Today is my fourth day off from running in a row :(... Why?... Because I just spent 44 of the last 74 hours re-roofing my garage... And the worst part of it all is that my entire body is sorer now than I've been in years (since the summer of 2002 to be exact, when I graduated with my Bachelor's degree and immediately took a general labor position working concrete)... I definitely renewed my appreciation for the fact that I don't work manual labor jobs anymore. I remember the old timers in the concrete yard who had been working there for 20+ years... they were pretty haggard; bad backs, bad arms, (and I don't even want to know what 20 years of breathing concrete dust does to your lungs).Oh well... at least I finally got my garage roof fixed... A tree fell on it last spring and knocked a hole in it and it's slowly been accumulating water damage ever since...
Some notes about the job:
-I had 500 dollars in Lowe's gift certificates from refinancing my mortgage last year so the whole job only cost me 60 bucks, including 21 bundles of shingles, flashing, and 4 sheets of new plywood to replace the old rotted boards.
-I saved an additional 10% by going to the post office and picking up a change of address packet (these contain 10% coupons off of all purchases at Lowes among other things)
-They now keep the change of address packets behind the counter at the post office (the lady behind the counter told me that people were taking them all and then selling the coupons on ebay)
-When I went to Lowe's to buy the shingles (I picked up 18 bundles on the first go around) the checkout person asked me if I needed any help loading the singles... normally I say no, but I had been pulling shingles and plywood off my garage roof all day and decided it would be nice to have a hand since each bundle weighs about 80 pounds... I pulled my truck around to the exit and started loading shingles... after I had loaded about 5 bundles a kid came over to give me a hand... He lifted one bundle and put in in my truck... I loaded about 4 more bundles as he stressed and strained and finally loaded a second bundle into my truck... I loaded 6 more bundles as he attempted to load a third bundle... he managed to slide it off the rolling pallet and onto the concrete of the parking lot and then continued to stress and strain as he frivolously attempted to get the upper hand on the bundle... he strained to lift the bundle off the concrete far enough so he could get his hands under it but ultimately was only managing to bend and mangling my shingles... Finally after I had finished loading the rest of the shingles I told him to stand back and lifted the last (slightly mangled) bundle myself... Some help that guy was. I'm thinking he might want to look for another job.
-The funny part was that loading the truck wasn't even the hard part... when I got back to my house, I still had to hoist each bundle up out of the truck, balance the bundle on my shoulder, and then climb up a ladder with it to get it onto the roof...
-Before I started the job I was afraid of heights... I had actually been putting it off for over a year because everytime I got up on the roof I felt like I was about to fall to my death... I finally manned up a got to work... after about 3 hours I up there I was more or less comfortable and by the end of the third day I was dancing around on the roof like a fool.
Hopefully, despite my full body soreness, my running specific muscles have gotten a rest... I plan testing this theory my doing 5 mile tomorrow and 15 on Wednesday.
Two things:
ReplyDelete#1 - I'm a Postmaster. I find it to be a pain in the ass that we have to keep them behind the counter now. The only thing we're allowed to keep in the lobby is the flyers telling you that you can do it online. If you want an old-fashioned pen-and-paper change of address kit, you have to wait in line. They're worried about the coupons being taken, but nevermind the fact that people are stealing the free Priority boxes and using them to wrap their Christmas presents.
#2 - Your homeowner's insurance didn't pay for a roofer???
Ha, Fiddler on the Roof. That sounds like a whole lot of fun.........NOT. Im not really into house work, construction, etc.. whatever you call it. But hey, sounds as if you had a blast. Have fun getting back on track. Take care.
ReplyDeleteI'll be sure to give you a call when I need a roof redone! You sure know some secret discount tips. I'd forgotten about the change of address coupon envelopes... Nice call. Hope the soreness wears off soon.
ReplyDeletefunny story at lows... My wife and I bought a patio furniture set that was all in 1 box (table, chairs EVERYTHING. I of course took them up on their hlep to load it into our truck.
ReplyDeleteWhen I pulled around, some HUGE steriod looking guy came trotting up and Lifted the ENTIRE SOB into the truck. You should have had him.