The flowers are long past, but I thought the boxes stayed up year round. I supposed the garden club ladies were getting ready to hang winter greens, but still--no flags is like the end of Mom and apple pie.
Just a naked old bridge now, with its rusty rails and art deco--but wait! The garden club ladies got a grant to repair the railings they picketed Ohio Department of Transportation to have installed.
The bridge is in good hands, we can move on up the hill and check in our our slate roof.
The daring young men were coming down for lunch, and I learned a lot. They will finish cleaning up this afternoon, shingles start up tomorrow. The actual shingling will take about three weeks. The black stuff is tar paper, "at all the critical ice and snow areas." The orange stuff is a less expensive alternative to tar paper.
This job has been a little longer, "we've replaced a lot of ancient wood up there!" As the schoolhouse went up in 1887, one might expect that. However, the building was "restored" in the 1990's. As long as someone has ascertained the structure can support slate shingles...
We talked about actually installing slate. The young man (I must get his name tomorrow!) said it's more difficult in cold weather; every shingle must be tacked down and a miss with the hammer shatters the slate. Since every slate is hand cut (must investigate that detail tomorrow), broken shingles increase the work. Since he cuts the slate his installers know he doesn't want to come up there and...
I mentioned it would be warmer tomorrow (high forties), and I was sorry they weren't doing the job in warmer weather. And he said this weather is perfect! "It's brutal up there in the summer; this kind of weather you can get your groove on and it's tile after tile after tile..." And he swung an imaginary hammer and shimmied a bit to demonstrate.
That's all for today, from the corner of Main and Riverview, where your reporter knows how to get around yellow tape.
Please tell me that the bridge rails are being restored, not replaced by some horrible modern faceless metal. I like that bridge.
ReplyDeleteJane x
Restored!. That's why M&M is on the job, not ODOT. Local boys; we know they will be fabulous, no mater what fabrication they have to do.
DeleteYAY!
DeleteJane x
That is a nice bridge.
ReplyDeleteGorgeous restorative post (literally and metaphorically) this morning. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteI't a good looking bridge, I really like it in summer with the flowers.
ReplyDeleteSlate roof always looks good not so many around here now mainly tile roofs now, but you can't beat a tin roof in the rain, nice sound as long as the rain is not too heavy.
Merle............
Am loving tagging along with you through your town.... I'd be right at home there .... with my camera and hundreds of questions. I don't t know the population of your city, but it's definitely my kind of place!
ReplyDeleteHow much better can a day get.....bridge repai work and men doing the shimmy for your entertainment alone.
ReplyDeleteIn our area of france the slates were laid by drilling a hole, through which a wire crochet was passed and this was hung on horizontal wooden stringers. The chao who did our roof said you had to be careful as to length of crochet and slope of roof to avoid leaks.
ReplyDeleteJoanne, Ace Reporter is doing a fabulous job.
ReplyDeleteHari OM
ReplyDeleteCatching up on posts and loving the roving reporter style!! I'm with Jane at top - yaaay to the bridge restoration. YAM xx
Glad your construction people are so on the ball. I love hard work. I could watch it all day.
ReplyDeleteI can't see you put off by anything much less yellow tape. You are my idol, my role model.
ReplyDeleteSome days I regret a few of the bridges I've burned. But not many.
DeleteIt's late in the year for construction. It's a good thing you didn't get the terrible storms over the weekend.
ReplyDeleteWe have flower boxes on a similar looking bridge in my town. I'm sure they're down by now, since we've had a number of killing frosts. Before Christmas, they string green garlands, making it quite festive.
ReplyDeleteSlate roofs are spendy. and heavy. I'm glad you have competent roofers on the job.
I like the way your little town maintains itself, with the help of its people of course. Out here it's often the case that nothing is done about anything until or unless there is an accident. Sad really, we pay taxes but don't see much for them in the way of small maintenances. We do have our new hospital and research centre though and a new railway station is being built closer to the showgrounds, all are pluses for the big dollars being spent on them.
ReplyDeleteI hope the flower boxes and flags are put back once your bridge is repaired. I had no idea slate was so tricky to work with.
I wish I had your daring; it would make life more interesting :) It's nice to hear the roofers actually like the cooler weather.
ReplyDeleteThe bridge looked so bare ... and then you said about the restoration work - horray !!!
ReplyDeleteI love the old school house more & more.
Putting up the slate roof is a big job! It must be tricky not to break too many shingles. I suppose they have to order extra even before they start.
ReplyDeleteI love to see old things being restored. It's all starting to look good.
ReplyDeleteIt's so wonderful that the ladies work so hard to keep that bridge looking beautiful during the summer. I remember our guys suffering through roofing our house so I guess it's good to do it in cooler weather.
ReplyDelete