Well, the roof looks like it might get finished by this weekend. It's taken them over two weeks, but hey, I'm going to have a new roof. Right?

As for the windows, they tell me the "expected date for completion of manufacturing" is November 20th. In other words,they're not made yet and we'll be lucky to get them installed by Christmas.

You know the picture of the empty dumpster in my last post? It's now full and they're not even finished. It's so full, I have no idea how they think they're going to move it without half of it falling out. I have visions of tiling, woodchips and debris trailing from our driveway all the way to the city dump.

Take a look . . .



Oh well, I'm not going to let any of it bother me because we'll be leaving on our European adventure in less than two weeks.

Despite the on and off hammering, thudding and cursing (by the roofers, not me), I've been happily busy finalizing our travel plans and scrambling to get my work done (the work that pays for all this stuff). It's always a mad rush just before going away. It seems like a million things need doing and there's not enough time to finish it all. Yet I know we'll be ready when the time comes.

Saga of the Roof - cont'd

To update:
This morning when the roofers hadn't arrived by 9:30 am, DH called their office. No answer, so called their cell number.

Apparently, they are running behind (well, yeah!) and won't be able to start yet. So, when can they start? Not until next Tuesday at the earliest! That's another five days from now.

Meanwhile, we have this huge dumpster sitting in our driveway, blocking the garage and there are piles of roofing materials on the front lawn. I'm sure the neighbours are very happy.





It would have been nice if they'd at least called to say they were delayed. Is that asking too much?

Saga of the Roof

At 10:00 am:

"How's it going? Have they started yet?" asks dh on the phone.

"No."

"Well, they didn't say exactly when they'd come, did they?"

"No, I guess not. But they did say today, right?"

"That's what they said."

12:30 pm

"How're they doing?"

"They're not here yet."

"Maybe they had problems finishing the job from yesterday," says dh in a most understanding way.

"Maybe."

3:30 pm:

"How's it going?"

"It's not."

"Oh," says dh, knowing not to ask any further.

"I don't think they're coming today."

. . . .
And that, ladies and gentlemen, has been my day.

Well, that, and receiving delivery of my son's new computer, getting an anticipated order from Land's End, doing a couple loads of laundry, revising a set of financial statements, and updating my x365 blog – but all only coincidental to my waiting for the *&#@*&*# roofers to arrive.

I was all prepared for the dust and noise. I had my headphones and music at the ready to drown out any hammering, cursing and boom-box radio noises (I know this, you see, because my neighbours – across the street and next-door have both had their roofs done). I was even prepared to let them in to use the john, telephone, or get a glass of water. But to no avail.

Alas, . . .

They did not come.
They have not come.
Oh, when will they come?

Maybe, tomorrow, they will come.
Perhaps, tomorrow in a truck?
Maybe if we have some luck?

Would they, could they
If I pray?
Would they, could they
If I stay
Close to my phone?
Or just at home?

Oh please, make it soon
Or I might swoon
If it's not before
The next blue moon.

I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me, but I started channelling Dr. Seuss. Really, I couldn't help it.

Am I crazy?

Am I nuts?

No. Don't answer that.

Some blogs back, I mentioned that we (me and hubby) were planning a trip to Europe.

Well, barring any catastrophes (knock wood), it looks like a 'go' for early November. Final payments have been made and I'm still researching like crazy what we want to see and how we're going to see everything we want to see.

Given the limited time available to us, we decided on a 12 day cruise that will go to Italy (Rome & Naples), Greece (Athens & Mykonos), Turkey (Istanbul & Ephesus) and Egypt (Port Said & Alexandria). We'll be staying four days in Rome and taking an overnight trip to Cairo. We'll be gone a total of eighteen days.

As you can imagine, this has been keeping me very happily pre-occupied. As you can also imagine, it's not going to be cheap. We thought long and hard about this and decided it's something we need to do now (see above-linked post).

So guess what I've done? I've scheduled our roof (which is 27 years old), as well as our windows (all sixteen of them) to be replaced. I started the whole process back in the summer: getting quotes, enduring hardsell up-selling tactics; checking references; and finally signing contracts that will all but use up any retirement savings I've accumulated in investment funds (who needs to eat as long as there's a roof over one's head and triple-glazed windows to keep out the draft, anyways). Not really, but pretty darn close. Our sons have been informed that any inheritance they might expect will have to come in the form of house 'equity', not cold hard cash.

I thought all this would get done by the end of September. As a matter of fact, I distinctly remember the window sales guy tell me they'd get to it in about two weeks. And I believed him. Silly, me.

It's now October and our departure date for Europe is only 30+ days away. Is the roof done yet? No. Are the windows done yet? No.

I'm pretty sure it's not a good idea to leave the house to the care and whims of roofers and window installers when we're not around. So, . . .

My husband called to inquire about the installation start dates (because, as all we ladies know, contractors DO pay more attention to other men than women) and inform them that if the job's not started by xx date, they'll need to wait until the new year to start. They didn't like that much.

The roofers arrived this morning and delivered the roofing materials. Everything is sitting on our front lawn ready to go. Barring rain delays, it should take about a week to finish. We'll have to wait and see when they actually start.

As for the window guys, we're still waiting to hear from the salesman who said he'd check and give us a date by the end of 'last' week.

Meanwhile, I'm putting on my optimist's hat and repeating a little mantra, "Everything will get done on time; everything will get done on time, ohmmm."