what a good feeling it is to have the job all finished!