Winter arrives

Erich and I woke this morning to heavily falling snow. Only a dusting had settled on the ground and the roads were clear, but it was just heavy enough to give all of the trees a very pretty flocked appearance. It was also one of those snows that I know won't stay very long. It's going to be just warm enough to make anything white disappear by day's end. A bit of the slushy aftermath may remain, but that's about it.

It made me glad that we finished a good chunk of our yard cleanup on Sunday morning, just in time for the snow to fall. We've filled about eight of those large paper leaf bags so far this season and probably have another four or so to go. We also have lost several large limbs from our maple trees this season. Both of us are a bit concerned that the trees may be diseased. Sometime next year, we'll probably get a tree doctor out to check them out. It just doesn't seem right that a 15 foot limb with a 6+ inch span would just come down. It's been windy, but not THAT windy. I'd hate to lose the height of those trees, but at the same time I know it's better to just get rid of them if they're sick trees. We'd just have to replant.

We can make use of the wood from those limbs, however. We bought one of those outdoor fireplaces so we could safely burn off twigs and brush that we need to dispose of (rather than attempting to bundle them). Erich has used the chainsaw to create logs out of the larger limbs for foundation logs in the fire. So yesterday as one person raked and bagged leaves, the other stoked a fire and burned off some brush. We traded off after every couple bags.

It was also good timing because we had our roof over the sunroom replaced on Saturday morning. During one of the recent heavy rainstorms, a good amount of water went through the roof, down the wall, and right into our sunroom. The plaster on the ceiling is now in need of replacement, and we may have to replace part of the wall as well. Erich called our insurance company, and while they said the roof was due to normal wear & tear, they did pay a claim on the interior damage. Thankfully the things that got wet wasn't anything too valuable- mostly our Dungeons & Dragons notebooks, a couple books, etc. I have to rewrite character sheets, but that's no big deal.

In any case, the roofers came on Saturday and put a new rubber roof over the existing asphalt one. Apparently when they took off the lowest siding board, they found the problem- the channel that was supposed to wisk water away from the roof had been covered over during the last resurfacing of the roof, so the water had nowhere to go until it soaked through. (sigh)

In any case, it's done, and unlike the asphalt roof, this one is supposed to last for at least 20 years.

Ah yes... home ownership.

What was that about a money pit? :)