Heart-Attack City (and a roofer!)

After procrastinating way too long on finding a roofer to fix the roof (the side that the tree fell on), I've been calling around, trying to get some roofer to just return my calls. It would be nice if they'd just call and say "Sorry, we're booked for the season." Anyway, a friend mentioned her handyman does roofs. He's an older guy and works by himself because these younger guys just don't take any pride in their work and he winds up having to do their work over again, so he just does it all himself.

Well, I called and left a messge for him this morning. About ten minutes after I got home for lunch, the dogs started barking. Stella had a number of specific barks--I could usually tell from her bark whether she was barking at a squirrel, a passing dog, a human she knew, or a human she didn't know--but with Taenzer and Timber I can never tell whether it's anything serious or not, so I have a tendency to ignore them. This time they just kept barking, so I finally went and checked out the bedroom window, and here's this guy standing in my driveway peering up at my roof. Went on out and son-of-a-gun, if it isn't the guy I called this morning! Wow!

We talked about the roof a little bit, and the dogs kept barking and I kept hushing them, and all of a sudden this black streak rockets past me, headed for the dog pen. Taenzer, the brat, had just pushed the back door open with her nose (it doesn't latch--I have to use the hook-and-eye lock to keep it closed when I'm inside). She didn't even stop to check out this strange man standing beside me, just charged straight out to the dog pen.

Now, remember, neither of the dogs wears a collar in the house because I've heard so many stories of tragic consequences when two dogs wearing collars played together and one of them gets caught in the other's collar. I take them from the house to the dog yard and back with classy kennel leads (silver for Taenzer, blue for Timber). So there she is out loose without a collar, be still my beating heart. I ran over and grabbed her ruff and escorted her back into the house, and leaned the snowshovel across the door so she couldn't get out again.

I admit, I'm miffed--partly because she didn't come when I called her (okay, that's my fault--not enough training), but mostly because she just ignored a complete stranger in her yard. Stella would *never* have let me talk to someone she didn't know by myself; she'd have been right there in heel position, keeping an eye on him, or even standing between us. All Taenzer was thinking about was her ball.

I was really surprised, actually, that Timber didn't come streaking out on her heels, but he stayed in the kitchen.

Mental note #1: keep a couple of kennel leads in the garage in case of emergency.

Mental note #2: get the door at the top of the stairs fixed so it stays closed without having to be slammed 5 times.

Anyway, I got her safely back inside and went back to talk to this very nice man and showed him the breakdown the insurance company sent me, which he read very carefully. Then he said, "Okay. But what do you want?"

My mouth fell open. Nobody's ever asked me that before. I gathered my scattered wits and said, "Well, I want a weather-proof roof." He laughed.

He said he would check prices and get back to me tomorrow at noon.

Wow.