Bees or Locusts?

I'd say that the house witnessed a beehive of activity today. The roofers swarmed all over the roof. Mark the Plumber was doing his magic. Bob and Jay and Dennis continued their assault on the work.

But the locusts, errrrr roofers dominated the scene and everyone else including this writer walked gingerly around them. Clearly they had worked together for a long time as insults, barbs, teases and trash talking occurred frequently. I thought I was at one of our family gatherings for a minute.

Without attempting to enter into the GAF vs. Certainteed debate, we chose GAF for the quality of the installer and the warranty, which is 20 years material and labor for virtually any reason.

Charlie chose Northwoods Roofing and Construction to do the install. I spent a little time with the owner, Mike Kegley, who told me how much the roofing industry has changed just in the past few years. He is required now by the state to certify his business and earn continuing education credits. The insurance industry led the push for this and while the adjustment was a little difficult because of paperwork, Mike feels it has resulted in a better product for home builders.

His business has not fallen off (excuse the expression) because of the recession. It turns out that instead of building, most people are fixing up. So he finishes about 200 roofs a year including a little winter slowdown.

Working on the front porch, Dennis and Jay continue nailing up the vertical cedar siding.

The Pith is headed down to Madison and Chicago for the next two days for a quick visit and a sudden turnaround in order to get back by his anniversary. This blog will be barren, which is not much of a change, but will be back in full force by Thursday. Check out North Pith, too, for even more rambling benedictions.