Winding down....

It sure was a looooooong weekend. I knew that I had to get to work on my roof. As I previously mentioned, the wind got a hold of the felt paper on one side of the roof and I had to remove and replace it. I had some left over in my storage trailer from when I worked on the other side of the roof.
When I got there on Saturday i was so disappointed to see that rainwater had leaked inside from the roof where the paper had been torn off. There were scattered showers all around the area and I didnt know if I should go ahead and put up the felt paper knowing that it was going to rain before the shingles could be installed. After giving it some thought I went ahead and put the paper on. It took me about 3hours to get it all cut and nailed in place. I was losing light so I called it a day.
I came back on Sunday only to find that it had rained a good bit in the area. I was eager to see how bad the paper got wet. It is 30# paper so I knew it could withstand a shower or two. When I got there, the paper was still intact and starting to dry. After piddlin around the paper was dry and I began with the starter strip and right after that I started with the shingles. It sure would have been nice to have a second person/helper. It is a pain in the ass to go down the ladder, get more shingles, set them on the roof, come back down, get more etc. I worked all afternoon putting the shingles on. I had to come down a coupla times as some lil light showers passed through. Before the daylight was gone I had half of it done so with that I called it a day.
To make a long story short the shingles are all in place now except that I need to ridge cap it. It was a longggggggg and exhausting weekend. I worked in the light rain and had to dodge the heavy rain. It had to get done rain or shine.
Thats it for my last coupla days. I am so happy that the majority of the roof is done. Also, I got to wait out and hear my very first rainstorm inside my lil cabin. That was cool to hear the rain falling on the roof I had just worked on. I didnt see any leaks from the roof so that is a good sign.
I was sooooo tired and sore yesterday from the past coupla days but good 'ol Tylenol, a Coke and some rest kinda made it all better. Oh yea, I saw my first game for the season this weekend...a big ol' javalina and two herds of deer. I hadn't seen any game since earlier in the cold months. Thats it for me for a coupla days. I hope everyone had a good holiday weekend and got to work on your homesteading projects. Until next time, see you on the backroads.


This is what it looks like so far. Yes there are lots of flaws but thats what I get to play with and cover up. Its my first construction project and it is paid for as I go.


My homemade roof job.


My nestled lil cabin in the brush...what people see from the road. Note the stormy sky.


Looking dead west from the top of my roof. I get the most beautiful sunsets and skylines from up here. The brush you see is my second acre. I aint kiddin' when I say its brush country.


Showing my friend Stelly from Kentucky what a mesquite bean pod looks like. Indians and South Texas natives use to shell these and grind the dried bean inside to make a flour used for breads and such. It is something long forgotten that I plan to experiment with someday. They are abundant at my place. Deer and cattle will forage on these as winter approaches as the bean is a good source of protein.