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All About Roofing

Today’s Project

This is the west side of the roof over the front (north) door of the house.  This roof leaked last winter/spring, and I bet that you can understand why.  And since winter is coming, I thought I better go ahead and get this fixed, NOW!  I’d have done it long ago, but the projects that gave us living space have all seemed more important up until now.

Damage from leaking last winter/spring – before we lived here

The Demo

Thankfully all of the needed supplies and tools were here already.  Dad reroofed almost the entire house a few years ago and had plenty of extra packages of shingles just waiting for me to use.

The hardest part was taking those old shingles off.  As worn out and rotten as they look, they were still solidly attached to the roof.  The shingles in the open were fine, but that small section under the overhang… those were rough.  As that space disappeared it became almost impossible to get the nails out.   And the space to grab onto them was almost too small as well.

It took about an hour to get that portion cleaned out on both sides of the door.  Truth be told, I did end up leaving a portion of the old shingles on the East side.  No amount of pulling or mangling could get it released since that upper portion of house was built on top of the already shingled entry way.  But since it is well hidden it won’t be an eye sore, and being covered the way it is there is no way it will cause a water problem.

Roofing

When the demolition was complete we found that the tar paper was actually in really good shape.  On one side we left it in place, and on the other I did lay some new tar paper to cover a spot we ripped it while tearing shingles off.

As mentioned above, the shingles under the eaves had been put on prior to the eaves being built when the house was under construction 35+ years ago.  That made nailing down the shingles then easy to do.  Not so much today though.  There is no way to get a nail gun nor hammer into that space to secure the shingles with nails.

Instead, we glued them down.  After nailing each shingle down as much as we could, we used roofing tar to glue them in place.   No shingle is ONLY held by tar though.  We were sure to not to put any partial pieces in under that area that couldn’t be nailed.  Every shingle has at least 4 nails in it out in the open, and then some tar under the eave to glue that portion down.  I hope it will be just fine.

It only took about an hour of work to get the new shingles on.  It took more than a couple of actual hours due to the breaks I kept taking for my back and feet (ached terribly from standing on the ladder).   I knew this was going to cause a fair amount of pain, so I asked for help.  I guess my Elder’s Quorum (church group) dropped the ball on me.   C’est la Vie.

Siding

If you look closely at the photo you’ll notice that the fascia was never installed around this door.  Dad, who worked in construction his entire life (He was a project manager for building hospitals, shopping malls, and an LDS temple) never got around to finishing that small project.

So, after roofing, Julie and I decided that it was high time that it got done.   Again, all the supplies were here already.

Julie actually took over this portion of the project.  My back was killing me by the time we got to this point, so she found the items and started measuring and cutting.   She can do it all (must be part of her Cyborg programming).

(I wrote the previous paragraph while she was indeed out working and I recuperated.  After about 45 min I went out again and found she hadn’t put up any of the soffit or fascia, so I proceeded to do it myself while she went and got kids from school and ran them to/from various locations.  I left that paragraph in the post just to rub it in a little bit to her – a good natured laugh we were having).

Completed Project

 

More to Come

I wish that we were done with this, but it turns out there are 2 bay windows that Dad failed to re-roof as well a few years back.  So those are also on our to-do list this week.

 

 

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Health Update

I thought since I’ve posted quite a few times about health issues that I should give an update.

Weight Loss Attempt

The goal continues.   Since we started really working on my parents place we stopped the morning veggie drink in the interest of time; and I’ve only been mediocre on the self control after 8pm.

As such, I haven’t lost a ton of weight.  But I have lost some.  Depending on how I stand on a notoriously unreliable scale it is possible that I’m under 300lbs.  Lean a little one way and I’m under, lean a little the other and I’m not.  But I think I am down at least a few pounds from the 310 I was a few months ago.

I think that loss is almost exclusively to the pool time almost every afternoon AND spending 4-6 hours a day in a 100F room building walls and such.  Together the sweat box and the swimming hole have done me a little good!

Numb Hand

The numbness in my hand is still there unfortunately.  The medical info that I read about says it should take a few weeks to go away if I take care of it.  And since I still spend too much time at the computer (the activity I think is responsible because of how I rest my arm on the edge of the desk) I’m not sure when it will go away.

The numbness is one of the reasons I haven’t been posting as much lately.  I’ve been trying to not sit here too often.

Mental Health

I’m still a nutcase!  That might always be true, but I’m trying to deal with it better than I have in the past.  I’m still going to my weekly VA appointments and meeting with the counsellor.

I’ve also started the Canines With A Cause classes.  Those are once a week and in the primary stage that I’m in now it is mostly learning how to train your dog; basic canine psychology and such.  They will hopefully be able to find me a good dog to adopt.  If not then I’ll have to find one myself at some point.  (If any of you would like to donate a dog to me, I’d be thrilled and highly appreciative!).

Back/Headaches

I hurt like crazy all the time.  I’m sure I’m taking more Ibuprofren than is good for me, but since I need a home to live in permanently I need to keep going.  There have been a few mornings where the headaches were so bad that I was vomiting, but only a few.

My back is holding out okay.  It hurts, and I’m only able to do about 30 minutes of real labor each day.  Thankfully I’m able to use Julie, Caitlin, and Joshua to largely do the things that need to be done by just being near by and directing them.   There aren’t really too many things that need someone big and strong to do.  So it’s slow, but it’s coming along.  And my back does what it must in order to keep going.

Hopefully we can get through this without a complete physical (or mental) breakdown again.

 

 

 

 

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Running Log 6/12/17

Running Log 6/12/17

Location: PG Rec Center

Participants: Family minus Josh (Scout Camp) plus cousins Jake and Caly

Task: Caterpillars for 25 minutes.

Gold Star for the day undoubtedly goes to Andrew.  He needed some encouragement but he ran the entire thing.  He has never gone that far or that long non-stop before.  I was very impressed with him.  It was good to not see him quit, which is normally the problem.  He gives up on hard things, but not today!

Every else did just fine.  It was a nice slow pace so they didn’t quite run 2 miles.  They all ran well and I didn’t hear any complaining.

This is the first time we’ve done Caterpillars without a baton to pass back.  Instead, that last person would simply wait until they saw the person ahead of them finish their sprint, and then they would sprint to the front themselves.  This adds more sprinting by eliminating the time for the baton to be passed back.  They all handled it quite well.  The added runner helped mitigate the extra running.

Overall a very good run.  This is the first running log in a few weeks because we’ve been doing other things, so it was good to get back “on track.”  I was able to walk almost a full lap with JR at a VERY slow pace.  The time spent standing though took its toll and I was in quite a bit of pain at the end.  Lifting Steven to get a drink near the end was excruciating.

I have video for you today… Enjoy!

UPDATE: new video without the music that got blocked!

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Examining My Motivation

This question was asked  during church this week… “What motivates you?”  I was able to sit through about 10 minutes of discussion before JR started fussing.  He was loud enough that I needed to leave so that he didn’t bother the rest of the class.   So I sat with him in the hall and thought about that singular question… what is my motivation?

Searching for Motivation

The first answer that came to mind to me is “I have no motivation.”   I didn’t share this with the class, but kept it to myself.   I do find it very hard much of the time to find motivation to do anything.  I’m in a depressed mood much of the time.

Even when I have the desire to get up and do something, quite often the chronic pain is there to change my mind.  I want to get up and be outside doing things, but knowing they are going to hurt while doing them AND continue hurting long after I’ve stopped makes it extremely difficult to do much at all.

Fear of pain

But that means that I am motivated to stay docile because of fear of pain.  Having many times experienced headaches so bad that they leave me vomiting or blacked out, I find pain avoidance to be highly motivating.

Now, because I know that continuing to gain weight will also cause more pain, I do find motivation to do what I can.  Even 8 years after being medically discharged I am still trying to find the threshold between activity and pain.   The same fear of pain that sucks motivation from me, also makes me want to get up and do what I can so that I don’t get worse.  It is a balancing act that I often feel I am failing at.

Love of family

Love for my family is the one thing that consistently overcome my fear of pain.  I will do what NEEDS to be done for them even if I know it will be painful.  Right now this is happening with getting my parents house cleaned out.  We NEED a permanent place to live.  Every day I wake up stiff, sore, and nauseated from pain.   But the clock is ticking toward start of the next school year, so I get up and get moving.

Before this though there were many days when I probably would have stayed in bed all day.  Or if I did get up, I wouldn’t go anywhere as I hate being in public.  If it weren’t that Julie hates this and it makes her feel bad, then I’d never leave the house.

But making Julie happy and wanting to see the kids is enough to get me out of bed and dressed.  It’s really been the only thing getting me to church for years.  Don’t misunderstand,  I love my church.  I have a deep and abiding faith in Christ.   But the pain and PTSD would be enough to keep me from attending except that Julie wants me there with the family.   So I go, for love of the family.

Other motivation?

I don’t know if I can come up with another one.  I don’t do much pleasure seeking, I don’t care about money, I’d rather not be famous.  While at Fort Huachuca I lost the will to live, and am only still here today because of my love for Julie and the kids.   There are occasionally things I would like to do, but they all largely go unfulfilled for reasons previously discussed.   And even when I do something that I “want to do” it is largely unsatisfying.

I have good moments of laughter and love, but am largely unmotivated toward anything in particular.   My decision making paradigm can basically be boiled down to pain avoidance and love of family.

I’d love to hear… what motivates you?

Andrew with his puppy
Andrew circa 2015 with our Great Pyrenees puppy ‘Chief’
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Another Weight Loss Attempt

It is time again for another doomed-to-fail weight loss attempt. Why Do I Do This To Myself?

It’s Glaringly Obvious!

Every time I look in a mirror, try to walk up a flight of stairs, or attempt to pick something up off of the ground, it is obvious why I need to lose weight.  I’m a big, fat, slug of a man.  The pain sucks. My back can’t handle the stress the weight causes.  I’ve consistently gained 10lbs a year since getting injured.  I don’t expect I could make it to my 50’s if don’t reverse course.

If I want to see my kids grow up or get married than I have to make weight loss a priority.  If I would like to be able to remain mobile much longer than I must shed some pounds.  I’d really love to be able to stop using my cane.  If I continue to balloon then eventually my ankles, knees, or back will just give out and I’ll be in really bad shape.  It should be glaringly obvious that if I want any quality of life that changes need to happen.

But I Also Have No Idea!

While it IS glaringly obvious that I need to lose weight, I simultaneously have no idea why I do this to myself.  I have tried and failed so many time that I have no confidence that I can succeed.  Does another attempt make any sense if I have anticipate failure?  Yes, the results seem desirable and worth the effort; No, they don’t seem achievable.

But hey, would I really be “me” if I didn’t occasionally try insanely stupid things that seem doomed to failure from the beginning?  Maybe it’s time for a “Here, hold my beer Sprite” type of moment.

Weight Loss Efforts

I will not be doing anything drastic.  I will be trying to combine a small change in what I eat (my “diet”) with a small increase in exercise.

What I eat (diet)

I think the biggest effect could come from just a slight amount of self-control, namely, not eating or snacking after scriptures/bedtime for the kids.  This usually happens around 9pm at our house, but I routinely consume a significant number of calories after this time.   Eliminating this “after hours” eating could/should have the biggest impact on my weight loss.

I don’t usually have much of a breakfast, due mostly to morning back pain keeping me in bed until after normal breakfast hours.  I know breakfast is “the most important meal of the day,” but this probably won’t change.  My morning consumption however has already been changed from cereal or bacon/eggs into a fruit/veggie juice.

Julie and I bought a Champion Juicer that we love.  We’ve had one for years (replaced after each fire).  Julie has been making fresh juices for us most mornings as breakfast.  The juicer tears apart the cells releasing the nutrients rich contents and eliminating the pulp/cell membrane.

A typical juice for two would include:

3 apples

1/10 of a pineapple

1/2 cup of mixed berries (blueberries, strawberry, raspberry, etc)

2 carrots

1/2 cucumber

1/2 stalk of celery

1 serving of some type of squash (zucchini, crook necked, etc)

small handful of spinach or kale (kale is bitter, use sparingly)

There are numerous books, websites, blogs, etc. that give you other recipes that are great.   This one is kind of Julie’s go-to recipe.  Just run it all through the juicer, stir, and enjoy.  You can get a full days nutrients from just one glass of fresh juice.  And it is easier than trying to eat that quantity of produce.

Exercise

This one has always been tough.  The chronic pain makes everything hard.  Combined with seeing how much ability I’ve lost, it becomes is very depressing.   How do I overcome that?

I had always played a variety of sports that would have me running and jumping.  But my weight and back problems don’t let me do either of those.  AT ALL!   Thankfully it is summer now, which provides an easy way to neutralize my massive weight: swimming.

Being in water relieves the stress that the weight puts on my body.  It doesn’t hurt my leg joints nor my back.  The plus side of having this much blubber is it’s buoyancy!  The local Pleasant Grove pool is only open in summer, and so I am looking forward to taking advantage of our family pass.

The downside to swimming though is that in order to breath one must keep ones head out of the water.  I’ve found that the arch in my back that this requires creates a more-than-acceptable level of pain.  So in years past I haven’t swam either.

I’m ashamed to say it took me 9 years to solve the problem of breathing with my face underwater.

My magical breathe-under-water device.  A snorkel and mask!

I don’t know why this “new technology” eluded me for so long, but I’m happy to say that I can now swim, pain free.   Shoulder surgeries has left them weak which could be a problem with swimming too.  Happily, I’ve found that also using fins give me plenty of propulsion to keep me at the surface without engaging my arms (the blubber helps too!).

So I can avoid back pain, rest my arms/shoulders when tired, and can get some exercise!  I am thrilled and excited about this.

Optimism

I’m leery that something will go wrong.   In the last few years something always seems to for me.  But I am more cautiously optimistic.  Not necessarily that I’ll lose weight, but that I can at least increase my activity level without a corresponding increase in pain.

If I can exercise, and if I can control what I eat, perhaps the weight loss will come.  If weight loss can occur, perhaps the pain will decrease (or disappear?).  And if I can be healthy and if the pain goes away, perhaps the depression/anxiety/PTSD will get better too.   That is far too many if‘s for me to be hopeful, but maybe feeling doomed to failure isn’t realistic either.

So wish me luck.  Words of encouragement are always welcome.  Prayers are appreciated.  Feel free to ask me how it is going.  I need the accountability.

And please, stop running away and screaming when I take my shirt off at the pool.  That could make a person feel bad you know 🙂