Raising the roof - literally

Two windows broken so far.

Landscaping looking tattered.

Cats terrified.

No, it's not the aftermath of a tornado or hurricane or earthquake or any of the friendly neighborly volcanoes located a convenient distance from our fair city.

No...

...it's...

...ROOFERS!

Our old mansard-style roof with not-so-very-sloped top and the not-so-very-functional drain holes for the downspouts was not-so-very-functional in our rainy winter weather, and was showing wear long before it ought to have. Instead of just getting the shingles re-done, we decided to second-mortgage ourselves to the hilt and get the entire she-bang removed and replaced with a real roof. One that actually works, thank you very much.

It was amusing at first to live in a house that looked like the Merrimack (the Virginia to y'all down South). Not so amusing when the roof drains badly, when dry rot creeps into several corners, and when I repeatedly bash my head on the mansards when trying to weed behind the shrubs close to the house.

So we called in the contractor who re-built our aging, decrepit deck last year, since they did good work at a fair price, and they're hard at work ripping off the old roof and replacing it with the new. It's going to have super-guaranteed asphalt shingles in a fetching shade of heathered blue. Because the mansards came off of the sides of the house, the whole house will have to have new siding, which we'll have painted a warm cream, with blue trim. A color scheme a little different from the rest of the neighborhood, but not so different that it's always pointed out as THAT HOUSE when people are giving directions.

Still, as I look around at the swaths of destruction and try to soothe the traumatized cats, I have to keep telling myself, "It will all be worth it in the end... it will all be worth it in the end..."

I'll post before-and-after pictures when it's all over, when our house is all pretty again.