secret trap door

At 9:30 I picked up Bonnie for therapy, and while she exercised, I went to Betsy's to go walking. The two places are less than 10 minutes apart. When Bonnie finished therapy, we had planned to walk at Trexler Park, but the phone rang and changed everything. The roofer was on his way. We went straight to my place.

Thankfully, eight to ten shingles were not missing from my roof. Instead, I had a secret trap door. Exciting, huh? The roofer said they used to put them in for easy access to the roof. I saw the trap door in the attic. I thought it went to a crawl space. I like bats, but I don't want to have a close encounter with them. (Slate roofs are perfect bat habitats. They eat my bugs. Everybody is happy.) Apparently you went in one trap door, thru the crawl space and out the other. No need for giant ladders.

The whole roof was checked and only 4 slates added. The flashing around the trap was reattached, the door covered with aluminum, and the shingles re-nailed. I now have a white square on my roof!

After he left, we decided maybe to walk in Bonnie's hood. We stopped for gas and decided to try Polish Water Ice. Interesting. Creamy like ice cream, but no dairy. (140 calories, 5 ounces.) Tasted like water ice. Mostly. I had root beer. It tasted like a root beer float. Remember those?

By the time we got gas and returned to Bonnie's house, neither of us really wanted to walk. So we played hookey.

Tomorrow, 6 miles on the D&L—Bethlehem to Freemansburg. We should encounter the Sand Island Passport to Fitness marker. Maybe we'll finish our books Sunday. That leave Monocacy Park and the Game Preserve to do.

walking in the drizzle

As anticipated when I returned home Adonis was waiting for a walk. He pretty much jumped me. It was the fastest he's ever walked. Minimum smelling and stopping.

When we got back the roomie said "Lyd needs the poodle skirt from the attic for work." Sure, Ineeded to go up there anyway.

I had called the roofer this morning, during the storm, for an inspection. I had seen a slate on the ground yesterday. And one after hurricane Sandy. The person answering the phone asked "do you have any water coming in?" I told her I'd check.

I opened the attic door and stepped in water. Poop. Got the skirt and went for rags and buckets. It hadn't rained since about noon. During dinner, another huge downpour. Went upstairs and found where the water was coming in and cleaned it up, again. Then I headed to the yard. I could see nothing.

I went, walked to the top of the alley, until I finally found a place where I could see the side of my roof. Right there at the seam, 8-10 shingles are totally missing. I don't know how long it's been like that. I've taken the Christmas stuff up to the attic and brought down the Easter stuff, and took that back up. Then I saw a stain on the floor, but didn't know if it was new or not. In hind site I know now it was new.

Lydia and I then walked up to Bottom Dollar, did some shopping, and came back lugging groceries. Afterwards we took Adonis out for another walk.

Now I'm just praying it doesn't rain till the roofer returns my call and ultimately fixes it.

Update
It rained all night. Apparently Mother Nature was not happy.