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The Roofer's Tails

    The roofing job began when Mtn Grove Building Supply delivered the shingles and other supplies around 10:00 am on Friday, July 8.  The crew (family) was scheduled to begin on Saturday morning, July 9th.  The truck driver that delivered the 126 bundles of shingles placed them on an elevator and I staged them across the roof.  We were finished with that chore around 11:15.
    Saturday the 9th,  I and Boudreaux were on the roof by 6:30 am after I was done milking and we began tearing off the old roof.  I had to leave at 7:30 to clean up and attend my Mtn Grove VFW meeting and I was scheduled to cook for the members again.  Following the meeting I received a phone call to go by Mtn Grove Rental and rent two airgun nailers for roofing.  The folks there were very nice and fixed me right up.  I rented two airguns, hoses, and compressor and purchased two boxes of coil roofing nails as we had 40 square to get on.




    I arrived back at the roof around noon and the roof was just about clean and we started with the roof edge and tar paper and then we were ready to install the new shingles. We had quite a crew working. Brother-in-law came and cut holes in the roof so we could add roof vents as there had been none before. Around 4 I had to quit to milk but the others kept on keeping on. After milking it was back on the roof for me. We finally had to call a halt at dark.
     Sunday, the 10th found Boudreax and I on the roof again at 6:30 am. The rest of the crew arrived later and we attacked the chore again. Oldest son did not arrive until later because he had to get us some plywood at Home Depot. We had found some sheeting that had to be replaced. Again on Sunday we worked until dark.
  Monday morning found us getting on the roof again at 6:30 in the morning and it was once again hot, too hot to be there. We could only stand to be on the roof for 10 or 15 minutes and then we had to get off and in the shade drinking water and iced tea again. People were getting tired from working and the extreme heat wasn't helping any when oldest son used the circular saw and cut through the cord. Things were tense for a few moments but no tempers were completely lost. Things did get quiet and we rested a few minutes again.   Once more we worked until we could no longer see. 
    Tuesday was coming and we were getting anxious to get done and get the rented equipment back home as it costs money on a daily basis.  Boudreaux and I were on the roof by 5:30 on Tuesday and we allowed Skeezix and Flossie to help us and were done by noon. 
   
 

   The slide show and video were taken during various stages of the project.


    Boudreaux and Skeezix are proud to be nailing on the roof cap.
     The title of the story was taken from the fact that my sons, son-in-law and I all received burns on our tails during the roofing project.

Cheerily
IJK

Comments (0) Permalink July 22, 2011


Pumpkin Competition - entry #2


    The competition is moving right along.  I have a pumpkin growing.  It is not quite as large as a bowling ball yet.  If it is to reach 500 pounds it will have to gain a lot of weight on a daily basis.  I will try to post a progress photo once a week.
Cheerily
IJK

Comments (0) Permalink July 20, 2011


Trip to Veracruz, Missouri

    The wife and I had not been to the swimming hole known as the Mill Pond near the site of Veracruz, Missouri for several years when I made up my mind that we were going to go one Saturday after a particular long hot week.  Our youngest son and his family accompanied us as our other two children were already committed to other things.  Jacob and family came and picked us up just before 9:00 a.m. on Saturday, July 16 and off we went.  We did not plan on spending the day and were back home by noon.  I have posted a slide show and a video of our expedition.  I hope you enjoy.

Comments (0) Permalink July 19, 2011


Pumpkin Competition

    My nephew Lance and I were talking about growing pumpkins last summer and it was too late last year but we decided to have a contest this year to ascertain whom could grow the biggest pumpkins  I ordered a packet of ten seeds from Jungs this year of their largest pumpkin offering.  We each received five seeds to plant and tend.  Lance lives out north of Mtn Grove near Dawson Lake and I live just south of Norwood.  He called last night and said all five of his seeds had sprouted.  Sad to say but only one of my seeds has sprouted. The contest is about who can grow the largest pumpkin not the most so I am still in the contest.  Below is a photo of my single plant.  Will try to keep all informed about our progress.  Maybe he will take photos of his plants to share as we go along on this journey.


Cheerily
IJK

Comments (0) Permalink June 23, 2011


April 2, 2011 Family Adventure

    Saturday, April 2, Glinda and I were scheduled to go to Francis and Jenni's to help burn off their old garden spot to that Francis could keep it mowed.  The spot was already there when they bought the place and moved but it had not been cleaned out enough to take care of.  "Flossie" and "Lil" went with us because Mitzi was busy in Norwood with Norwood Summer Ball sign-up and Boudreax along with "Flo" and "Skeezix" were in Kansas City for a baseball tournament that "Skeezix" was participating in.
    We left Norwood just after 8:30 a.m..  An uneventful trip to Rogersville found us at our destination about 9:30 a.m. Jenni made a fresh pot of coffee and we had a cup before we headed out to 'play'.  The spot was truly a mess as Francis had been cleaning up the hill behind his house and piling the limbs, vines and brush in the garden spot.  It was also full of the old tall grass from last summer's growth.  We walked around the outside setting lots of small fires so it could burn towards the center with no danger of getting away.  The mowed grass around the spot was good and green and still damp from the morning's dew. Francis decided to also trim some trees that were in the fence row and around on the property while we were there so we did and piled that refuse on the fires also. As the fire burned down we found a need to rake the missed pieces together and get some bonfires going. It wasn't bad but we soon came out of our coats as the temperature rose rapidly. There was one end of the spot that the tall old growth just wasn't thick enough to burn on its own so Francis fired up his Ferris Zeroturn mower and took the grass down on that end and Glinda and Jenni raked it up and we carried to the bonfire to get it burned. It was getting on so we headed to the house to eat lunch. Jennie was getting things ready so Glinda, Francis and I climbed up to take a look at the hillside he had spent the winter cleaning up and look at his spring.  Jenni had made some chili on Friday and while Francis cooked some hotdogs on the grill Jenni also made some frenchfries.  After we ate we headed back to the garden spot to load some dirt and big rocks.  We were going to repair a hole in the pond dam.
    Francis backed the trailer as close as safe to the pond dam and we wheeled the dirt and rocks to the site.  He had purchased some bentonite to mix with the soil to help seal the breach.  He place rocks into the hole followed by the bentonite/dirt mix and then more rocks more mix and so on.until we had used all the rocks and mixture and had the dam holding water once again.
    We then moved to the front of the house with the remainder of the dirt and big rocks and started building a wall along one side of the entrance to act as a retaining wall for a flower garden.  We placed the remainder of the soil in the area and it filled in nicely. It will need another layer of wall and dirt but we thought it best to let it settle for a few rains before continuing.
    Chore time was calling so Glinda and I loaded "Lil" and"Flossie" and headed home to milk. 
The video below shows some of the days activities.  Enjoy.

Cheerily
IJK

Comments (0) Permalink April 3, 2011


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