The next item on the priority list of house repair and stabilization was the slate roof. We love the look of slate, and this house has a roof that is largely in very good shape. However, the slate was replaced on a portion of the roof at some time in the last 40 to 50 years. The portion of the roof that faces the road, however, was MUCH older than the rest of the roof. There were active leaks that Jim had performed some very temporary fixes on. Given the number of things that had to be done, we decided to have a slate roofer come and perform some repairs to the roof. Of course, slate roofers that are any good are in high demand. We contacted a roofer in early November, however, he did not get to our house until December 24th, Christmas eve!! However, he and his crew were efficient, skilled and polite. Slates were replaced, repairs made, and we now had a water tight roof that would get us through the next couple of years without additional significant attention. It was money well spent, too. After several mild winters, the winter of 2002 was turning out to be cold and snowy.

We are also beginning to gather our plans together as to what we want to do with the house. Once basic stabilazation is done and fundamental needs are met, we then have to plan a direction for the restoration and renovation of the house. After only two months, our heads are spinning with different wants and desires. However, as others have advised, we are going to leave as much alone as possible for at least a year. That way we can learn about the house and what we really want. It is unwise to make snap decisions about things that you may change your opinion about later. We definitely need to get a third (master) bedroom built. The boys can share a room for another couple of years, but they should have their own space eventually. We also would like OUR own space with our own bathroom. We are coming up with ideas about how to expand the ugly single story family room addition to accomplish this. I am sure we will go through lots of iterations, but we are going to sketch out some ideas and play with them. For now, dreams are fun, and free.