Oct. 17-23, 2021

Weather | 10/17, 39°, 67° | 10/18, 42°, 73° | 10/19, 45°, 70° | 10/20, 51°, 73° | 10/21, 43°, 52° | 10/22, 39°, 55° | 10/23, 43°, 57° |

• Sunday, 10/17: Two Wines & Pecans
  
  • In the morning, we watched a red-bellied woodpecker banging on a Kieffer pear at the top of the tree, while getting stung by yellow jackets.
  • I dumped old organic tree spray on the ground under the drip line of all the fruit trees to get rid of it.
  • Mary did 3 loads of laundry.
  • Bill called around 1 p.m., after arriving at his hotel room. He said it's huge, with 2 king beds, a living room, and a kitchen. His rental car has only 100 miles on it. He was at the airport 2 hours early. Checking through security took 5 minutes. He turned on the TV upon arriving and discovered the Vikings/Panthers football game showing. He hardly ever sees Vikings games in St. Louis, but since they were playing the Carolina Panthers and he's in South Carolina, there was the game. In the evening, Alison Rabich Boyce, who lives in SC, messaged me that she lives nearby where Bill is staying and if Bill wants to, he could visit. I forwarded messages between Alison and Bill. He thought he'd be too busy, but appreciated the thought. Alison mentioned that she's 80 miles away from Karen and Lynn's new Georgia home.
    
  • I racked the pear wine, since over a half inch of fines collected at the bottom of the carboy. The specific gravity is 1.000. After moving the must into a brew bucket, I added 6 crushed Campden tablets. I cleaned and sanitized the 6.5-gallon carboy, moved the wine back into it, and added 2.5 cups of spring water to top the level up in the carboy. We tasted it...WOW, it tastes great. Keeping pear skins on greatly adds to the taste. Mary said it tasted like pear cider.
  • Mary and I took the lift up and picked more pecans. Wind was light, so we ventured higher up the tree and found several more nuts. Using a lift really gets you into the pecans prior to squirrels and blue jays robbing them off the tree. We were quite high up the tree, today. At one point, Mary said, "I can almost see across the Mississippi!"
    
  • I washed all of the sawdust out of the lift's basket using a garden hose.
  • Mary cut more comfrey leaves to dry. She also picked more bell peppers from the garden that continues to produce, even though we thought it was all done. She picks tomatoes every so often for meals, and we still get strawberries, daily.
    
  • After an excellent venison gravy on biscuits dinner and doing dishes, I racked the jalapeno wine. Specific gravity is 0.990, giving it an alcohol content of 13.76%. Another L-shaped clamp on the Big Mouth 5-gallon carboy cracked. I replaced 2 of them. I added 5 crushed Campden tablets once I got all wine into the brew bucket. After cleaning the carboy and sanitizing it, I moved wine back into the carboy and a half-gallon jug. I added a bit of spring water to top up the half-gallon jug. I removed a lot of fines. The wine's initial hot factor has increased. It contains a distinct jalapeno taste. It's very smooth tasting and has a nice amber, yet clear appearance. It should be ready to bottle around Thanksgiving week.
    
    
• Monday, 10/18: Changing of the Lifts
  
  • I fueled up the 45-foot lift and drove it down the lane. As I got to the end of the lane, I saw the United Rental delivery driver backing the lowboy into the end our our lane. He drove off the 60-foot lift and drove the 45-foot lift onto the lowboy and left. This JGL 60-foot boom lift is identical to the 45-foot lift, just larger. I downloaded the operations manual and went through it. The engine is diesel, so I'll have to get a yellow can and buy diesel for it.
    
  • Mary washed a big load of laundry.
  • Mary mowed grass in the south lawn, where I'll be operating the lift, and the east lawns.
  • I used the lift to undo 4 metal screws holding a clamp that attached a long pipe to the roof edge, which held an old TV antenna. I guided it down with the lift, unhooked the antenna, and hauled the long pipe and the TV antenna to the machine shed.
  • I took an old ratty big blue plastic tarp and tacked the long edge up over south facing windows and door, to protect them from falling asphalt shingles coming off the roof.
    
  • I used the lift to get to the peak of the roof...YAHOO, this lift gets me all the way to the top. Unlike the 45-foot lift, I can drive this one while I'm above horizontal while in the basket.
  • When I got on top, I noticed a couple cracks on the concrete cap I put on the top of the chimney last year. I started pulling cap shingles off the peak of the ridge running east/west. Herman, Mary's uncle, used 4 nails on each cap shingle, when you only need 2 nails per cap shingle. But, he used only inch and a quarter long nails, when 2-inch roofing nails are best for going through all the layers on the cap shingles. Twice as many nails per cap shingle means it takes twice as long to get them off. Five cap shingles were left when I quit after the sun went down. I still have to remove cap shingles on the north/south ridge, which includes the metal flashing of the chimney. Then, I proceed with removing the regular shingles down the roof.
  • I texted Karen. It's official. Karen and Lynn own a house in Georgia, as of today. They moved the mattress and camping chairs out of the camping trailer and into the house. Their stuff is in storage in Gillette, WY, plus they have a 4-wheeler on a trailer at Lynn's brother's house in Forsyth, MT.
  • We texted Bill. His day went well in Greer, SC. He texted, "Worked on getting Repair set up, today, mostly spent time on infrastructure. He said restaurant helpings are huge. He's got half of a sub sandwich in his room's refrigerator. He told Mary it was a sub he ate at a local restaurant. "The thing was about 4 inches tall, cut into quarters, and contains half a pig and a whole turkey in it."
    
    
• Tuesday, 10/19: Deep Clean & Shingle Removal
  
  • Mary washed throw rugs and deep cleaned our bedroom. I helped her remove a foam pad we were "saving," which was on the floor under our bed frame. 
  • I finished removing all of the cap shingles. Sanity took over when the north-south ridge was covered with cap shingles, because it changed to two 2-inch roofing nails per shingle. Not so with regular shingles, where at least eight nails were used per shingle and at either end of each row of shingles, several more were pounded into place. On one 4" wide by 5" high triangle of shingle over the metal valley flashing, seven nails went in less than an inch apart. No wonder the roof leaks! It looks like Woody Woodpecker was there. Normally, 3-tab shingles take four nails per shingle. With so many nails, I cannot take shingles off with a shovel. Instead, I rip each off by hand, then use a claw hammer and take out the nails. By sundown, about 5 feet of bare plywood is showing on the south-facing roof (see photo, below). I still have several shingles to remove.
  • The 11-ton lift is putting ruts into our lawn (see photo, below).
    
  • After dark, I drove to Quincy to buy a diesel 5-gallon can. Evidently, yellow plastic costs more to make than red plastic. Gas cans are $15, but diesel cans are $20. I also picked up hen food and chainsaw chain lube oil. I asked at Fastlane if they sell red-dyed diesel that's sold without road tax added to the price. "Oh, you mean tractor fuel," was the reply. Tractor fuel is dispensed from a fat nozzle, almost the exact size of the opening of my new yellow plastic can. I had to drip the fuel in and still some diesel ran down the outside of the can. It took about 30 minutes to fill. I don't know if it's worth $2.99 a gallon to get the cheaper diesel.
  • I got home at 9 p.m. and we ate a meal I bought at Qdoba.
  • We're experiencing a late autumn. Most oak and maple trees are still green and haven't turned to fall colors.

The 11-ton lift leaves ruts in the lawn.

About 5 feet removed from roof.

• Wednesday, 10/20: Another Day at Goose Level
  
  • Mary mowed part of the west lawn.
  • The mowing allowed for blankets that she washed to hang down on the line outside.
  • Mary made flour tortillas, then venison fajitas for our evening meal.
  • She turned grass that was mowed on Monday to allow it to dry.
  • A wind blew from the SE and switched to the west, allowing Mary to pick more pecans as they fell. At one point, she heard squirrels and let out a sound like a mad cat meowing. She said six squirrels went scrambling away in the tree tops.
  • I removed 20 courses of shingles from the south-facing roof (see photo, below). There was a prediction for rain this morning. We saw dark clouds, but no rain...thank goodness. When I stopped at sunset, I counted 12 courses of shingles to remove and finish this side of the roof. Then I need to remove shingles on the east-facing slope, which is shorter. I'm noticing some gaps between sheets of plywood on the roof's decking that Herman, Mary's Uncle, filled with roofing tar. The problem is some gaps are a half-inch wide or more and tar simply melted and fell through. I'll need to cover these spots with tin, before applying ice and water barrier and roofing felt. I need to get all tar paper on before Sunday, when a night and day of rain is expected.
  • Mom texted that she's out of COVID quaranteen. She was driving the Circle senior van to Glendive, MT, today. It was 24° this morning, for a hard freeze, in Circle, MT.
    

  

  Roof progress, today. Black lines are gaps between plywood,
  filled with tar. The metal square is where I removed a propane
  stovepipe last year and put that patch in the roof.
  

  
  

  
  

• Thursday, 10/21: More Shingle Removal
  
  • Mary made a venison General Tso dish that we ate at noon and again at 3 p.m.
  • Mary raked and picked up grass to put in the second bin to dry. She also picked up 40 pecans. As has been the case since I've been working on the roof, Mary did all of the evening chores.
  • Today was a cool fall day, with wind starting out of the NW and switching to due west. Gusts were up to 23 mph. But, working on the SE corner of the roof, I was out of the wind.
    
  • I removed 35 courses of shingles. Twelve courses came off the south-facing roof and 23 are gone from the east-facing roof (see photo, below). It helps that the east-facing roof is narrower. I'm figuring that the rest of the shingles will be off sometime tomorrow morning. I uncovered some rot issues on a couple areas of plywood that I need to address. I also discovered a slice made in the galvanized valley flashing that was cut to compensate for a change in the roof slope. The slice goes all the way into where water flows and is open with a gap to the inside of the house. That and the fact that nails were pounded into the galvanized sheeting with no wood underneath is why water has always poured into the house on heavy rains. I also uncovered more half-inch gaps between plywood roof decking that were filled with tar, which melted with summer heat and dropped into the house. I'll be covering these gaps with sheet metal. There are several issues to rectify.
  • I started on the roof at 8 a.m. and ended at 6:30 p.m., with time off to eat. I've got sore muscles everywhere and I'm very tired. I'm sure not used to this kind of work, but it's got to get done.
  • Mary saw either one bald eagle, twice, or 2 different bald eagles in the late afternoon.

  

  Roof shingle removal as of sundown, today.
  All shingles should be off by tomorrow morning.
  

• Friday, 10/22: Shingle Removal Done & Repairs Started
  
  • Mary picked up sticks left in the yard after cutting down the weeping willow tree.
  • She made minestrone soup for our midday meal.
  • Mary picked 2 quarts of autumn olives from a tree east of our lane, near the gravel road. We can maybe boost the amount of autumn olive wine I make later.
  • She also picked 51 pecans. She has to keep Amber inside while picking pecans, because the crazy dog picks the nuts, shell and all, off the ground and eats them. Mary says it's hard enough battling the squirrels. She doesn't want to add the silly dog into the mix.
    
  • I finished removing shingles from the roof around 11:30 a.m. After eating, I took Mary up on the lift to assess repairs. We identified 4 areas with weak plywood and 6 gaps between pieces of plywood that needed covering. 
  • I swept the roof from the lift while drawing a map with an identifying number for each fix zone, complete with dimensions needed. Then, I cut out wood and snipped out tin according to my map, then added numbers to each item. Finally, I went up on the lift and fixed most of the fix zones. I have 3 left to finish tomorrow, because I had to quit with it getting dark. 
  • They're predicting rain starting tomorrow at 10 p.m. and running through Sunday, so I have to get all bare wood covered with tar paper and ice and water membrane tomorrow. Mary plans to help, when she's free. We're going to have scoot to get it all done in time.
    
    
• Saturday, 10/23: Up On the Roof!
  
  • We awoke at 5:30 a.m., ate breakfast, and hit things as soon as it was light outside. Mary did some chores normally done in the late afternoon and found a few pecans. I poured the last fuel from a 5-gallon can into the lift. That's pretty good fuel economy in 5 days of using the lift.
  • I finished repairs on the roof deck.
  • Mary and I were on the lift for the rest of the day and into the night. We added ice and water membrane to the eaves. This isn't as good as what we used in 2000 to redo the roof of our house in Circle, MT. It's thinner and less sticky, so we stapled it once it was in place. Then, we went up the valley of the roof, installing 3-foot pieces of the ice and water barrier, since 3 feet was as far as we could reach from the lift's basket. Each piece overlapped the one below it by 6 inches. It took 2-3 hours to finish installing all of the ice and water membrane.
  • Around 2 p.m., we started applying tar paper. Since the lift's basket is 8 feet long, we installed 8 feet lengths of tar paper, again, overlapping by 6 inches. I held down one end while Mary unrolled the 8-foot piece. She held down the other end with a broom and her hand and I stapled my end down, then stapled the top and middle, working toward Mary's end. At some point, we swapped positions. Mary would hammer down any staples sticking above the surface while I finished stapling the top and middle. Then, I'd staple the bottom of the piece. We usually took up 3-5 lengths of tar paper each time we went up on the lift. An electric staple gun plugged into the lift's electrical generation system really sped up the operation.
  • It was hawk migration day. While going up and down on the lift, Mary spotted bald eagles and several hawks flying overhead.
    
  • At dusk, around 6:30 p.m., we plugged in a clamp light and I wore my headlamp. An east wind blew harder and dark clouds rolled in from the south. We kept applying tar paper up the roof. I operated the lift at a slower pace after dark. While working on 2 short sections of tar paper on the peak of the north/south roof section, Mary spotted lightning to the south. The battery of my headlamp went dead. When we finished, we could hear thunder. 
  • Standing in a metal basket above the roof peak and grounded through a 60-foot lift is no place to be with a thunderstorm approaching, so we got down as fast as possible. We gathered up tools, and I drove our 8N Ford tractor and wagon full of tar paper rolls back into the machine shed when rain started falling. I moved the lift to our lane. We were done and inside at 11:40 p.m. By 11:50, the rain poured hard, while thunder and lightning cracked all around the property.
  • After a full day on the lift, it felt as though the floor was moving up, down, and all around. It's the same feeling you get after riding rough seas in a boat all day. We were thoroughly beat tired. I only could eat one bowl of soup.
  • Mary was concerned about books in the sunroom, where water dripped through the ceiling for several years. We heard a drop of two hit the upper side of the ceiling. That's to be expected, because the roofing job isn't finished and the rain was pouring so hard. But, just a drop or two is a vast improvement. We finally went to bed just before 3 a.m. It sure was a long day of hard work.