I finally talked to a real live roof guy, who looked at my roof and gave me a ballpark number for the cost of a new metal roof with rebuilt cornices to correct the rotting boards and spots in the gutters where the water pools.
It's, oh, about twice what I was expecting. But that's for a proper hundred year roof, not a ten or twenty year roof which (I hope) would be a better match for my saving account. What to do?
I think I'll rescind my New Year's resolution to get a new roof and replace it with a resolution to keep saving up for a new roof, keep dithering about what roof to get, and keep obsessing about the gutters. Yeah, that's a plan. I'm really good at all those things too, seeing as how I've got years of practice.
One thing I'm not good at? Standing on one foot with my eyes closed and without falling over. I am offended by this and therefore I shall practice until I stop falling over. See, I started doing a walking tai chi form to strengthen my legs and improve my balance. Easy peasy. Then I tried doing it with my eyes closed and nearly fell over. How can that be? Are my inner ears lazy or defective? Why do I need visual cues for verticality when there's all that gravity around to tell me which way is down? Regardless, I'm going to work on my blind balance. I have noticed that I'm wobbly when I walk around in the dark (I didn't used to be), so this is a worthy project for safety reasons. It's not that I'm weird. Or not just that I'm weird.
Lastly, Hell. I'm in roof hell, but that may very well be better than …
Somebody had to be living it.
315 words | May 8, 2007 11:44 PM | Real true storyThe standing on one foot with your eyes closed: yeah, it's hard for almost everyone. Woody was taking a yoga class a few years (a decade? yikes) back and was having trouble with a one-footed tree pose... instructor couldn't figure out why until she tried doing it eyes closed herself.
Posted by: Jonathan Dresner at May 9, 2007 03:42 AMInteresting. That suggests the standing on one foot problem is more one of a lack of strength and practice, for which sighted people can compensate as long as their eyes are open.
Had Woody not tried standing on one foot much before then? I figured that she would probably have great balance, as long as her inner ears were working right, since she would have already built up the strength and practiced to compensate for the lack of visual input.
Posted by: 100wordminimum at May 10, 2007 10:40 PMHmmm... I'd say that her balance is probably better than mine with my eyes closed, on average, but not much. We do a lot of anticipatory adjustment with our eyes open: it's very noticeable in changable situations such as boats, carnival fun houses, where Woody's much more likely to lose her balance because she can't see what's coming. And the one-foot thing is like that, too, I think.
Posted by: Jonathan Dresner at May 12, 2007 01:21 AM