Shingling the Roof

The last few weeks, we have been hard at work trying to race Old Man Winter and get a lot of projects finished before the snow starts to fall. It is amazing just how many things that there are to do! One of the big jobs was for Charlie to head up to the roof and fix the ridge cap shingles. A number of them had come down in the last year for reasons unknown. Charlie checked the remaining shingles, removed a few that seemed like they were likely to join their buddies in jumping from the roof, and installed new shingles. With the pitch on the roof, I'm just glad that I did not have to go up there and that he got it done before it started to get at all slippery. We will probably have to replace the shingles of the garage roof next summer, but at least it will be on a nicer pitched roof and lower to the ground. It will also be nice to already know where to go to get the right stuff for the job. We lost an entire work day having to return items that were damaged and go to a different store to get something better quality.

 

Still smells like strawberries...

Our biggest project of the last few weeks was putting together the calendar that will go out as Christmas gifts to grandparents, aunts & uncles, and godparents. This year's theme is....top secret just like last year. You will just have to wait for the big reveal later.  Costumes, props, and locations all needed to be arranged in addition to taking the photos, finding the best ones, and putting it all together to be ordered in time for Christmas gift exchanges. While it is a lot easier to assemble the calendar than it was when we were kids (I remember mom carefully checking negatives to order reprints of the correct photos), the ease in taking photos means that there are a lot more to sort through for the best ones. Like, between 325 and 350 of them including extra poses and locations in case some of the ideas did not work as intended. (A couple were totally scrapped because they just did not work.) 

Window shopping

Our Little Girl seems to be getting more grown up every day. The words that she is regularly using (and we understand) have started to grow. Some of the favorites are "down," "sit," "more," and "cheese." The only unfortunate part is that Gretl does not understand her as well as we do, and the poor Little Girl's frustration level seems to go through the roof when the dog does not follow her "sit" and "down" commands. It is pretty funny for us though. 

 

 The Little Girl loves playing outside in the yard with all of the leaves. She was especially glad that while Charlie and I were on the roof working, Grandma played outside with her. Oh, and took a lot of photos which comes as no surprise. (We expected it which is why I was able to get a picture of it from the roof. The Little Girl looks somewhat amused at the camera being in her face. Apparently the calendar photos were not too traumatic, and we should be good for another year at least!)

 

I am sure that there is more happening around here, but you will just have to stop by to find out about it. Until next time!