Fog in Charleston

Richard and I had to take his Dodge Nitro to Turnpike Ford on Monday to get the windshield replaced. I drove my car up to bring him back. It was a beautiful morning on the West Side but look at the fog on the East End! I just had to grab my phone and take pictures as I was driving along at 60 mph! When we came back downtown just a few minutes later the fog was all gone. I'm glad I got pictures!

We have decided to get the metal roof for our house in barn red. I think it will look just great with our brick. It costs a bit more but this is probably a once-in-a-lifetime thing. Nitro Sun and Awning is going to make our new white awning (just like the old one) and we have hired a neighbor who does stone-work for the City of South Charleston to rebuild the stone wall in front of the house. He works pretty cheaply, which is how we can afford the metal roof. Richard put the fence up to begin with so he will put up the new fence. We are also going to put a fence on two sides of Audrey's house. We are looking at new garage doors and storm doors too. It depends how much money we have left after the roof and awning. I want to make the house look really good, have good curb appeal.

When it rains, it pours!

We had enough excitement last night to last us for years to come! At 12:45 am I awoke to a big CRASH! I looked out my bedroom window because I heard voices out that way, and there was a young black male running down Bream Street, calling out to someone ahead of him. Richard then yelled to tell me that there was a car in our front yard so I went arunning. The guys down Bream Street were the occupants of the car, which they abandoned. Turns out, they had just done an armed robbery on Central Avenue and the car had guns in it. I think they were going very fast and wiped out somehow on Seventh Avenue and started up in our yard on the driveway. They barely missed my car and then swung around the other direction, taking out the end of the porch awning and the chain link fence completely from the front of the house. Our little shrubs were smashed flat. Our rose of sharon tree was broken in half and will have to be removed. We are lucky they missed our cars and our house. I don't know yet if they have been caught. UPDATE! They were caught only a block away from our house. These violent individuals should be put away forever!

More Damage Than We Knew

We found out today that we had more storm damage than we knew about. Shingles off our roof hit Richard's car in the middle of the windshield and slid across making deep scratches. There were some scratches in the paint also on the hood and the left fender. The insurance adjuster came to look at the roof and we showed him the car. He said our car insurance would take care of that, so we filed a claim with them too.

The insurance adjuster said that as bad as our roof was from the storm, there was worse hail damage we knew nothing about. We have hopes they will help us get a new roof. He said he will call me Sunday evening to give us the information. We have to take Richard's car to Turnpike Ford in Marmet on Tuesday about our claim for the windshield damage. That is going to end up costing us because we have a $250 deductible. I figure all they will do is replace the windshield.

My tulips are blooming! I have been looking forward to this for months. After these spring flowers are finished I will plant impatiens there. I wish impatiens smelled as good as the spring flowers! I planted onion sets today, fifty green onions and fifty sweet onions. I also planted leaf lettuce seeds, so in a month and a half I will be eating wilted lettuce! I can taste it now, so delicious! I have not grown onions and leaf lettuce in several years so I can't wait! We went up to meet the strawberry lady this afternoon but she wasn't there. The Florida strawberries may be finished. I hope not.

Damaged roof!

These pictures show where our roof was damaged during the storm yesterday evening. There are two big bare patches over the garage and an even bigger bare patch over two bedrooms on the west side of the house. I heard the shingles peel off during the first big wind we got. Today we walked around the house and noticed how bad the damage was. There were bits and pieces of shingles all over our yard, and probably up the street as well. The window is the house next door and see how our shingles stuck between the glass and the frame? I don't know how the window didn't break. A few more boards came off the side of that house. I called our insurance company first thing this morning and called a contractor for an estimate for a complete new roof. We are looking at a metal roof but probably all we can afford will be asphalt shingles. The contractor told us they could make gutters the same color as the metal roof. He is to email me the estimate tomorrow and we will see what we can do. Any help we can get from the insurance company would be great. We have a $500 deductable.

Windstorm

This is a chunk of our roof! I heard sounds from the roof with the first big wind I heard. Richard and I were watching the storm when we heard a crash! and I knew the porch roof from the house behind us was gone again. Several years ago their first porch roof was taken off by wind. It was like ours, then replaced by a flat roof. The second roof was found in nearly the same place the first roof was found. I knew what it was when I heard it. We went out back to look around and Richard found the big chunk of our roof. We have been talking about getting a new roof but now I think we need to make it a priority. We are going to call for estimates tomorrow. I wonder if Homeowner's insurance would pay??? I think I will give them a call tomorrow also. Richard said we should feel lucky that the roof was applied over the first roof, which is still there, so I guess we don't need to worry about the roof leaking. There goes our income tax refund!

April Block of the Month

The April block for the Jewels in the Crown block of the month was posted a couple of days early so I immediately started on it. This one is gorgeous! But it has mitered seams (all over) and I usually avoid mitered seams like the plague. I finally got it done though. It lays fairly flat, but not totally. I think it will be fine when it is added to the other blocks in the quilt.

Easter Wallhanging Class

I taught a class yesterday on my Easter wallhanging. Left to right, here are Christina, Lisa and Debbie. Lisa's chocolate bunny was made from a fuzzy material and will receive googly eyes, so he is sightless in the picture. They all three did a marvelous job on their wallhangings and I am extremely proud of them! It was a really fun class.