Up & Down

Today was laundry day so I spent most of it going up and down the basement stairs to fling dirty clothes into the washer, flop wet clothes into the dryer, then hang up the jeans and shirts, and put the rest into a basket for folding at a later date.  There are no photos.

I was happy to see this little Downy Woodpecker having a drink this afternoon.  As you can see the sun came out and did its part to melt most of the snow that fell yesterday, not all of it, but about half of it.  I heard a rumor that it's supposed to get up to 50 degrees in a couple days. That should take care of melting the rest.  Earlier there was a Red-bellied Woodpecker, which is three times the size of a Downy, at the feeder and as soon as I picked up the camera it flew away.  *sigh*

Once I got my daily words written (1717 words) I settled down to knit on Cast Sock number 2.  I'm up to the toe decreases and should finish it tomorrow.

The sunset tonight was pretty.  There were no clouds to spread the color across the sky but I like the orange glow at the horizon.  And it was orange-r than it looks in the picture.

17 November--Barbara Malcolm, The Seaview. 

Just as I picked up my hammer it started to rain, as it did almost every afternoon. I dashed back to Sydans to check my emails, hoping not to hear from Will, and wait for it to stop.

An hour later I went back down the street, dodging puddles in the wheel ruts, to the Seaview.  There was water on the lobby floor. That meant that I had to think about getting someone to fix the roof.  “Silas,” I said, “do you know someone that fixes roofs?” 

He nodded. “Yes, Old Reynaldo’s son, Ezekiel, does roofing.”

I frowned.  “Don’t we have Old Reynaldo to thank for the leaky state of the roof? I don’t think he’s the one for the job.” 

“No, no, Mrs. Rose, Zeke is one of the best roofers on Anguilla.  He will fix your roof up proper.”

I folded my arms over my chest.  “I don’t know.  Maybe I’ll see what Iggy has to say.”

He threw up his hands. “You do not believe me? Go on, ask Uncle Iggy, he will tell you the same thing.” 

I didn’t have the chance to talk to Iggy until the end of the day when we were all down at Johnno’s for a drink. Both he and Johnno agreed that Zeke was the man for the job and sent Silas down the road to see if he would come to meet me so he could get started before any of the new walls went up.  Soon Silas came back with a rangy bald man with a huge smile. 

“I was wondering when I would hear from you, Mrs. Rose.” He shook my hand, patting my shoulder at the same time. “That roof, she leaks like a sieve. I should know, my dad he let it go something awful.  I kept trying to get him to let me patch it or replace it, but the French man did not want to spend money on a new roof.  He let Dad rig up a tarp because they only came a few weeks a year.” He shook his head. “I think we might need all new plywood. You are planning on a metal roof?”

I felt like a typhoon had blown in. “Uh, yes, I planned on a metal roof.  Is there a way to save and resell the clay roof tiles? Maybe make a little toward the new roof?” 

He clapped my shoulder.  “What an idea. We could do that, sell the tiles to people that are repairing their roofs. They will be happy to get them.”

The rest of the crew clustered around, more drinks were bought, and it seemed like we had ourselves a roofer. 

The next morning Zeke and I sat down to plan the materials he would need for the job. I didn’t have enough plywood to re-sheath the roof or metal for the roof itself.  He and I went to the building supply store to inquire about getting what he’d need. 

When I asked about his crew he said, “I am my crew. I don’ need no other crew.”

“You handle those big sheets of wood and the long metal panels alone?”

He nodded and the man in the building supply nodded right along with him.  Most of the things he’d need were in stock so out came my checkbook and I paid for it, so it didn’t get sold out from under us.

“I be by with my truck in the morning for the first load,” he told the man. “Can I store things in the container, Mrs. Rose?”

“As long as there’s room, you can.” 

The very next day Zeke was there before I arrived.  He had set up a pulley in the top of the palm tree that he tied to the lightning rod. “I use this to raise up the wood and metal. I will use it to lower the tiles we can save and sell.” He punched my shoulder lightly. “What an idea.”

Today's toss was a book of creativity ideas and a bundle of pencils that look like twigs.  I bought the pencils years and years ago because I go to a writing workshop in the woods and I like writing with a pencil but they were too hard to keep sharpened because they're too fat to go in a pencil sharpener and I'm not comfortable using a jackknife.

It felt weird not to have a recipe to cook and freeze today and it also feels weird to be wearing leggings and a flannel dress instead of jeans.  Oh, I got some printer ink today, changed the color cartridge, and my printer works.  Whew.  And I didn't even have to go to the store.  I qualified for free delivery so there was a box on my porch with printer ink in it.  Very convenient.

--Barbara