I had to get on the roof.
When I get sick to my stomach I get really sick. Violently sick. It’s icky. And the timing was rather poor for the violently-icky illness I had over the holiday, because our chimbley was clogged* and I had to get on the roof to fix it. Until I could do that, the stove wouldn’t work, which meant no heat in the house.
I had to get on that roof in the morning or my family would freeze. The roof had an inch of weak snow and was sparkling with slippery frost. Metal roof. 9:12 pitch. Eaves are, oh, 10 feet off the hard-frozen ground. This is not typically something you want to do when you’ve been up all night with vomiting, diarrhea and acute abdominal pain.
At 2:57 am that morning I had to call for a priesthood blessing. Whether you believe in such things or not, the blessing worked for me. I felt much better the next morning and got outside to do the job.
In the shot above, the spot in the dead center is me. You see the jury-rigged ladder I keep on the roof, and the extension ladder we set up to access it. I was stretched out on the roof in the gap between the two ladders when I realized I wasn’t entirely well. Not a good situation. But I prayed for help, got up to the ridge, crawled over to the chimney, and finished the job.
I came back down thanking the Lord, restarted the fire, and went to bed.
If you’re like Dawnalee and live on the 4th floor in the city, at least you don’t have to do stuff like this to ensure your family stays warm. For me, well, this kind of thing is worth it if I get to live under the stars.
*How did the chimbley get clogged? Well, when I was installing it, I dropped the chimney cap. It slid down the roof and hit the ground at Mach 2, which is what I would have done if I’d lost my balance the other day. So the cap was dented when I installed it, and it clogs readily. Not helpful for a $60 chimney cap. I replaced it with an $8 job I got at the local farmer’s co-op, and the new one has at least ten times the air clearance. So I’ll still be cleaning the chimney every year, just not the cap.
I am glad you are ok and the heat is on!blog note- the google ad has always been a bit far to the right and covers your text. It needs to move over about two letters worth for those of us reading on AOL/ PC
What a good dad and provider you are! Sick or not… you took care of your family! I'm impressed.Glad to hear your family is feeling better!
True that. And I'm thankful cuz I get queasy just looking straight down over the balcony railing.
) So glad you are feeling better now and that you were able to accomplish your mission in the midst of the yucks.
Janette, thanks for the heads up about the Google ad, but I'm not seeing that on my browser. It always shows up below the text for me. What happens if you open your browser window wider?