Shitgling

The baked, bent up shingles on the back of my roof have had it.  They were toast.  It was easy to spot.  So a month or so I lined up the famous Wonder Watt and Brucey to give my roof the loving it deserved.  They assured me it would be an easy enough job.  "30 bundles", proclaimed Bruce.  He eyed it. 

I insisted that I couldn't let two sexagenarians, not that there is anything wrong with that, do it all by themselves.  I have never shingled.  I haven't even really swung a hammer in my life.  I've never carried a bundle, nor used a cutting knife with any real purpose....  That all changed over the past few days.  I was told the only thing that could go wrong is we'd run out of beer.  I assured my crew that wouldn't be the case.  It was time to strip!  (The roof of course.)

Obviously there was an odd hiccup here and there, but it really went swimming smooth.  With all the supplies order, paid for and delivered, we got favourable weather for this task and started at it.  Bruce and Warren indicated they don't work too quickly, which was fine, but their attention to detail and a job well done was not overlooked whatsoever.

They eased me into my roll.  Most of the first day was garbage duty.  It was to pick up the shingles that missed the dump trailer.  After getting an "A" in that, they had me do a few more tasks getting progressively harder.  Next I got the coffee at break, then I rolled my yard to pick up the nails that missed their mark in the trailer.  Roofing was dam easy I'll tell you.  Then, yes, it got way harder.

My work was now getting difficult.  It was time to shingle.  Because of the odd location of my house and its driveway, a boom truck was not able to deliver the shingles on the roof.  It was hand-bomb time.  Shingles up a ladder I'll tell you is no joke.  Even a one story haul is substantial.  First they are heavy.  I never did get the total....  Eighty pounds??  Also they are sharp and they dig into your skin and shoulder pecking away at the epidermis.  However, despite a few wobbly steps, I managed to heave my fair share of the material up the ladder to be laid. 

But there are also nails to fetch, lots of sweeping, getting the hose to water down the shingles, untangling the air hose, cutting, caulking, trimming to fit, lining up the gussets, and so on, and so on.  It is serious work, and also can be quite dangerous on a steep pitched roof with increased height.  No wonder these guys are selective and only choose jobs, such as mine, that are relatively "easy".  Though I don't think "easy" and "shingling" should be used in the same sentence having now down it.

And as for my last job on Friday at 4:45 when we were just finishing - I bet you think it was off to the beer store.  Nope, we were one bundle short.  Back to the supply store for one last bundle.  We were 8 or 10 shingles short....  One more blasted package to mule.