The last of the quotes have come in for the new roof Dad wants done so I spent a couple of hours putting all the info into an excel spreadsheet to compare all 3 quotes as to what they are all offering for what price. I now know far more about roofing than I previously did! LOL
Anyways, I will let the "chosen one" know today and hopefully schedule the work for early July where there is less chance of rain. We signed the contract on Thursday and I got them to include taking down the old wood shed in the back yard and throw it in their dumpster too for $200 cash. One less thing Ray and I need to worry about doing later. A tree fell on the shed 2 years ago and there is a great big gaping whole in the roof and with the rain coming in the inside of the shed is now all rotten.
With the varmit problem, mice, rats and ants ... that quote came in and it was $450 plus gst for the year for rats and mice, and $500 for the year for the ants, including injecting into the garage wall for the carpenter ants. Seems a bit steep. I think in regards to the ants I will put out some traps myself. I used "Ant Be Gone" on the carpenter ants near our power cord and around the garage and it killed them instantly. So far I have yet to see another ant in that area and have not seen any inside the house. The small ants are easily killed with bait traps placed around the house. The pest control guy said with all the "woods" around the house this will always be an ongoing problem for ants to try and come into the house. Also we should remove all the vegetation next to the house. We did most of that when we had the 3 large rhodo's from the front of the house.
For the rat issue, they are no longer in the house at this point, so says the pest control guy until next September/October when they will try again. With the soffet vents being sealed back up properly by the roofers, all flashing redone to prevent access and the traps we will put into the garage itself. Ray and I also got rid of everything out of the garage cupboards so there is nowhere for them to hide and build new nests anyways so I think we have probably licked the problem. (Half the load we had carted away by Bagster.com was from the garage!) The garage no longer stinks!
Larny's husband only lasted 2 days at the roofing job ... he neglected to say he was afraid of heights! I asked him about that earlier but he expected the house to only be as tall as ours which is a rancher. Climbing up a ladder three stories practically killed him as well as the hard work. He was so ill from the whole episode that he spent all of Monday in bed with a fever and having nightmares thinking he was falling. (He was kicking Larny in bed! lol) This Friday he is starting at a poultry farm instead. Hopefully he does not mind the smell of chicken Sh....t! They have laundry and shower facilities at the farm so he should be "scent free" by the time he comes home from work. He is putting out other resumes for other jobs as well. I am sure after a few months he will find something that suits him. Mark needs to save money as he plans to go back to school to pursue a trade he likes.
Wednesday, Dad took a turn for the worse with weakness and chills. Thought we would have to take him to the hospital but he rallied back and was much better by late evening. He is coughing up quite a bit of flem with fresh blood due to his Congestive Heart Failure and with being on blood thinners. This causes little blood vessels in his lungs to rupture each time he coughs. His chest can sure gurgle. He is on Metformin, for geriatric Diabetes and did not have a snack in the early afternoon, possibly he had low blood sugar which would explain the chills etc. I was worried he was getting pneumonia but he seemed fine yesterday.
Thursday, as Dad seemed okay, I drove into Burnaby to visit mum to give Ray a break. She seemed in pretty good spirits. She is able to lift her left leg somewhat and close her fingers on her left hand but has no strength. She cannot open her left hand though. Mum is agreeing to physio now and speech therapy. She's having trouble with nausea lately for some reason and not eating very much for a couple of days. The food is not too inspiring as she is still on minced food and thin fluids only. Today she ate well at lunch while I was there, probably because they had given her strawberry ice cream. She is all of about 70lbs now, pretty frail. They swing her in and out of bed with a lift and cradle. Not her favorite transport!
Here is a picture of Mum, Garrett and Kira that Kat took last weekend. She sure loves her doggie fix!
And this picture was taken for Garrett's birthday dinner 2 months ago. Big changes for mum.
Hard to believe another week has gone by. It's hard to believe we've been back from the USA for over 2 months. It seems a lifetime ago now though. Tomorrow some guys are coming to pressure wash the driveway to get rid of all of the slippery moss and dirt from the pruning. The front of the house is sure looking fantastic compared to a few weeks ago. Having a new roof will be the finishing touch.
Sounds like you two have your hands full with projects! I am sure it is much appreciated and good to spend time with your loved ones......
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