The Good News Is That The Neighbors Are Getting A New Roof

/ Ally Bean

I cannot catch a break lately.

Last week as I watched my life get rather wonky, I decided that on this Monday, when I had nothing scheduled, I’d hang out on our screened-in porch.  I figured that I’d take my laptop out there and set up camp for the day.  To do this, all I need to do is to move the round glass-topped side table in front of a wicker lounge chair, add a few pillows for back support, reposition a smaller wooden side table for my mug of coffee– and I’m good to go.

And considering that the weather today is finally sunny + clear + mild, you’d think that I’d be out there, wouldn’t you?  Doing my own suburban take on Ralph Waldo Emerson’s Walden Pond lifestyle.  Finding spiritual inspiration sitting next to the trees with the birds chirping and the squirrels squirreling.  Being all peaceful and such.

But I’m not.

Instead, I’m in my home office with the French doors to the foyer closed, shades on windows down, trying to ignore the loud ruckus that is going on next door– and in front of my house.  This is because my peaceful screened-in porch sanctuary looks out upon the chaos and mess going on next door as a new roof is being installed.  Meaning that I am not feeling passionately at one with the whole world a la RWE, but I am feeling passive like a victim of Lemony Snicket’s Unfortunate Events.

However, be that as it may, looking on the brighter side of things, the neighbors are getting a new roof that they need after theirs was done-in by some hail damage last summer.  So this is necessary.  And when this is all finished I’ll be the one who gets to look at the prettiest roof in town.

So there’s that.

~ ~ • ~ ~

~ Pretty Pillows Not Being Used By Me Today ~

~ Pretty Pillows Not Being Used By Me Today ~

20 thoughts on “The Good News Is That The Neighbors Are Getting A New Roof”

  1. Ugh. That bring back memories of when a house was built next door to us, in a lot that had been empty… forever. I was ceaselessy amazed at how much noise they could make…not just with the construction noises, but the seemingly constant shouting of the workers. It was as if they had whole conversations at top volume. Didn’t their throats get sore?

    I hope that your neighbors’ roof project goes very quickly, and with comparatively little shouting.

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    • alejna, I know what you mean. Our house was here first before the one next door. So [like you] we lived here while that house was being built. The shouting. The dirt. The machine noise. It was a bummer. And as this morning is progressing, I’m remembering it all again.

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  2. I feel your pain. They are building a house in the lot in back of us. Bulldozers going all weekend. I couldn’t believe it. They hit a stone vein so there were jackhammers too. Fortunately it was pretty hot and we didn’t have picnic plans so nothing was lost but I can still hear them this morning INSIDE my house.

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    • kate, what you have going on sounds [pun intended] much worse than this roofing event. Jackhammers on the weekend? Stone? I bet that you could hide in your closet and still hear that kind of noise!

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      • Yesterday was really bad. On a Sunday? I was surprised the immediate neighbors (we are one over) didn’t call the police. We have noise ordinances that restrict noise to certain hours and days. These workers are on the job from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. It took extra margaritas!

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        • kate, well thank goodness for margaritas! I’m surprised about working on Sunday, too. It’s much too conservative around here for anything like that to happen. Sunday is usually eerily quiet.

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  3. My neighbors just got a new roof and converted their carport into a garage. I feel your pain. I turned the fan on for white noise and worked in my office. At least there weren’t jackhammers. On the plus side, you have very pretty pillows!

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    • Zazzy, I realize that I could just leave the house and go find a Star$, but how much coffee can I drink? Don’t want to find out! Glad you like the pillows. They’re snazzy, I think.

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      • You can’t hang out at a coffee shop for the next week. Or maybe you can. You could go out to lunch, too. And maybe get your hair cut. I hope that the time goes quickly.

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  4. What? They are doing a roof now? It must be leaking horridly. Here everyone waits until after the spring tornadoes and summer/fall hurricanes – no need to put a new roof at risk. Seriously hope they finish quickly – roofing makes such a racket.
    Sitting on a screen porch sounds delightful.

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    • philosophermouse, roofs go on all times of the year around here (except when there’s snow & ice). Fortunately the company the neighbors are using is known for being fast, so quiet will return to my realm soon… and I shall repair to my screened-in porch sanctuary.

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  5. Whenever a roof(or another remodel) gets done around my neighborhood in the nice weather, the workmen always show up at the crack of dawn and start pounding away. No rest for me!

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  7. Oy, I feel you….neighbor to the front has some sort of obsessive weed wacker/blower disorder. I get to gaze upon their pristine, perfectly manicured lawn, but OMG, who can spend 6 straight hours running gas powered lawn equipment? And the neighbors to the rear have periodic bouts of pressure cleaning that make me wonder if they are trying to erase blood or DNA evidence. Said compulsive cleaning generally starts 7 minutes after I park my tired butt in the tiki hut to enjoy some quiet R and R.

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    • Rachal, we’ve got one of those obsessive pressure cleaner neighbors, too. We’ve never been able to figure out why he needs to clean his deck every weekend or two. Don’t these people know that a little bit of dirt adds character to outside spaces? 😉

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