masons

if you're following the story (closely) you may remember that i have had a leak in my roof.

i know, it's been a whole honkin' YEAR working to fix this, but sometime near the end of last summer it was determined that the problem is that the chimney never was capped correctly and it needs to be torn down to about 15 inches below the roof line and rebuilt.

this is a $10,000 repair, give or take a few bucks.

and while *i* might be in a hurry to get it fixed, the cost for fixing that falls on the homeowners' association, so there had to be meetings and estimates and more meetings and then the hiring of actual masons and the short version of the story is that it's a year later and the masons are currently up on my roof laying bricks.

i do not know how normal people respond to the appearance of workmen in their environment, but my general response to carpenters, road crews, plowmen and all manner of skilled and unskilled laborers is to think that this is the coolest thing i will see all day and ask if i can take pictures.

usually the workers are generally agreeable if not downright amused and sometimes they tell me a little about their work.

as i said to the guy who delivered the bricks last week "i know this is just your regular work truck, but it is the coolest thing i will see today."

and he laughed and stepped back from it a moment and said "yeah, it is kinda cool."

do you remember when they used to just toss a tarp over stuff?

well, the newfangled trucks have this accordion-foldy compartment that just rolls on over the bricks or what have you.

and they have a cute little forklift that rides on the back of the truck and just the one guy can drive it on and off the truck and zip around with the pallets just as sweet as can be.

and i'm all, like WOW, because i am WAY TOO IMPRESSED by just about everything.

so anyway, the nice young masons whom i address variously as "chimney guys" and "you boys" (because i am old enough to be their mothers) are up on my roof.

they tell me that they can lay 250 bricks in a day if things go smoothly, and there are 750 bricks in my job.

part of it is slow going, because it's close quarters on my roof with the dormers and the scaffolding and such.

we're a nice fit, me and the masons. i think their work is beautiful, and they are proud to show it to me.  they apologized on account of the new brick doesn't look exactly like the old, and i said i didn't care because the new chimney looks cleaner and more skillfully constructed.

and i had to use up carrots, so i made carrot bread, which they were only too happy to eat. i like to make bread, but let's face it: i am only going to eat a half a loaf and maybe freeze a half a loaf, and that leaves me some to give away.

later on i will have more pictures for you, but here's the little forklift.