"Yeah! Bananas -- Sweet!"

I love my Tuesday/Thursday 8:00 a.m. class of Writing 2 students. What a great group! This morning, I didn't have to rush up to campus by 6 a.m. like I normally do in order to get grading done before my 8 a.m. class. I made a stop at the grocery store to pick up a few necessities, and while I was there, I thought, "Might as well bring some treats in for the students." I grabbed some donuts, some mini cherry pastry turnover things, little bottles of Sunny D and then, sort of as an after thought, some bananas in case anyone preferred a lighter fare.

When I got into the classroom, there were 3 or so in there at that time -- thankfully 7 more came shortly after that. They saw the food and were like, "Is that for us?" I said, "Sure, I was at the grocery store and thought I'd grab us some treats." Those students got up from their chairs so fast that I could hardly believe it. The best part was when I took the bananas out of the bag and put them on the table. The only guy in there at that time said, "Yeah! Bananas -- Sweet!" and took two. 

While I chuckled to myself about that in that moment, after thinking about it for a while, I realized that there is probably a lot more to that statement than I initially thought. Bananas -- no big deal, right? Sure, for me growing up, bananas were always around along with apples, grapes, oranges, and of course, more summer strawberries than we could eat -- on shortcake, ice cream, in pies, or in Grandma's jam that we'd freeze and enjoy all year long. It was no big deal and I thought all of that was just part of the package of growing up.

With my students, I'm not so sure. The longer I teach at the community college in my town, the more I notice about the disparity between my upbringing and that of some of my students. I didn't grow up rich. I had two parents and they both worked, and worked hard, but we never were really in need of anything. We didn't have the biggest house ever (6 people in one, two-turned-into-three bedroom-house with one bathroom), didn't have new furniture or new cars and we didn't take vacations to Disney or anything like that, yet we always had what we needed, and in many cases, we were able to get a few things that we didn't need but wanted. When I say "we," I'm referring to my 3 sisters and me because my parents were the kind that were more than generous -- giving first to others and reserving leftovers for themselves, including driving rusty old trucks!

But what about my students? So many of them come from broken homes, the foster system, parents in prison, brothers and cousins killed on the street, having 3 babies by the time they are 19, being arrested themselves, and so forth. I could go on and on. In the midst of all that, did their parents stop to think about buying bananas while at the grocery store? Forget bananas -- what about grapes, strawberries, or even carrots, broccoli or cauliflower? Those things are not cheap, and when your income is low to begin with, compounded by multiple children or even generations of families living together, compounded again by lower educational background affecting one's understanding of the importance of those foods, and so forth and so forth, what importance do bananas have in the grand scheme of things?

Really thinking about this makes me feel so guilty -- guilty for having so much and for not realizing it, guilty for not thinking twice when I grab a bunch of bananas and stick them in my shopping cart and guilty for not understanding how the rest of the world is functioning around me. I've said it many times before: I live in a bubble, a big pink plastic bubble -- a place where there is and generally has been enough money, where college is done and paid for; where our house is comfortable and cared for; where my neighborhood is green and lush with trees, a place where people jog, walk, their dogs, and ride their bikes at any time of the day or night; where I don't have to worry about having the house windows shot out or the cops coming through regularly; where I don't have to closely watch the computer at the grocery store worrying about how high the total will get, where I don't worry about just getting enough gas to be able to make it to work that week (though I do cringe at the cost), and much much more.

And so as I sit here in my office at work typing this (insert here..."where I don't have to do manual labor in the extreme heat/cold for minimum wage"), all I can think now is, "Yeah! Bananas -- sweet!" ...such a simple phrase.

Right?

Find the Squirrel in This Picture

Stucco-It-To-Me-Baby

We met with "first choice roofing guy" -- I have an urge to call him "Bachelor #1" --  a week or so ago. Results of meeting: not good! He presented us with some options regarding the roof, the beams, and the stucco. To make a long story short, he thinks we need to take down all the old wood, take down all the original stucco, replace stucco with Hardie Board (apparently, the latest in stucco replacement), replace wood beams with MiraTec (some sort of composite material), paint both of the aforementioned items, then proceed with the roofing project. Oh, and did I mention that we also have to add in the cost for re-stuccoing (is that a word?) and re-beaming (yeah, I'm pretty sure that isn't a word) the garage.

The Estimated Cost: ~$30,000

I don't know what you're thinking right now, but my first thought involved chest pains and an overwhelming desire to move. We needed to do some hefty thinking on that one. After a half a week of thinking heftily (man, I'm just making up all sorts of words tonight), I shared the latest on the situation with my friend Kelly who had some not-so-great news to report about that particular company. Turns out, they did some work in her town after a bad storm and the majority of the people in town were not pleased with the quality and they said it was completely overpriced! It was so bad that some of them put signs in their yard telling others NOT to ever use this company. Time to rethink Bachelor #1.

I decided to call in "second choice roofing guy" -- aka Bachelor #2 -- to come back and ask us for his opinion about what the other guy said. Bachelor #2 was the first one to notice the rotten wood when he gave us our initial roofing estimate, so I knew he was detailed enough to see what was actually happening up there in roof land.  His initial estimate was very reasonable and he sounded extremely knowledgeable about his craft.  After a week of exchanging emails about the situation, we arranged for him to come over today to reinspect.

Important Side Note: Fast and reliable communication is extremely important to me when in the process of choosing a construction company. Bachelor #1 was good for a while, but I think he tired of my questions as he has not responded to my last query in a week. Bachelor #2 is doing great so far -- a response within 24 hours of each email sent. He's definitely pulling ahead in this aspect of the competition. 

Bachelor # 2 came out this morning and seemed to think that our stucco looked pretty good for being 70 years old. There are areas that obviously could use some paint and places where the stucco and beams meet that could definitely stand to be recaulked (I do know that is a word because he said it about 20 times this morning.) Long story short: he thinks we can take the beams down and replace with the MiraTec and reseal, but he doesn't think the stucco is in that bad of shape to need to be replaced completely. Sigh-of-relief!  He'll return on Monday with some dudes to take measurements and get up on the roof for a better look. Then he'll give us estimates for the cost of redoing the whole thing: one doing all the things #1 wanted us to do -- and with his suggested alternative.

As of now, I'm feeling a lot better about this.  As an added bonus, he told us about different houses in Cedar Falls that he worked on where he installed Hardie Board so that we could see samples of his work. We drove by them tonight and found them highly satisfactory.

And so, we commence with more waiting. Hopefully, this time we will get better news when it comes to estimates. We've come to accept the need for more work than just the roof, but now the question becomes just how much coin will we have to fork out.

Where there's a roof, there's gotta be a bat, right?

After 5 (the 6th was MIA) roofers coming to check out the house, I think we've got one chosen. I'll say more after we meet with him this afternoon to discuss things.  Regarding the other post's issue: I contacted the construction company that made the repairs in 2010 and they swore that no estimate had been made for rotten wood around the rest of the house, other than the front which was replaced then. I also checked with our realtor about that and the house disclosure statement from the previous owners. Long story short: it looks like they aren't liable for anything and we'll be paying for all projects. I didn't really think we'd score some money from them, but it was certainly worth a try, so thanks to you who suggested.

Another issue -- and you can be sure I'm bringing this up with the roofing guy today -- bats. I hate bats. No, not baseball bats. You know what I mean -- the flying mice-like things. Ugh, I hate them! Did I already say that? 

So, anyway, bat #3 made its way into our house on Wednesday at some point (Now that I thnk about it, I wonder if it's just the same bat?). I was in the basement about to change laundry at around....oh....8:30 p.m. Naturally, all three cats followed me down there expecting to get fed. As I was walking into the laundry room, I heard a weird scratching sound. I stood still waiting for it to continue. It continued. The cats looked puzzled, but none of them got off their chunky cat butts to check it out and rid the house of the intruder -- why the heck do we have those cats anyway? I ran upstairs to tell Ken I heard something scratching but wasn't sure what it was. We both grabbed flashlights, went to the window fan area where the noise was coming from, shined the flights, and.....BAT!!!!!  The nasty little rodent was trying to climb around inside this old window fan. My first thought was, "Ah ha! Now we know how they are getting in!" Sadly though after checking out the entrance outside, we realized its sealed pretty good so they must have a different entrance point. The mystery continues.

Naturally, I hid in the laundry room while I made Ken get rid of the thing, which he did. He used the $5 "Grab It" thing we bought at Menards -- now that's a purchase that has more than paid for itself! I'm still freaked out. I'm dying to know how they are getting in. People say to check the attic, so I'm going to make the roof guy check it out, and he WILL find a way to make some fixes. Oh yes, he will!

"Having a roof over your head" takes on a whole new meaning

Our journey into home ownership has taken another turn. We are now experiencing the wonderful world of roofing. I'll be clear up front: I went into this project with a clear understanding that a new roof was not going to be a cheap or fun experience. The general price that I've gotten from friends and family who've been blessed with the experience of putting a new roof on their home has been roughly between $11,000-$15,000. Okay, so that's a lot of money, but it's a roof after all and something that should last 20 or so years, right? Right.

Now, we have to be savvy about this project, and heaven knows we don't want a rerun of last year's front steps debacle. This means bids, bids, and more bids before we get started. After asking everyone and their brother who they would recommend, we've brought in 5 companies to give us estimates on re-roofing the house and garage. (We also need some minor tuckpointing done to the bricks at the top of our chimney, so we're also investigating that now with these companies.) Here's what we've learned from them so far as I've broken it down into two categories:

WHAT WE ALREADY KNEW

• We need a new roof.
• It is going to be expensive.

WHAT WE LEARNED

• We REALLY need a new roof. Apparently, there is only 1 layer of singles on the house and they are pretty much done for. In addition, we've been told the current roof is approximately 20-30 years old.
• Because we have a steep pitch to our Tudor style house, it's going to cost more than re-roofing the average home.
• There may be spots on the roof that are soft and need to be repaired.
• Different companies/people have really different styles of doing business: some very professional and some not so much.
• Not all construction companies do both roofing and tuckpointing. This means additional/other people may need to be brought on. Sigh. If you recall the "Great Front Step Massacre of 2011," you know I hate dealing with contractors and subcontractors.

Now I have to add a new category. This category is titled, "HOLY CRAP / ARE YOU KIDDING ME?" This is where I share the totally unexpected news about the roof and ensuing project(s).

• Like I mentioned above, we have a Tudor style home. This means we have a brick bottom half of the house with a half timber and stucco upper level. Refer to the picture if you need a visual. When the house was built (ca. 1940), the timber portion was wood painted brown. At some point in time, a set of owners got tired of painting the wood and had it covered with brown aluminum sheeting. Interesting. I didn't really think or pay attention to that fact when looking at the house. Apparently, if this is not installed perfectly, water can leak in between the aluminum sheeting and the side of the house (stucco) and cause the original wood to rot. This brings me to bullet point 2.
• At various places on the house we have rotten wood underneath the sheeting. Oh joy. Couldn't see it, didn't know it was there, but now we've got a problem. Naturally, there are places in the roof where it intersects with the sheeting. Obviously, sheeting will need to be removed/replaced to fix the roof thus exposing said rotten wood. More money.
• When the roofers replace the sheeting, doing so with the rotten wood would not be advised. The nails used to hold the sheeting won't go back into the rotten wood. Will have to replace with new wood and new sheeting. Hm...if we put new sheeting on in some places around the house, won't we need/want to replace it elsewhere on the house so that it all matches? More money.

As a side point, I'm a little concerned because only 2/5 people who've come for bids have noticed the problem with the wood and the sheeting. What does that mean? Did the others not see it? Would it come up as an added expense later once we're into the project?

But hold on; here comes the fun part. Ready? The last person to come here on Friday to look at the roof greeted me by saying, "I'm already familiar with this house. I was here 3 years ago making repairs for the owners." Um...okay....so what do I do with that information? First thoughts, "Oh crap! Now what?" So I asked him to fill me in on why he was here and what he did. He repaired different parts of the roof where the owners were experiencing leaks and ice dam problems. Well, that explains the different colored shingles/patchiness we can see. At the time, he explained to the owners the need for a new roof and the problem with the rotting wood and the sheeting. Their response to him was to just patch it. Apparently this happened right as they were planning to sell the house and move and they didn't want to put the money in. Go figure. Maybe that's why they moved. How much money was his estimate in 2009? Then it was about $18,000. And now? Um yeah, a little bit more and that doesn't count any work on tuckpointing the chimney. So we're definitely looking at over $20,000.

Sigh.

I have one more person coming in on Monday to take a look. I've heard good things about this company and so I'm hopeful they will prepare an estimate that takes all these things into account but that comes in at a reasonable price. Pray for me.

Back Yard Bonanza!

Spring Break is just about over, but I am happy to report it was a good one! No, we didn't go anywhere this year, and that is fine. With so much traveling coming up for both Ken and me in the next two weeks, it was nice to just hang at home.

The weather was beautiful -- almost 70-75 degrees everyday!  And that's in March! It was very reminiscent of the 2009 March weather during our wedding. Crazy.  We spent almost every day outside in the back yard doing projects. Things we accomplished: dug old tree stump out of space behind the garage, laid brick path in space left by removing old stump,  trimmed dead limbs, pulled out old leaves and sticks from flower beds, and pulled out stones from pond area. I also pulled out some old cinder blocks that were buried in a flower garden in the middle/back of the yard. I plan to plant a bunch of "hummingbird friendly" flowers there in April.

Now, sad as I am that break is almost over, I'm more sad that I haven't done any grading over break. I got out my laptop this afternoon with the explicit purpose of doing that now, but I found myself playing on eBay for the past hour or so. I guess it's time to face the music and realize play time is over. On the plus side...only about 6 weeks left until the semester is over!  Then it's back in the back yard for more play time!

And now for the furnace

Home update time. Our next major house project came in the form of our furnace. Our house actually has 2 furnaces and 2 central air units. One set heats/cools the old part of the house and the other set heats/cools the back part of the house -- the addition put on in the 1950s. While I was in FL for a conference last week, Ken discovered that our back furnace had quit working. Not that we really noticed it though for 2 reasons: 1) the weather hasn't been that cold lately, and 2) we generally keep the house relatively cool anyway. It's just the two of us after all and we don't care.

We thought about calling a furnace repair person/business to come check it out, but that last time we had to do that, we had a negative and very costly experience. Forget that!  After our whole front porch steps incident last summer, we've decided to only bring someone on for a house project if they have been recommended by someone we trust. So I sent out an email asking for our local friends and family to give us some ideas of people that would recommend for things like the furnace, roofing, plumbing, etc. -- general home owner-type service personnel.

Ken's brother Tom -- an electrician and handyman of sorts -- offered to come over and check out our furnace.  It turns out that it was going to be a pretty simple fix. I guess (and I spare you all the details because, well, frankly, I wasn't paying attention) that the igniter had burned out. Tom told where he could get a part and then explained how to fix it. Ken ran by the parts store on his way home from work today, got it, and came home to install. I kid you not, it took him probably 2 or 3 minutes total and it was done and working!  We've now got the back room set at a balmy 62 degrees (it was only 60 without the furnace working). What a relief!  The whole project only cost about $32! Awesome!  Mucho thanks to brother Tom!