Burger buns, sort of

These didn't rise quite the way I wanted them to, but they were delicious. And they held together when we sliced them and made barbecue (slow-cooked pulled turkey) and slaw sandwiches. Ken makes a kind of mock cole slaw with chopped iceberg lettuce (in the place of cabbage) dressed in a tangy sauce. Along side we ate black-eye peas with mixed vegetables.

Blurry photo of hamburger buns.

Next time, I'm going to try using my pizza dough recipe to make buns. That should be interesting.

The storms and rain predicted for overnight kind of fizzled. It's raining gently this morning, but we were spared the predicted deluge. Other regions weren't so lucky. Roof-wise, it's so far, so good. The external leaks we had (holes in the gutters) seem to be gone. In one spot, the patch is temporary. We'll probably ask the roofer for the permanent fix (replacing a section of gutter) in the fall.

I don't give a fig

This is our famous fig tree this year. It's bigger than it's ever been. It's full of figs. Or rocks posing as figs. They hard as concrete. Maybe the title of this post should be, "I don't get a fig."

Fig.

It took me about two hours yesterday to cut all the grass (and that included stopping to cut blackberry vines out of the hedge. They attacked me as I mowed close to them). Sure, there's edge work to be done with the smaller mower, but that's not urgent. Most of the yard is neatly cut. We're still expecting rain over night.

Filler

I'm out of fresh photos. I don't feel the need to show more of the roof work. Between Ken's blog and mine, I think we've done it all. That said, here's a close up of one of the two garage windows with it's freshly painted sill. Now I've got to wash those windows. Ken washed the garage door yesterday and it looks great.

Garage window.

The weekend is still expected to be a wet one, so we're waiting to see if this roof job fixed our leak problems. Fingers crossed.

My plan for the day: get the grass cut before it rains.

All is calm

The roof work is done now. The guys spent about two hours on Wednesday morning putting on the finishing touches and cleaning up. Now we wait for rain. Storms and rain are predicted as we move into the weekend. So, we shall see.

The garage window sills and the underside of the deck are looking pretty spiffy now!

Today's errands include a stop at the vet's office to pick up an order of dental chews and a supply of flea & tick medicine for Tasha. Then I'll likely make quick stops at the recycle center and the grocery store with a final stop at the filling station (do people say that any more?) for gas for the lawnmower. Then I'd like to cut the grass before the rain moves in.

Almost done

Here's some of the roof work in progress. You can see one of the two dormer valleys with it's new metal flashing. The tiles are back on now (but not in this photo). You can also see the underside of the deck. In this shot, it's been power washed, but not yet prepared for paint. That is actually done now. The work should wrap up today. I will post "after" photos soon.

Tasha's on the deck supervising the roofing crew. The yellow spots are made by the sun shining through a leafy tree.

Meanwhile, the heat is holding, but not for long. I think a cool-down is expected for the weekend. Boy, were we lucky!

Tasha Tuesday

Of course I took a couple of pictures of Tasha when we walked along the river in Montrichard last week. This one shows how happy she was to be out in a new place with new smells. She looks happy to me, anyway. You can see central Montrichard in the background.

A walk on the right bank of the Cher.

Well, glory be! The roofers showed up right on time yesterday morning. Once they started working, they realized that they needed a tool that they didn't bring. So one of them had to go to the hardware store while the other two waited. Not a great start. But, they eventually got under way. The valleys over the chien-assis (sitting dog, also dormer window) are rebuilt. Today the roof tiles will go back up. The underside of the deck has been power-washed. Today a filler and sealer will be applied before the first of two paint coats. I guess the final job will be to clean out and re-seal the rain gutters. This morning the guys are planning to show up around 08h00 to get a jump on the afternoon heat. Yeah, it's hot! And, more importantly, dry.

Will he or won't he?

This morning we're expecting the roofing contractor to start work. We have no confirmation of this. We think that's the way we left it last week. So, we shall see. I moved the flower pots out of the kitchen window boxes yesterday. They were just below where the work will be done. One of us will take the car out of the driveway and park it on the road in case we need it while the contractor is working. Then we just wait.

Another view of the dam, lock, and old mill in Montrichard.

Remember those baby grapes I posted about a while back? Well, now I see that they were just the flower buds getting ready to open. They've been open for a while now and grapes are beginning to form. These next few days of sunny and warm (yay!) weather should make them happy.