Potrillo Canyon On a Hot, Sunny Afternoon

Today I drove to White Rock to drop of some items at the thrift shop and  library.  Afterwards, I drove to the Potrillo Canyon trailhead.  It was a sunny, hot afternoon.  Breezes were making the South Fork fire to the northwest of Los Alamos puff white smoke but at least it was not dark smoke as in a blow-up.

Seedheads of squirrel-tail grass were wafting along the trail like groups of diminutive hikers out enjoying a stroll.  Magenta blooms of desert four o'clock were tightly closed against the mid-afternoon sunshine.

When I got to the overlook above the Rio Grande, I sat on a rock and contemplated where the Rio first broke through to continue it's southern path aeons ago when a volcanic eruption backed up the Rio, forming Culebra Lake.  I studied various possibilities from my high perch but wasn't 100% convinced of any. 

I enjoyed listening to the sound of wind as it rustled the nearby cholla and junipers.  I could clearly hear and see the rapids below me.  The thought crossed my mind that no matter how important my problems are to me, to the river, they are trivial, trifling and transient.

On the way back, I noted the amazing profusion of yellow prickly pear flowers.  I stopped to admire a barrel cactus's flower - narrow, purple-pink, petals with a bright yellow center and a cool background of green and of white sepals. 

Roofer Regurgitation

OK - this represents more cleaning out of my notebook.  I'll simply transcribe some notes I made about the reroof:

I went into excruciating detail about the reroof to get it out of my system. (Still isn't because there is no final resolution yet on the ridge vent and roof penetrations.  I'll post that when it happens.)

I only showed the roofer the photos of the short, uncovered section of the ridge vent (well, it's covered with shingles but the VentSure is missing) to justify extending the VentSure to the north edge of the roof.  He had offered to do that any way but until I saw the uncovered section, I didn't think it justified the extra work and time on his part.

When he came out last Friday, he offered to test the roof penetrations for water-tightness by running a hose on the roof.  I declined. Wind driven rain or snow and drenching, long rains give a truer real world test. 

I now have a new chore - check for roof leaks after each precipitation event.

Here's some thoughts on what I'll tell people who ask me about the new roof:

I wouldn't use the roofer again or recommend him to anyone.  While it was not a complete horror story, there were some issues of concern that we raised with him after paying him off completely  and he showed lack of respect toward us.  I would say he doesn't have good customer relation skills.

LIfe's Repetitious and Then You Die!

I'm going through my steno pad in which I have jotted down random thought kernels.  I may never expand upon these or mention them again but here goes:

Did any of ask to be born? None of us are here in this life because we had a choice.  A man and a woman (or maybe a test tube) got together and 9 months later, there we were. 

That sort of fits in with another thought that recurs:

Do you ever simply get sick of all the daily repetition involved in just keeping body and soul (and family) together?  Flossing, eating (eliminating what we ate!), exercising, taking care of a house, shopping, laundry, blah, blah, blah...obviously a very incomplete list. 

Yet, if we were to actually die but then somehow miraculously be brought back to life, each moment, no matter how repetitious, would be precious - at least for a little while. 

I guess the quest is to minimize the stuff we don't really want or need to do and make the rest as enjoyable as possible because once we're no longer amongst animate beings, moldering repose will be our only option and that doesn't sound like a lot of fun!

Great Book: Woodswoman by Anne LaBastille

Our daughter purchased a used book for me recently on a trip to southern NM.  It's called Woodswoman by Anne LaBastille.  I am savoring it. 

This post isn't a book review but the synopsis is that she and her husband divorce and she buys 12 acres in the Adirondacks of upstate New York and builds a log cabin to live in. 

In the midst of several weeks of big-time house maintenance (reroof last week and repaint this week) I just wanted to comment that even living in a log cabin with no indoor plumbing presents maintenance challenges. 

She had to seal off the outside so mice and bats can't get in.  This after a bat swoops across her face while she's lying in her sleeping loft late one night and mice leave droppings in her sugar bowl. 

Also, the worry of fire weighs heavy on her mind in the winter.  She's so isolated that she would have to fight any fire that started.  A constant chore is cutting down cords and cords of wood so she can keep warm in the winter.  I wonder if Thoreau touched on any of this in Walden Pond?

This book tells me that living off the grid in a log cabin in the woods would only multiply more chores of home ownership!  Yet and still, I dream of a life more carefree of taking care of a house.  What's the answer?

Intriguing, Wild, Night Hiker

On Monday night, just as I got near the Christian Church parking lot, I saw a man holding a flashlight come striding across the lot.  I waved hello and he immediately started asking me trail directions. 

I thought maybe he was asking where the Mesa Trail is so I pointed out the way there but it turned out that he was asking about the south rim trail above Pueblo Canyon that starts from the Walkup Center and goes to behind Aspen Ridge assisted living. 

He had a slight accent and may have been wearing a headlamp as well as carrying a flashlight.  He had been walking along that rim trail at night, vertigo inducing even in the daylight, and then, not seeing where it came up, had bushwhacked his way up behind Sombrillo nursing home. 

He looked young and I'm guessing he's a summer student working at the lab.  I walked with him ever so briefly as he was going to give up the trail hike and walk back on the sidewalks in the same direction I was going. 

I told him the trail he was on is very steep and it's best not to walk it at night and besides which, that's when animals come out to feed.  I did admit to him, though, that in 25 years, I've only seen one mountain lion.

I would have liked to have gotten more details about his explores but it was late at night and I was alone so I said goodbye and crossed the street to continue my tame night walk.  I did admire his being out there exploring late at night!

House Painter Here This Week

The house painter started yesterday morning.  So far, he's been prepping the board and batten siding.  It's taking a while since we so neglected the paint.  He says the prep of the lap siding will be easier.  He seems to do a thorough job preparing which will ensure a good paint finish.

When he first came yesterday, even though he had told me he would sand, caulk and paint the area that our insurance company says is snow-damaged, he expressed the opinion, with spouse concurring, that it should really be replaced. 

I panicked and called the handyman - the only contractor, of many that came out, who expressed any interest in the job - and left a message asking if he could come out this week to replace the damaged portion after all. Fortunately, the handyman was so busy yesterday that he couldn't call back. 

Today the painter sanded away the loose parts of the delaminated, snow-damaged board and batten siding and has caulked the area to make it even.  It's a small damaged area and I think the repair he did looks really good.  I really think the idea of sanding, caulking, and painting to protect it from the weather will work out just fine and satisfy our homeowner's insurance.  Yay on that one!  I called the handyman this morning to say we're still going with Plan A first.

The sander that the painter uses is really loud.  I hope no neighbors complain.  He started a little before 8 am this morning.  It will be good when the unavoidably noisy portion of the repaint is over with!

I have to laugh at the idea of sheltering in place if a disaster happens at the DP site clean-up!  There's no way I can make this place air tight.  Even with the doors closed, some dust from the sanding seeps in.  Let's hope the boys don't stir up any buried plutonium waste during the DP site clean-up or I's toast!  ; D

I don't need to go over to take care of daughter's kitty and garden today because they get back this evening.  Their garden is sprouting nicely.  Kitty is so sweet and cute but, man, for a tiny thing that seems to eat nothing, she's very prolific in the litter box department! Her food must have plenty of fiber!

Roofers never came out last Friday.  I wonder - should we just wait until THEY contact us next week (he's out of town this week) or call Monday to check on the status of things?  I hope they will promptly take care of the items they said they would and not punish me by making me stay home multiple days to wait for them to come out. Believe me, I want to be out of their hair just as much as they want me to be!  ; D

If I Ruled My World

If I were allowed to live as I wish, I'd (not in any particular order
and certainly not a complete list):

turn off lights in rooms I'm not using

cancel the cable,

force myself to use a computer just once a week to save untold hours
of my life,

read more,

listen to less news,

sleep more,

sort through all my possessions to get rid of clutter,

buy a futon to use instead of a bed,

live as simply and bare bones as I could except for anything to do
with maintaining my health,

live in a quiet condominium with all outside maintenance taken care of,

buy the longest lasting, greenest (in regards to energy use) personal
possessions, car and home appliances that I can find,

visit the national parks a lot,

do my best to stay away from contractors or, baring that, find ones
who aren't intimidated by my "thoroughness"

Waiting for Roofing Crew

Let's face it - they're not going to come out on a Friday afternoon
when they have stayed all week in an apartment in Los Alamos and are
eager to end the work week and get back to their lives. But, the
roofing company owner told me they would call if they're coming out
this afternoon and left no option open that they would call to tell
me they won't be here.

It's so hot in the house - 84 degrees. I'm doubly hot because I've
worn my long pants and long-sleeved shirt inside all day rather than
changing into shorts and a T shirt. The roofer said the ridge vent
would make the house cooler but I know better because I actually went
into the attic (he didn't never bothered) and saw only a few soffit
vents with light coming through - the rest are blocked by insulation
batts.

The former owners of this house had also blocked off two of the
furnace's return air vents as well as covered over the crawl space
vents. We reversed all that but would need to call out an insulation
contractor to remedy the soffit vent blockage. I sometimes wonder
what the former owners were thinking in blocking off ventilation.

After repainting the house, I doubt I'll ever want to do another
thing to it unless we have some plumbing issue. I wish we could move
into the senior condos at Oppenheimer Place. Maybe they wouldn't be
perfect and there would be other issues but at least I'd have the
satisfaction of saying adios to this house. Ungrateful as it sounds
when there are people in the world who would be so happy to have even
an old house like this, I'm done with it and want to move on! I
don't want to spend my senior years taking care of a failing body, a
decrepit old house and a gopher-hole-riddled, weed strewn backyard! I
feel trapped, not in control of my life, and I want to get out of
here!!!!

Roofer Says I'm Thorough

Note on subject line: When he said I was thorough, I don't think that it was a compliment!  More driveling details below:

The roofer came out today.  I first showed him the photos where an 8" section of the ridge vent cut is covered only by shingles.  He wasn't impressed and asked in a sullen way why that bothers us.  He says it won't leak (even though there's an 8" long hole on each side of the ridge that's only covered by the ridge shingles).  Not happy with his attitude, I asked him if he considered that good roof workmanship and he never really answered but instead impatiently told us he had a meeting at noon and didn't have much time.  This when his "late morning" turned into nearly noon by the time he arrived!  Even so, he did deign to go up on the roof (swinging the ladder perilously close to my parked car!)

After his inspection, he agreed to have his crew come out to extend the VentSure on top of the 8 inches (but not extend the ridge cut) and over to the the last 6" of the roof.  This will also serve the purpose of making the ridge line look uniform from north to south.  As it is now, the last yard or so of the ridge steps down a few inches because the VentSure material ends. I was fine with the unevenness until I went into the attic and made my discoveries.

I also showed him the photos of the woodstove chimney taken from inside the attic which show gaps letting daylight through that are sealed only with clear caulk.  He in a smart-alecky tone asked if I wanted them to use dark caulk! 

The woodstove chimney flange is so dented and battered  that it doesn't fit tightly now.  Filling the gaps with caulking is really only a short-term solution, especially in the sunshine we get in NM. He said his crew will put three courses of tar and granules to seal off the woodstove chimney.

He said his crew will call if they're coming out this afternoon which means I get to wait all afternoon for them.  If they don't come out today, they may not be here for another week because he's going out of town next week.

The ABC Seamless Gutters estimator was out today and he wondered why the vents and chimneys weren't replaced with the reroof.  I mentioned this to the roofer at one point in response to something sullen he said and he asked pointedly if the ABC guy was a roofer.  He could have simply given me some good reasons why it didn't need to be replaced.

Even when I asked if he thought that we as homeowner's would be wise to replace them, I didn't really get an answer.  He was generally giving us answers that weren't really answers and seemed defensive. I was honestly wondering if they needed replacing and not challenging him in any way but he was on the defensive.

I don't have a lot of confidence in the water-tightness of the woodstove chimney now. It has never leaked before.  I hope smoke doesn't pour out of it when we fire up the woodstove this winter.  The roofing crew was really rough on the furnace and woodstove chimneys and the hot water heater vent.  One time on Tuesday when I looked at the roof, the furnace vent was cockeyed although it looks straight now.

It's funny how his attitude has changed now that we have paid him off in full.  Before it was that he's "loving my questions".  Now it's that we have taken up so much of his time in comparison to other customers - (a paraphrase but that's the gist of what he told us).  Later I told him that there was another way we weren't like the rest of his customers - we paid him right away!  His wife had told us they've had trouble collecting from some customers. 

When I told him, getting peeved at his sullenness and defensiveness, that I was surprised that he didn't come at the end of the day Tuesday to inspect the roof, he told me he was up on our roof 3 times during the job.  I thanked him for that and told him I hadn't known.  He says he can tell a lot from the street.  I told him, though, that it gave me confidence to have him go up on the roof today and inspect it.

He said he has done 100 roofs with his present crew.  But, in my mind, he's the final arbiter and the one who ultimately will pay any water damage claims in the next 7 years. 

Although he did mellow somewhat at the end, his attitude toward us today makes me wonder how it will be if we need him for warranty service in the next 7 years.  After that, I'd hire someone else.  If any one asks me to recommend him, I'll tell them all the good (considerable) but be honest about the other issues including what he did to address them.

Do I really need a house?  Maybe I could live in my car and then I'd only have to deal with the service department at auto dealerships!  Hmmm...that's scary too!! Maybe I could live in a box - boxes don't need much maintenance - just find a new one when they break...

Roof Detox

After I went to daughter's house to take care of kitty cat and garden while she's out of town, I drove over to the Mitchell Trailhead and walked south on the Perimeter Trail.  I started at 3:50 pm and it was hot!  Think sauna, think hemorrhagic heat stroke, think hot buttered brains!  Needless to say, the trail wasn't crowded!  ;  D

Lots of pretty buckthorn bushes in bloom.  At least I think they were buckthorn.  Really, I can see a plant or flower more fully if I don't worry about the name.  Going uphill out of the north fork of Pueblo Canyon, I enjoyed the spicy smell of pink NM locust flowers.  Such a pretty flower - such lethal thorns!

On the way back to my car, I could see smoke to the north of Guaje Ridge.  Probably it was from the South Fork fire near Polvadera Peak that broke out this afternoon.  Spouse says he heard on KOB TV channel 4 that there is a fire in the Valles Caldera National Preserve.  I was trying to verify that on the station's website when - whoosh - the world went black and we had an hour long power outage.

Fortunately, when the power went out, I was typing this in Blogger which constantly saves so I didn't lose what I'd already written.

Tomorrow is such a joy - in the morning, ABC Seamless Gutters, Comcast and the roofer are all coming out.

Spouse's injured left ribs are feeling better.