Our new shingles & other materials have been delivered this morning & roofer notified .... he says he’s “ready” for tomorrow! Hopefully, the stomach ache I got watching the VERY large delivery truck trying to get into our driveway, will be gone by dinner time. I’m sure I’ll have at least one case of hives from nerves over the next 3 days.
The slate shingles on the roof won’t be salvaged; however, I have several piles of spare shingles stacked by the pole shed. I don’t think they are appropriate for roofing, but one of the ladies at church mentioned that artists like to use them ... painting, coasters, etc. I did a little snooping around online ... looks like $1.00 to maybe $6.00 per shingle. There is an artist who has a shop 5 minutes down the road & next time he’s open when I go by, I’ll stop in & see if he’s interested or knows other artists who might be.
Fall is coming ... our grass is definitely starting to turn. It looks like I won’t be mowing as late as I did at the old place, other than to chop up leaves to avoid raking. With people wanting to see the beautiful fall leaf color in the mountains, it looks like we are going to be having quite a few visitors - first ones 9th or 10th of next month.
Great day - 70’s, partly sunny, light breeze, borderline ‘crisp’ feel to the air. By this evening, I’ll probably need something warmer to wear than a T-shirt & shorts.
I love the idea of using old shingles as a medium for artwork. I’ve not seen that used before, but heck, why not?
We are back from our weekend jaunt to Brooklyn, where we met up with our daughter, SIL, his family, and many of their friends. There was an atypical baby shower for them. More of a get together with family and old friends, as they are heading to Italy for a week before returning to their home in Oregon. There were just a few gifts that were brought there to unwrap, and mostly after guests had gone. These will be boxed up and sent to their home in a couple of weeks after they have returned from their trip.
It was great to see everyone. There were only a few unfamiliar faces there, as we had met many of them at their wedding two years ago. It was held at one friend’s brownstone home that was built in 1889. Really cool place. It had a courtyard in the back, so that’s where we gathered for the most part because the weather was beautiful!
The only snafu was that I got stung by a yellow jacket, which I am allergic to, but so far haven’t gone into anaphylaxis yet. I took Benadryl and famotidine (hits both histamine receptors), so my sting hasn’t been a terrible one this time. My forearm is almost back to its normal size, and the redness is beginning to go away.
Amazingly, our air travel went off without a hitch both going and coming back home. That’s a rarity these days.
A little while ago I went outside to check on my milkweed plants and see if there had been any developments the last few days. I’ll say so!! I counted 43 monarch caterpillars in varying stages of growth!! They are chowing down and some of them are getting pretty big! I looked to see if I could find a chrysalis, but alas, I didn’t. I’ve only ever seen two in the last five or six years that I’ve been actively trying to help out the monarchs. I’ve heard they can move quite a distance from the milkweed plants before pupating. Fingers crossed that some of these caterpillars will be successful on their journey to becoming a beautiful Monarch butterfly.