Friday, August 24, 2012

Fort Dodge, IA - Up On the Roof

And, we continue on. Gary has fixed the two back doors, has power washed the house, has worked on some lights and performed some other maintenance while I’ve been cleaning inside.

Yesterday was one of the days when Lug goes to the local grocery store where they have a restaurant with lots of tables. He and chats with all those his age there while eating an apple fritter. (Gary tells me that eating donuts in the morning is an inherited gene and now I see the proof of this. When that rationale fails he tries to tell me that he’s in training for when he is older and wants to go to the local grocery store for a donut. He’ll know where to sit, he’ll know the protocols, he‘ll fit right in because he’s been trained in by one of the best: his father.) Yesterday, Lug brought home some apple fritters (2 for each of us) for us to have. We all ate one and saved the rest for later.

HelpingGary%252527sDad-16-2012-08-24-21-28.jpgAnd today, Gary continued his training by starting with our second apple fritter which we had while we talked over the plan for the day. We’re pretty sure that Lug’s plan would be for us to go home so he could continue with his usual schedule without all the interruptions and chaos that we cause. However, Gary has planned to do the roof, a 10’ x 13’ section which, because it faces the south side has lost lots of the little rock granules on the shingles. These are 20-year-old shingles and have run their course. Gary has known about this problem for a while but until he had a solution and some time, he didn’t want to mention it to his father who would only be anxious until it was fixed. Thus Gary mentioned it yesterday and they shopped for materials so Gary could start the project today, bright and early.

We were happy yesterday when Lug left to have lunch and visit with his ‘girl-friend’ and was gone all afternoon. Unfortunately, today Lug wanted to stay home to ‘help’ him - unfortunately because he’s 90 we’d rather he not help. In fact, before we arrived he had already put out some tarp for the old shingles and had put some bricks on it to hold it down - all before we got there at 7:45. He does get anxious and was probably up all night thinking about this.

Gary had actually put himself through college working for one of his uncles who did roofing so he is an experienced professional - of course that training was 46 years ago. But, never mind, it’s like bike riding, you never forget. And, up he went all dressed for work. Here he is - the chick magnet himself.

Gary took the old shingles off the roof and sent them careening down to the tarp, Lug then gathered them up, put them into his wheelbarrow and took them into the garage.

I then retreated into the house and, if I ever stated that ‘I don’t do windows’, I misspoke. Yes, I do windows, and blinds, and woodwork, and curtains - you name it, I can do it. And, I tackled the kitchen windows. First I pulled down the lace curtains and, while I was at it, I pulled them from 8 other windows in the house and washed them. Of course, you know what’s coming next - I’ve got lots of curtains in a house I don’t live in and now have to put them back - on the right window. Well, I love puzzles and I’ve got one now.

I got done with all this about 12:30 and made the lunch run: to Burger King, Lug’s favorite: 2 Whoppers for $5.00. Me - I got two of their $1.49 side salads. Perfect. By this time, Lug was really tired and, with good reason. He finally decided to take a nap and, while Gary continued with the roof, I ran some errands. Here he is: Up on the Roof, like the old Carol King song:

HelpingGary%252527sDad-6-2012-08-24-21-28.jpg
‘When this old world starts getting me down
And people are just too much for me to face
I climb way up to the top of the stairs
And all my cares just drift right into space
On the roof, it's peaceful as can be
And there the world below can't bother me
Let me tell you now.

(As an aside, I opened the front draperies for probably the first time in 10 years since Darlene, Gary’s mother died, and - oops, broke the very frayed cord that you use to open them. Now what?) Of course, one of my errands was to the local drapery shop to find out about how to fix this.
I returned about 4:30 from my errands and immediately turned around to get Gary some more nails at Menards, where he continued until, finally at 6:15, he came down from the roof, put his equipment away and we left, arriving back at the RV at 7:00.

LivingRoomBlindcordgivesway--2012-08-24-21-28.jpgWe have a group of 4 in 2 RV’s on our campground called ‘Laborers for Christ’ who they take off each morning about 7:30 and don’t return until about 6:30 in the evening or later. Today they got back even later than we did, at 7:30.

My brother Jack has never had an opportunity to invite us over to his home since we live in Des Moines. We usually invite ourselves to his home - whenever, we come up to Fort Dodge, we tell him and ask if he will have time on that day for us to visit and we just pop in. Today, we’re in town and available and Jack called us about 6:30 to come over to have some ice cream. Oops, Gary and I are tired, late with dinner and we turned him down, reluctantly. But, hey - we’ve invited him out to eat on Saturday - if he brings his ice cream.

After dinner and showers, we’re relaxing, looking forward to a relaxing day in the campground tomorrow. We all need a day off. When I was packing the food for the trip, I did not bring along any chocolate. I’m satisfied with a small handful of chocolate cooking bits a day - not too much but it does satisfy my chocolate craving. Well, I deliberately did not bring it - I thought I could buck my chocolate craving. Right. Big Surprise and I’m scraping the ceiling and banging my head on the walls. And, now here I am in the campground, miles from the nearest convenience store, and I want a bit of chocolate. I don’t think a carrot stick will do, and certainly not celery. Just chocolate. But tonight it’s withdrawal symptoms I’ll take with me to bed.

Meanwhile we’re in a county campground and the fires are burning, the kids are yelling and screaming as they romp around while the adults are laughing. Ah, the happy sounds of families camping. Oh, yeah, I forgot to mention the bug zapper in the campsite next to us, zapping every 10 seconds.

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