Indiana Mentzer

So this is a somewhat true story.  During the summer when I was down at mom's painting, I decided I was going to fix a leak in her roof.  Now that might sound easy, except for one little detail...........this was her OLD roof.  The roof under the existing roof.  You see, when they put on the new addition to the house, they just put it over the top of the old house.  So, if you go into the attic, there's the old roof and all of the shingles, covered by the new beams, wood, and metal roof.  Well, apparently when Greg and Harold put the new, metal roof on, something happened with some air filter or something that stuck out of the roof, things were cut and repaired, and "mom told them", and filled in and rigged, etc. and it must have left a small hole, because mom's living room ceiling looks like it's starting to get a wet spot on it.  So, this has been a constant source of duress for mom, and everyone who has seen mom's living room ceiling knows with the swirls, and the plaster, and the......yeah, so this has to be fixed.

Fast forward to the hottest day in July.  I've finished about 3 major tasks at mom's house and I decide once and for ALL, I'm gonna fix that leak.  I like to have a "can do " attitude.  I'll admit, many times it involves me diving right on in with both feet, and then calling 256-6931 "ummmmmm, yeah, Sherry, iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiisss, Harold there?".

I go out to the apartment and Harold geared me up in full knee pads, a drop light, an extra long power cord, a headlamp, and a can of foam insulation (yes the kind that EXPAAAAAAAANDS)........I looked like I was going spelunking.  I gave Harold an optimistic look and exclaimed enthusiastically, "ok, when I get up inside the attic, I'll call you on my cell phone if I have any questions".  "Oooooooookay", Harold said.  "I'm going in the house, so just call if you need anything".  I bee-line it into mom's, pulled down the collapsible stairs to the attic, head up there, and of course heat rises, (Mr. Waligorski, my high school science teacher taught us that), yes, heat rises, so instead of it being 90 degrees, it was like 190 degrees.  Sweat poured down my face as I made my way to the entrance of the "old house".  My plan, was to crawl through the small opening, that blocked any remaining oxygen in the attic, and walk, from beam to beam (since there's only insulation in the ceiling and mom swore up and down that I'd fall through the ceiling), carrying the drop light on the long cord behind me, through the entire length of the house, until I came to the spot where the hole was, fill it with the expandable foam, and head back to headquarters. 

Now that seems easy enough, even given the lack of oxygen, but then I realized that there was a partition halfway through the length of the house that I'd have to crawl through, WITHOUT getting off the beams, WHILE dragging the drop cord, and not getting burnt by the light, in order to reach the spot I needed to get too and not end up on my head in the kitchen from falling through the insulaton as mom had promised, (in the house that Jack built). So, essentially, here's what I saw in my head as I peered through the dark, cavernous opening. If you can't read it, click on the picture a couple times and it will make it bigger.

Needless to say my enthusiasm waned.  I decided because of the alligator pit heat, I'd just wait until it got a little bit cooler out. 

I marched downstairs and mom said, "what are you doing?"

Me: "I decided to wait until it was cooler outside so I don't pass out"

Mom: "Good idea, I didn't wanna call Sheldon anyway"

(Sheldon is our neighbor, he's also a medical quick responder on our volunteer fire department, so whenever someone does something that might cause them harm, we say, "I don't wanna have to call Sheldon".)

So, I'll just go ahead and put "leaky ceiling" on my list for Spring...........or maybe, I'll add it to GREG'S list for Spring.  Hee hee.