Sunday, April 27, 2008

I've got shingles

Not THAT kind. Ew. But the kind that go on a roof. Tiff's roof, to be specific.

Saturday, I went to my sister's house to help her and her husband re-shingle their roof. They are planning to move to Eagle Mountain (...I know, who moves to Eagle Mountain??) and they're doing a few things to make their house even more of a deal. They are re-shingling, building a deck, and they already finished a half bathroom in their basement. Kinda sucks to do all these improvements on your house, then leave, but they are going to get a bigger place and a MUCH bigger lot, so it will be worth it.

Well, I had no idea how to do anything to put shingles on a house, but I really got to try out my new transition lenses (I'll post a picture soon). So I did what Mike and my dad told me to do, and even put on a few rows of shingles all by myself. It was just before the pizza guy came that I realized that roofing in shorts is a very bad idea. As soon as we decided to go in to eat lunch, I grabbed a piece of pizza and sped home to change into some jeans. It was much, MUCH better after that.

I should also remind you all that I'm afraid of heights and Tiff's house is two stories up. If we were roofing my parents house, I'd be a whole lot better, having jumped off the roof many times as a child. (Once I jumped off because the ladder scared me... kid logic, I tell ya... it's infallible.) So while I tried my best, I feel like I was pretty useless on the edges of the house. I still did a few rows close to the edge but I wore myself out pretty quick, since not only was I working on the roof, I was tensing every muscle in my body anticipating a terrible fall off the roof.

At first, it was just me, Tiff, and Mike on the roof with my dad cutting starts and stops below, but eventually Jared showed up and gave me a little relief. It didn't help my fear of heights, however, to see him get so close to the edge and then turn his back to it. It freaked me out so much I had to look to Tiffanie for comfort, since she's as big a wimp as I am when it comes to heights. We'd both just smile at each other and pretend to be ok with it. I should also mention that Liz came with Jared and took Carter away with her, which was also great on my nerves. He liked to be on the roof, and every step he took freaked me out. And he's not even my kid! Tiff freaked him out, though, with all her talk of being scared, and he wanted to get down after a while.

So today I'm sporting a very sexy farmer's tan. Last night I looked like a lobster. I'm sure I still look like one today, but I feel like I'm not radiating as much heat as I was. And today I'm also sore in my shoulders and my hands. It was so bad I had to get up at 2:30 a.m. to take some Advil so I could sleep. But it was fun and now I sorta know what to do up there on the roof. And I'll be going over on Tuesday to help finish it up. Hopefully I'll be a little more useful now.

6 comments:

Robin said...

I say ow to roofing in shorts!

Jentry said...

I would be hopeless on the edge of a two story house as well. Roofing looks like such a hot process, I always feel for people who have to do it in the hot of the summer. Do you watch Monk? Do you remember when he had amnesia and was convinced he was a roofer? I love Monk.

Tori said...

What a good little brother! =) Best of luck on Tuesday! I am pretty excited because I get the have Tiff and Carter at my house! Fun Fun.

daniel.perry said...

Hi Garret, I've been blog stocking you again. And I tagged you on my blog... I thought I should go ahead and warn you about it.

Oh and I'm glad to hear that you didn't fall off the roof. All in all, that makes it a great day.

Haley said...

I've had shingles before... the real kind. No fun. But then again, these shingles don't look like a barrel of laughs to me either. I think you should add "mad shingling skills" to your resume somewhere.

Tiffanie said...

Thanks sooooo much for your help. I was so glad to have another chicken up on the roof with me!