New Shingles on Our House

After a huge storm, we had several shingles blown off the roof. I replaced the shingles, but was told by someone else that my roof looked like it may have some damage that the insurance would likely fix. So, I decided that if not, all they could say was no. They came and took a look and decided there was some hail damage, and that they would pay for new shingles. 

I had a couple of problem areas where they decided a thick rubber mat would be more likely not to leak. They didn't tell me when they did this. So I had to call them upon discovering this to find out what's up. They said this thick rubber was guaranteed for 25 years, and that it was the best solution for these low spots where leaves tend to pile up if I don't keep them swept off.

Not super sure how I feel about this, but they assured me that was the way to go. So, I guess they're the experts, not me. I'll stay in my lane and hope for the best. I've just never seen this before or heard of it.

White River - Mountain View Getaway

Lisa and I spent the weekend in Mountain View, Arkansas. This would be our last free weekend to "up and go" before I started my new position as a Worship Leader the following weekend. We went there primarily to fish on the White River for trout. An added bonus was all the great bluegrass music being  played outdoors around the downtown area the night before we hit the river. Wow! Not my favorite type of music, but I truly enjoyed it. The skill of the local's musicianship was something to take note of. These folks do what they do for the love of the music. They aren't getting paid, just socializing and having fun. And what really got my attention were the amount of children that could play so well. Really, something neat to see. Why didn't I take pictures? Ugh.

So.......on to the river.

How I Use My Hand-Held Belt Sander As A Table Top Sander

This is a little embarrassing, but I think it's useful. I've seen some handheld belt sanders that have a squared off body - shaped sort of like a box. That would make it so much easier to flip and secure in order to use it like a bench top model. Mine is a cheap Black and Decker, which works great. But it has a shape that makes it a little more difficult to secure to a bench or table. Here's the solution I came up with.

Easy One-Hand Reading Tool

My third grader had a project at school where he had to invent something. Now obviously, that's a lot to ask a third grader to do, considering it wasn't just an invention idea they had to come up with, but they also had to make a list of materials they would need, and build a prototype. Unfortunately, this is one of those projects he had and put on the back-burner until he was almost out of time. Whether or not this has been done before, I don't know, but I think it was a good idea he had.

The idea is to have something to help you read when you're laying down. He likes to read when he goes to bed at night, but it gets to be a pain really quick holding both hands up to keep the book open. If you go to one hand, it becomes much more difficult to hold the book open. So, the idea was to make a tool that would solve this problem. Here are the materials we used.