So, How is the House Coming Along?

The tar paper looked much better than the bricks- in September. On a sunny springish day in March, it's looking like worn out tar paper. There has been wind. There has been rain. There has been sun. Tar paper does not like any of these. The house is looking worse for the wear. Sheets of tar paper have been torn from the house and lie about the yard. The paper that remains is dog-eared, weather-worn, faded and pitiable.

On top of the shabby country chic look, the roof over the vestibule leaked during the most recent flood. There was a dry day between teeming rain and a snow storm. We had 5 guys on the roof, one weilding (professionally) a machete, and another who even knew how to roof, getting a new roof on before sundown. They finished the roof and beer at sunset. It snowed the next day and was cold enough that clean up was an unfathomable option. While most of the old shingles are piled in a tough old red grain trailer behind one of the tractors and sits in the backyard, the smaller pieces of debris remain on the ground. The snow has melted, the crocuses are sprung up among the brick bits and cement leftover from the brick removal process, which also did not get the clean up needed.

While one of the squirrels that was living in the attic that was shooed out and then returned, was dispatched, the second one was doing some renovations the other day, using a saw, I'm sure. I'm expecting a deck or something stylish to be built up there, with the amount of noise that's been leaking through to the bedroom. Rick says it's the an old squirrel. A friend asked how he knew it was an old squirrel... saggy skin? grey hair (it's a grey squirrel)? balding?

While there was the intent to finish over the winter, (and intent does count), the winter was abnormally cold and snowy. The ground was covered and there was not much hope of the walls getting done. Can't hold the farmer responsible for any of that.

It's about 6 weeks til the Farmer gets machinery in the ground.
Stay tuned. Any bets on for it getting done?