Ike Repairs, Redux

It is 2 steps forward, one step back on the repairs. They started the repairs earlier this week and in a day and a half had the mansard roof (the vertical part of the roof on the backside) stripped and re shingled. As you can see, it looks very nice.



However, it was somewhat curious because they stopped at our unit. The rest of the building was tar papered only.



It turns out they were not supposed to shingle the mansard roof portion. We are supposed to get hardiplank on the vertical sections, asphalt shingles on everything else. So, they have to tear the shingles back off. In the interim, they have continued on the rest of the roof and have gotten about half of the building completely done. Unfortunately, it is much slower going on the front because these buildings originally had ceder shingles over lathing. When fire codes outlawed cedar shingles, they just slapped asphalt shingles over them. So, now, they have to tear off the shingles and lathing and lay down plywood. It has slowed progress down a little bit and our roof still looks like this. Hopefully it will be finished this week.

Hopefully not a sign of things to come

It's official - we have the anti-green thumb. Try as we might, we cannot keep plants alive. In the past year, we have lost 2 hibiscus (hibiscii? hibiscuses?) - one was a victim of hurricane Ike. It was potted and sat in our humid house for the 3 days afterward and died. We killed some sort of bamboo plant thing that was supposed to be unkillable. Bella was probably largely responsible for killing off another one - it had long thin leaves like a spider plant and she liked to play tug of war with the leaves. We have one hanging on our patio that basically died, has since sort of recovered (half of it), but hasn't bloomed in a year. And finally, the latest - no idea why this one is dying. Not enough water? Too much water? Not enough sun, too much? Who knows - but, it is definitely on life support.

A Couple of pics of Kizzie

In practice for baby Lawrence, here's some pics of the current baby. She poses a lot.

AA for dogs

We've decided that Bella is a borderline alcoholic. She loves to hit the bottle. Empty water bottles, saline solution bottles, you name it, she likes to play with them. Pics of her in action.

It is fun watching her play - until it is 3 a.m. and she is chasing the bottle around the floor in the bedroom bouncing it off the walls and the furniture.

Pregnancy

So the weird thing about being pregnant is that everyone who has ever been pregnant, wants to be pregnant, or knows someone who has ever been pregnant, thinks they know what is best for your pregnancy and your baby. Like the waitress at the resturaunt who for lack of a better word TOLD me I was not going to have a full glass on wine (or even a sniff of another sip). Then i was working late and the only thing open at the hospital was McDonalds and the cafeteria. I chose McDonalds and the lady looked at me and said "is that McDonalds, you need to watch eating like that it is not good for that little one." Now don't get me wrong the best advice is the kind you get from Mothers, the key is knowing when to offer advice and when to keep it to yourself.

Ike repairs update

They have finally started repairs on our roof. So far, they have replaced the shingles on the back mansard roof. It looks like they are doing the entire back of the building, then will move onto the top and the front side. Then, the interior.

Ike repairs update

So, the latest update - repairs should start on our building later this week or next week. Maybe. In the interim, we have started emptying closets, tagging stuff for a yard sale, and generally making space for baby stuff.

More Cowbell (errrr, daycare)

We toured our second daycare last week. The positive - it is much more convenient for both of us. It is about midway between our places of work. The downside - don't like the caregivers as much as the first, don't like the location as much (edge of downtown, in the shadow of the Pierce elevated, not much of a play yard), and it is more expensive. Basically, we liked the first place better, even if it is less convenient. Next up, we will tour the day care at our church. Unfortunately, it is the most expensive of the three. Julia is now having regrets about the whole day care thing, so this should be a fun decision.