Manly

In honor of Valentine's Day, I will share with you something about the love of my life that I have been stewing about recently.  I am anxious to receive comments from those of you who can relate, and from those of you who are lucky enough not to relate.

While I find all of the blogging names I chose for my family members to be quite fitting, I am contemplating changing Coach's moniker to 'Manly.'

This is my original
set of 'Little House' books. 
A little worn,
but still on the girls' desk.

Did you read the 'Little House on the Prairie' books?  Spoiler alert.  Laura marries a man named 'Manly.'  If memory serves, his real name is Almanzo, and they call him Manly.  What an awful name!  Incredibly, Coach has lately been subconsciously begging me to call him that.

It started with the leaking kitchen ceiling.  I've witnessed the telltale fixer-upper behavior before.  It involves three components:
     1.  a look that makes me feel invisible as he stares straight through me while I assume he envisions the isles of Home Depot,
     2.  the infamous I-know-more-than-most-because-this-is-home-repair-conversation tone,
     3.  and lots of nodding when speaking to an expert about the issue like 'Yeah, you speak my language.'
It makes me cringe.  The man can focus on nothing else when a complicated or uncomplicated future-home-repair sight crops up.

Warning:  I think these
icicles could kill someone!
  Keep your distance, unless
 of course you know something
 about home maintenance and
 construction, and arrive bearing
Home Depot gift cards.

The audio think-out-loud-thought-process while we were navigating our current situation sounds like:  'When will it stop leaking?  Maybe I should cut more holes in the drywall.  I think I will go outside again and stare up at the roof.  What if it starts leaking over there?  Should I empty the buckets before we go to bed?  I wish it wasn't a Sunday, because I could ask my patients for roofer recommendations.'  Here is where I suggest we ask our equally-capable-of-sharing-roofer-recommendation friends in the area.

I don't mean to downplay the crappiness of the situation.  I just grasped early on that it was out of our control beyond calling someone to handle it.  But, uh, Manly can converse about nothing else.

I called a few roofers after I heard back from our friends.  Coach spoke to one said roofer when he returned my call.  He suggested that Coach toss some rock salt up into the gutters if possible.  This gave Coach a new focus.

Sunday night Coach reminded me several times to call that roofer back, because that was how they left it.  I grasped the 'call him and he said he will come over' concept the first time.  I know, I know, I am not a fixer-upper type and I don't own a tool belt, so it's hard to know if I have the skill set for phoning a roofer.

Monday morning I called first thing and the guy called me back just before I started my workout class.  He then called me in the middle of the class to let me know that he had cleared some snow from the roof and tossed some salt in the gutters.  He pointed out that we probably need to add insulation in the attic based on how the snow was melting off the roof.

When I finished my class, I stopped by Coach's physical therapy clinic that is attached to the health club.  I relayed the info I received from the roof guy.  Coach kept trying to interrupt me.  He was frustrated with me.  It's hard to pinpoint if it was the rate that I was sharing the information or the lack of details or my general incompetence.

Laura and the real 'Manly'

Fortunately when our contractor showed up on Monday, he pointed out that this save-the-day roofer had only removed snow from the lower roof, which was not the problem at all.  Of course he will send me an invoice regardless.  The contractor called a different guy who came out yesterday (Tuesday).  He had the equipment to remove snow from the upper roof and he dug a trench in the gutter where the water might be able to drain when it melts today in the 40 degree temperatures.

If that doesn't work, I can always put on a bonnet and holler to Coach when he comes home, 'Save us Manly!'