Roof Is Done!

As evidenced by the return of the clock, the roof is done!

Here’s the final effect. Please note lack of spirals, turrets or balconies. After it was done I started brooding about the monthly payment and thinking maybe we could have put the purchase off for a year. I had serious plans for that monthly payment money and it included padding the savings account, new paint for the dining room and kitchen, new blinds and curtains for the slider, a little table and chair set for the backyard, a spring road trip to the UP, and maybe, JUST MAYBE, one of those big lighted sleighs for the holidays for the front yard (yeah, I love those things and Hubby and I do light stuff every winter). And ease, I mean, our whole budget was going to be a little rounder; I just got a raise last month. I think we did the responsible thing, though.

The one thing where I’m feeling we went a little overboard was in getting the gutters re-done.

Here’s the new gutter replacing the spot where the gutter was bent and created a small swimming pool beneath it every time we get any substantial rain – and hence a leak in the basement at that exact spot. I was up for replacing just the back gutter, but Hubby wanted the front done, too. He feels better knowing the whole house has new gutters that are of a higher quality than the last set. They look nicer, too. Not nice enough for the cost, but, whatever. We have new gutters now.

Here’s our lawn sign for the Capital Area Transportation Authority, Lansing’s bus service. In the midst of this energy crisis, CATA’s operating millage failed this fall. They’re going up again in November. I mean, their operating millage failed. This would mean, among other things, serious cutbacks (evening and weekend service) for SpecTran, the service for people with disabilities. This would really cut back on Hubby’s transportation independence. Go CATA millage!