The Russians Invade and Make a Mess

Meanwhile, unrelated to food, we are in the midst of the giant mess here on Ladd Av. Yes, a new roof is on its way. This is good news. For at least two years, I have been lobbying for a new paint job which our house DESPERATELY needs! The current paint job is beyond bad. First, Grady was just too busy with other projects to get going on the painting. Then, he went up on the roof and came down to declare that the roof was in such bad shape that it had to be replaced before we could paint the house. :-( So, NOW, when the roof gets finished, there should be no more excuses not to paint the house. (Stay tuned to see if that is really the way it plays out.) According to Grady, if you are getting a roof done in our area these days, you either have the crazy Mexican guys or the crazy Russian guys. He chose the crazy Russians who have done other roofs for us on rental units. They're actually not crazy, but rather a nice bunch. I think only Alex, the lead guy, speaks English - at least he is the only one who talks to me. They start out the day with a little moment of prayer together out on the front walkway. Then they get to it and they really do work hard. Their lunches look quite interesting - various pickled vegetables in odd looking glass jars, hard boiled eggs and sandwiches with really thick bread. But, not immune to the draw of high quality American cuisine, later in the day yesterday, one of them brought over a couple of Domino's pizzas, which they shared with Grady. That kept them going while they stayed late to finish cleaning up that big pile in the picture. Fortunately, they got the first layer on sufficiently to protect it just before the rain started late yesterday afternoon. So, next week, we'll see them back to start working on the new replacement roof. Big doings here at the home front.