Freebullet, congrats! Toughest job you'll ever love. Equal parts of frustration, joy, anger and laughter. Fiver is about right, 3 or 4 to 11 or maybe 14 if you're lucky and then the hell years start. And there isn't book in the world to serve as an owners manual. It's quite a ride. Someday at 25 or 30 they'll tell you about something you completely forgot that they later realized was what made you the greatest parents ever in the history of mankind. I believe prayer helps, sometimes a lot!
Did a little fixing around the place yesterday morning then spent the afternoon working on the machine shed roof. 5, count them, FIVE!!! layers of shingles on the roof!!! Could have been worse I suppose, but 5 layers? Good thing I have some late 20's muscles on hand 'cuz I was about worthless for anything other than picking up the stuff that came off the roof. The one thing we really needed was a taller ladder. I have 4, 5, 6 and 8 foot step ladders. The 8 footer was 2-4 feet shorter than we really needed, and we were doing the "easy" part. So in the evening my daughter and I made the trek to Lowes. Holy smokes, are 12 foot ladders expensive! I hemmed and hawed and my daughter pointed out all the times we have needed a ladder in between the 8 footer and the extension ladders, and that if I didn't get it I'd gripe about it, so I manned up and paid the money. Daughter sounded just like her mother. Glad I have the veterean discount and farm tax exemption. I'm a stickler on the farm exemption and don't use it except for farm stuff. This counts for sure. So out we go to strap it to the roof of the Explorer. I took Cindys Explorer because the roads are horrible this time of year in a one ton pickup and all I was getting was a ladder. The Explorer has the roof rack doo hickey side bars. Funny, I never noticed it didn't have the cross pieces to support things off the roof! The slots are there, but no cross bars. So back into Lowes and spend another $25 on a movers blanket and the sawzall blades I forgot. Typical Lowes experience for me. Back at it today.
It snowed overnight.