New roof and lots of rain

 The snow melted quickly. The day after it fell (Saturday), the hens were all over the run once again.

Hens in the snow

As usual, the consequence of muddy feet was muddy eggs.

Muddy toes on egg

We had a good rain last Monday (March 25). I walked to the creek the next morning. We had puddles in the field for the first time in a year. The toad pond is back. So far, it is without toads. The chorus frogs are also still absent. Good thing, because it is supposed to freeze again this week.

The reappearance of the toad pond

The creek finally has water in it! As can be easily seen, there’s an awful lot of runoff from the fields this time of year.

The creek with water in it

The ramps have come up. I think there’s one or two more than last year, but they certainly have not yet started wholesale cloning. Hilda and I planted them years ago. She always hoped that she would be around to harvest them. We did not know that they take 10 years to mature. I hope that means they will start spreading then. I might not be around to harvest them either!

The ramps are surviving, but not yet thriving

The south field was flooded in the usual spots as well.

Water in the south field

Terry has dubbed the downstairs kitchen “the botany lab.” I harvested lettuce from the tiny hydroponic garden for the first time.

Hydroponic lettuce

I planted extra tomato seeds to account for decreased germination in their second year. And they all came up. I had to make those gut-wrenching life and death decisions and cut half of them out. Really, I only need two for the high tunnel. I’ll start the tomatoes for the garden in mid-April.

The surviving tomatoes

The peppers also germinated well. I started them earlier this year because they were so puny at planting last year. By golly, I’m going to cover them with row cover after I plant them so that stupid rabbit doesn’t chew through every stem in a single night!

WAY too many peppers!

Late in the week, we had a new visitor poking holes in the lawn. Flickers are handsome birds. Like cedar waxwings, they always look well-groomed.

Yellow-shafted flicker

Every since I went to a talk by the Citizens Utility Board, I have been on a tear to make the house more energy efficient. We got the basement door replaced in January. I wanted to do the windows next, but Terry pointed out that the roof was in worse shape. I wanted a metal roof because it will last the rest of our lives and is 100% recyclable if it ever does have to be replaced. Asphalt shingles are petroleum products are often not recycled, and when they are, it’s hard because they have several different materials in them. I’m not going to kid you—steel is more expensive.

Here is the Before picture.

The old roof

They started on Wednesday by ripping up the old shingles and putting them into a dumpster trailer conveniently parked in front of the garage. These pictures were taken at 8:40 a.m.

The dumpster trailer in front of the garage

Ripping off the shingles

By 11:29, they had started putting down the water barrier on the main part of the roof.

Starting on the water barrier

When they left for the day, the barrier was done on that part. They still had some shingles to get rid of, but the dumpster was full.

Barrier down on most of the roof. Garage still has shingles

On Thursday, the crew brought the panels. The company doing the work does custom pressing of the steel at their home base in Johnsburg. 

Some of the panels, which came covered in plastic on the top side

I went out for the day. When I got home, the easy part of the roof was all done. We were optimistic that they might be done in another day. 

The roof on the back of the house 

The south of the front is done. Just the garage, kitchen and entryway remain. Putzy

It was not to be. The other part of the roof was putzy, with decorative elements over the garage and front door, etc. They worked steadily and long Friday, Saturday, and even Easter Sunday.

Meanwhile, Terry, Jane, and I had rib roast for Easter. It was a last-minute decision based on Jewel having a sale. I cooked the roast perfectly for the first time ever, and I’m pretty proud of myself. It wasn’t too rare nor cooked to dryness. Good for me.

A perfect rib roast

Here is the After picture of the roof. It was a good thing they did work on Easter. It started raining Monday and hasn’t let up since. I thought the sky had forgotten how to pour as hard as it has been. I expect the creek to be over its banks by end of day. I’m fine with that. We need a substantial ground water recharge. My fear is that this will be all the rain we get until September. We can only wait and see.

All done, and just in time for the deluge