The above photo was taken earlier this afternoon when we still had some sunshine outside. This is our house. This is having our house's new roof and paint job done on drugs.

mark your calendars - this year's event starts on 10.01.05
now hiring volunteers - photo submissions taken on Friday

Hurricane Rita is just a few hundred miles offshore (and going the other way...good luck Texas!) — but right now our painters are outside scrambling to wrap up their work day as a nasty feeder band is about to blow through the Tampa Bay area. (Here's a shot of the original paint color when we purchased the house in 2001.) Up until this week, September 2005 had been the driest in west Florida history, with less than 0.04" of rain recorded in the last three weeks. Figured when it was finally time for us to fix the damages from last hurricane season this would happen, and I was right...

Most people would have the luxury of throwing up their arms and saying "oh well, that's what insurance is for!" But not Floridians. You see, after Hurricane Andrew...if you sustain any kind of damage in a named storm, rather than having your normal $500 or so deductible, your deductible is automatically 2% of the value of your home. In other words, we just paid — out of our own pockets — almost 2/3 of the cost of the new roof that's currently being installed. It took us a full year to be able to pay for that. Hooray!

So forgive me as I wrap this up quickly and go stand on that almost-completed new roof to flip off Mother Nature!