I was so proud of myself last week. On the day before the rains arrived I took an hour out of my afternoon, after doing computer consulting work all morning, to climb up on the roof to remove all the leaves and empty all the gutters. Despite my better judgment, and having no one else handy, I had to do it alone. I don't like doing this, as there should always be someone around to dial 911, if necessary. Luckily, I completed the job without incident.
During the first rain, the debris filled gutters overflowed and made a bigger mess on the patio than usual. I didn't want to see that happen again, or see the gutters ripped off the house due to the extra weight. This is one curse of having so many beautiful trees on the property, though. You have to be vigilant about cleaning roof, since the leaves can actually cause the water to dam up and seep under the shingles.
We don't have many gutters on the house, just a few, pitiful feet running around the patio and the garage. We need to add gutters and fascia board all around the house, but that will probably have to wait until next Spring. We don't have too many water problems around the house, but gutters would probably be a nice feature and help to keep the stucco clean. Maybe I could even buy some rain barrels at catch a bit of this liquid sunshine for use in Spring and Summer? I have thought about it, but other projects come first on the priority list.
Of course, this week brought high winds shaking all the trees and, wouldn't you know it. The roof looks like I didn't even touch it. Oh well, such are the troubles of the Fall.
