Getcher Fresh Confessions right here!!

Bummer about all the roofing projects. I think Santa should be ashamed of himself!

However, it occurs to me that Paj may have the opportunity in this project to solve multiple gardening problems in one fell swoop. There is no gravel on her roof, and no solid rock that needs a pick axe up there. There also are no gophers or other bulb munching rodents on the roof. The dogs cannot get up there.

Therefore, she needs a gardener's version of a thatched roof! Think of all that room to easily plant all her treasures waiting in pots! Why, she could take a semi truck to the Botanical Garden sale next year since she would have nothing left to plant!

Good idea, Mulch. Interesting about the grossness of the cute llamas. Why do they allow themselves to be used as pack animals? Or do people not care about red and green vomit when they're trekking about? Or do the llamas like going hiking and carrying stuff? Are reindeer used as pack animals? other than drawing sleighs? That would explain their heavy hooves on the roofs.

O: O: Oh my dear ones you have hurt me and my dear friend Santa. To recap: Santa is my dear friend and we correspond every month and he hitchhikes to visit me on Christmas Eve every year cuz the City of Cowtown has banned reindeer within city limits. I really truly mostly hope that your won't blame Santa for the roof woes. Perchance it might be gremlins. I believe that gremlins frolick in rot and therefore foster rot in roofs. Perchance the plague of roof replacement might be the result of gremlins.

I was only acknowledging that it is, in fact, difficult to be Santa... I would never want to hurt his or your feelings, Dear DN! I know, I am and have been Santa for many many years, and when I can't be the Santa that I want to be, it makes me sad. And while my reindeer are more like 5 dogs and 2 cats... they too can cause unexpected damage even with the best of intentions. Yet, as I and true Santa must, we carry on, get more creative, find even deeper meaning when we have to search for gifts that matter... that may cost little or nothing in dollars but much in love and care. As for the reindeer/dogs/cats/llamas... everyone loves them so much that a little vomit or damage is inconsequential!

It is obvious that none of you have heard of "underwear Gnomes". They first were put in front of the public with 'South Park'. They are devious little destructors which steal thing you think you lose, break things that were not broken by anyone, cause one sock to be lost when the other stayed, many many actions. They are constantly active doing the behind the scenes of loss and destruction of the American dream. Truly dark creatures of dismal destruction. If you listen carefully you can hear them giggling in the darkness of the evening doing their actions of dismay.

They have names like Sockfiend, Glovesnatcher, Smearling and Glumdog.
Dogs know when they are around.

That certainly explains all the laughter I hear after dark, Soferdig.

I like the idea for the roof, Mulch. Plants certainly seem less expensive and have more potential for impresing the neighbors. Something that forms a tight matt would be ideal.

Hmmmm, we always call them poltergeists...

O yes indeed, a Green Roof for Paj! And hey, the reindeer will really like it!

Definitely it seems to solve several problems in one swell foop.

I signed a lease today and life has changed tremendously. Already. ;-)

Yes, I would love the idea of a green roof myself! I have all these unplanted succulents that would do perfectly up there. And, as you say mulch, no rocks to fracture or haul off up there. One potential roofer is coming today. I will ask him if he knows how to build a green roof. I think I saw a picture of one once.
BTW, the demise of my roof was not unexpected either. It has been disintegrating for a long time. It was just a question of when it would need to be replaced not if. It became an issue when the insurance company cancelled my insurance until I could replace it. Frankly, I think it was premature -- the roof doesn't leak, but now that one insurance company canceled me, no other will insure me. Can you believe it? How I love insurance companies ( not! ).

Congrats on the new lease, Kyla!

Insurance companies! They should be required to insure the same pool of people they use for statistical calculations to compute their rates.

DwiD, what a good point you bring up.
And when health insurance companies decide to rescind a policy, they should be required to refund all premiums paid into that policy. Talk about bad faith.

But... we have a reason to celebrate today: Kyla has found a new home!!
A round of refreshing beverages for one and all!

So Dahlia, you already know about Santa signing up for dance classes, then...
Tell us more. I just heard it second hand.

Thanks Brenda!

Paj, I doubt if a roofer per se would know about a green roof, but if you google it you should get lots of ideas.......... I also think it requires a type of structural support other than what is required by an ordinary roof but I don't know that for certain. These good solutions -- some of which, such as this one, are also quite ancient solutions -- often require a retooling of infrastructure to become truly practical.

Also you probably can't get a green roof insured without a great deal of educating going on first, I suspect........ as insurance companies are conservative to a fatal fault.

Picante we cross posted. I intend to have a round of celebrations actually, probably one a day for a while. ;-) Right now I am a bit catatonic contemplating all the tasks and attempting to determine what comes first........... lol I will get over that quite quickly.

This message was edited Oct 16, 2009 7:55 AM

Lookee what I found.

http://www.greenroofs.com/

And, a green building conference in November in Arizona:

http://www.greenroofs.com/upcoming_events.htm#greenbuild2009

Congrats Kyla! That is very exciting news! We still have the original 1959 roof. So far so good but we know it will have to replaced one day. I'm hoping to put solar panels in the new roof. We have poltergists in the basement according to the crazy ole cat. There are definitely 'underwear gremlins' in the dryer. They are now also prime suspects for mitten loss too. Picante Santa luvs disco! Funky weird but true! Brenda I'm sure you are a great Santa! Do you disco?

Who doesn't? My dogs like to disco dance with me, LOL!

Yes, definitely Kyla. A toast to your new home. May the next year be joyous.

Thank you kindly!

I confess I've been absent for far too long. Majorly cool on the new house Kyla! Bummer about leaveing the garden you put some much into tho. My Mum is going thru the same kind of houseing issues. I've offered her a place with me if it comes to that. Love her dearly but I do hope she'll find something.

I confess that my garden did ok this summer but most of my time has been taken over with work. Non profit is not a good place to be right now, crazy cut backs and increase in our workloads.

So hugs everyone that's been having a rough time. I hope I'll be around a bit more now:)

Kyla, are you still catatonic?
Piper said to tell you that dogatonic works better, and she'll give you some of hers.

Hi Piper (sending cyber pets).

Congrats, Kyla on your new home with gardens and hopefully without obnoxious neighbors. Do post your new shipping address on address exchange.

Duchess,
Welcome back! We have missed you -- you were always funny and knowledgeable. Tell them that even workers at non-profits need lives! .

Piper is in bliss in the middle of the sweet woodruff. Nice sylvan bed. I will meditate on her picture to learn how to relax and be at peace.

Welcome home Duchess ^_^

Hey, Duchess! Glad you're back. Paja, maybe you Really Could have a green roof! Our house is too funky to take the weight, but yours is well built. That could be very cool. Iam frantic bizzy with D.H.'s relatives and the garage sale for Saturday at my friend's house. Whew! Congrats on your new home, Kyla. Beautiful day here! I did manage a short walk earlier and a fancy chocolate from "Dos Santos", lemon verbena flavored dark choc! Ohhh.

Ooh, I know the chocolate at Dos Santos. Bet that was a pleasure.
My house is strongly built, but I talked to the original builder about the new roof and it isn't even strong enough for a typical tile roof, much less a green roof. The old roof was made of fake tiles -- some sort of compressed materials impermeated with red coloring -- maybe clay or something. It was much lighter in weight than real terracotta tiles. It was supposed to last a lifetime, but apparently only made it 20 years or so. The company which made and guaranteed them has since gone out of business. The original builder will probably do the new roof for us. He is well known in town and trustworthy. He recommends these fake tiles that are made of metal but look like tile. The neighbor across the street has them, too. They have a lifetime guarantee -- yeah, right. Anyhow it would preserve the appearance of the red tile roof.
After looking at the website for greenroofs, I kind of doubt they would work on this house. One would probably have to design the house for them. But I sure like the idea. The cafeteria at the lab here has a green roof on part of it -- so you can go outside and sit with grass and trees and benches on it. Very nice and it has been there for quite a long while -- maybe 30 years. Definitely a good idea.

What is 'dos santos' chocolate? Inquiring chocaholics need to know all the details.

Yes, as in exactly how dark is the chocolate, and who puts in the lemon verbena (which sounds extraordinarily scrumptious).
And can one order it on line?

It's so been officially entered in the Great Book of Lists on the ToDo List for Sante Fe based on being scrumptiously described by roybird.

roybird can fill in the details, but dos santos is a hand made chocolate shop in Santa Fe specializing in very good chocolate and sometimes in some fascinating shapes -- appropriate to the seasons -- very artistic, very innovative -- some very dark, but many other kinds. It is in downtown Santa Fe in one of roybird's favorite places -- and mine,too-- Sena Plaza. I will let her tell you more, but if any of you ever make it to Santa Fe, it is well worth the visit even if you don't buy anything, which I suspect you won't be able to avoid. Definitely worthy of the lists.

BTW when are you all coming to Santa Fe? We need a Rocky Mt. Forum Roundup in Santa Fe, IMHO.

Ooh Paj, have you seen the metal roofing that looks like tile? Some brands are very realistic with multiple tile colors on each panel. We would probably get a metal roof if we needed a new one. Of course we don't live in an area with monster hail. Apparently homeowners insurance is sometimes cheaper for a metal roof in earthquake prone areas because it's lighter than shingle or tile.

Wouldn't a lighter roof just fly off easier in an earthquake Katlian? I know nothing about quakeproofing.

Hmmmm.... I can't recall ever seeing anything "fly off" in an earthquake.
Shake, rattle and roll -- yes.
Fall over, crumble, split, collapse -- yes.
Nope, I'd wager if anything went flying off you'd have the Gravity Police there in a nanosecond.
Earthquakes are an Elvis kind of activity.

Not if it is properly fastened down...... do they have quakes in NM as a regular thing?

Piper, dog after my own heart, I shall indeed sign up for dogatonic lessons!

I decided I do need at least an entire day to ponder this new reality before plunging in further. Plus which I think my next task may have to be buying a new computer, but I am balking at that too, for some d*** reason, so just taking the day to let it all settle.

Paj my dear this shipping address I am at now will continue to be the one til at least very late November at which time I shall update everyone in my world so as not to lose any contact.

I am grateful in this moment that replacing roofs is not on my to do list, nor is caring for elderly relatives -- though a little twinge saying that, as I did do that for both my mama and papa...... I did. Not the roof part, the other.

Katlian, where I am moving to is even more aligned with the climatic descriptions of our high desert terrain........... and the other place I did not get to move to, is a bit too lush in the native terrain, I was wondering if I would still qualify. Then I remembered, oh yeah, anywhere water runs downhill.

Whew! ;-)

Good point picante. There doesn't seem to be much flying about in a quakestate and metal roofs would do a good Elvis.

Assuming its fastened well, a lighter roof would be less likely to break or cause something else to break in an earthquake because its lighter. Less mass, less load on connections. Its easier to hold on to something light when you shake it around than something heavy.

We do have a few faults in NM, mainly along the Rio Grande rift. We get small earthquakes - 4.2 or so on the Richter scale. I've felt one and it was barely perceptible.

I have read of earthquakes in the area but never felt one. In fact, Los Alamos had one a few years ago and everyone who was standing within 6 ft. of the seismograph noticed it, but nobody else. But I did see a picture of the sismograph tape. That is the closest I have ever come to an earthquake. Wouldn't mind feeling an itty bitty one.

Thanks for letting me know about the address Kyla.

Sorry you need a new computer -- but think of how much you will love it when you get it. I love a new computer.

Metal roof better in hail? I think I have heard that. And if it is metal tiles, you can replace one or two and not entire panels. Apparently after our last hail storm the people with pro panel roofs were trying to find car repairmen to take the dents out -- this from my car repairman. Frankly, I would just live with the dents.

Guess I need to ask a lot of questions.

Actually, it is "Todos Santos", All Saints. And yummy chocolate it is. Our roof will be pro-panel type which is a synthetic much like metal but lighter weight and cheaper. It should wear better than shingles. I've never experienced an earth quake. They may have had one here but it was imperceptible to me. Went to a little family memorial for our niece today. She was an extraordinarily beautiful young woman, both inwardly and outwardly. I had forgotten how pretty she was before she got so sick. It was really good to see pictures of her with her college friends and having fun. I got to meet her dog, Scooter, who is a Yorkie. He was a rescue dog, found walking through the city alone wearing a little sweater and hat! Too cute! His first family never found him, luckily for his new family!