A Little News

You would think after not posting more than a couple of times last week I would have at least stumbled across some gem of wisdom to share with you. Truth is, I am still wasted, both mentally and physically, from three and a half days of roofing and from Saturday’s all day Christmas nightmare. I have to confess that working for a small newspaper absolutely has soured me on what was once my favorite holiday. There are only so many Christmas parades and photos of Santa that one can stand and I reached my limit all in one day.

First the roofing. I had a squirrel in my attic and in the process of getting that little bugger out, I found some pretty extensive water damage from a leak around my chimney. That required I replace three rafters, some decking and the entire back half of the roof had to be shingled. I am pretty hard headed about doing it myself so I launched into the roof project Tuesday morning with foolish optimism that I could be finished by the time to go to work on Friday morning. If you are laughing now it is because you have roofing experience which I sorely lacked. My oldest son, oldest daughter who lives at home and my Dad all tackled the job. My time table went out the window on the fist day because the second layer of shingles had been on the roof about 30 years and they had a death grip on the roof deck. Then I managed to step through my ceiling. Wife is not happy at this point. Finally I found myself nailing down tar paper Thursday night by flashlight. Not fun. Friday my Dad sent some guys down with a nail gun and some knowledge and it was finally done by about 3pm.

That was tough enough. Then came Saturday. The day began at 8am and I went home at 11pm working almost non-stop. I shot eight assignments in seven different places, drove just over 200 miles and was numb by the end of the day. If that were not bad enough, there were three consecutive Christmas parades and a fourth Christmas assignment. Did I mention that in my free time I had to watch the picture desk. (Truthfully, I am not sure where the picture desk might go were I not watching it but, you know, I still have to watch it.) I am officially ready for January and I still have three weekends left to work. I decided to share a few photos from the day with you guys just for fun. I don’t know if there is anything at all to learn but I did want to give you a chance to share a little in my Christmas misery. And I have a bunch of children. Christmas should be my favorite time of the year. Well, it is still fun seeing those eyes all filled with excitement on Christmas morning. So maybe it is worth it after all.

Photos copyright The Decatur Daily. The opinions expressed in this blog are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer.