It's Autumn and the Roof Has Dry Rot!

It's amazing how your life is completely taken over by a new baby in the family; in a good way though. There is nothing else I'd rather do then spend my time with that sweet baby boy! I guess it didn't take long for my blogging obsession to be replaced with my baby obsession. It is such a treat to watch him change from day to day, isn't life the most miraculous thing?I

Speaking of change, with the coming of Fall came the first rains. With the first rains came a leaking roof at the beach house. With the investigation of the leaking roof came the realization that there is dry rot all over that house. It's one of those little, flat-roofed beach cabins, completely walled inside with knotty pine, built back in the early part of the 20th century. Well, it appears that some of this damage has gotten worse and worse over the years to the extent that they have had to remove the entire roof. They are even having to replace some of the beams and posts, especially around the fireplace and the entire back wall where the porch was is being replaced. Due to the age of the building, it takes longer to do this type of work because all the wood was put together tongue-in-groove.

The good news is, my mother-in-law and her friend were there when it started to leak in the kitchen. The bad news is, this has turned into a very expensive proposition. The good news is, the handyman doing all the repair gives the house an excellent prognosis. The bad news is, the rain is supposed to be back tomorrow, but hopefully not for too long. The good news is, they have the entire house covered in plastic to avoid any further water damage. The bad news is, it's too cold inside the house to stay there so a nearby motel will be required for the night. The really bad news is, spending money on fixing your roof and porch is like buying underwear and tires, you can't get by without them but you really hate spending that money.

So what is the derivation of a term like "dry rot"? Typically, "dry" rot occurs because of the "dampness" that's trapped against the wood...hmmm. You have to wonder what makes a certain phrase or term stick and carry on through generation after generation. It's another one of those answerless questions I'll just have to live with.

Halloween is only a month away so creepy things that happen are more meaningful now. Last weekend we went out for pizza with our friends and their kids. This place is in "old town" and the pizza parlor itself is in an old hotel. In fact, we sat in a small room that used to be the elevator shaft. The story goes that a young woman named Nina was dropped to her death in this elevator shaft and one of the kids, Kelsey, was really creeped out by that. I had brought in my favorite sweatshirt just in case of excessive air conditioning but promptly put it on the back of my chair because it was quite warm in there. When we left, I of course forgot it. I didn't remember until we had pulled away from the curb about a half block away so we had to drive around a couple of blocks to get back there (you know how those one way grids are) and Mike ran in to get it. We couldn't have been gone more than 10 minutes but it was already gone and the kitchen and bar staff said that no one had turned it in. Kelsey insisted that "Nina took it"! You know, she could be right.

Time to do some writing of a different kind. I'll be back whenever I can pull myself away from Beckett!