Risky business

Our house is a home built in 1940. (I feel like I have had said that before.) Anyways, an older home and it is only one story above ground but it does have a full basement. So it is up a little higher than a normal crawlspace home and the roof is pretty steep and high.

At some point, a former owner invested in a huge metal antenna for the roof top and probably got two or 3 more channels than the next door neighbor who did not have an antenna. Our house in Cottage Grove had two of them: one our house and one on the shed and we got two channels between the two of them. This day in age, they are useless and a huge hazard in a wind storm. Can you hear the insurance professional in me?

Since the day we moved in I have wanted AJ to take it down.

So, last fall we did have a wind storm and the cover to our chimney blew off. No big deal, we would just have AJ climb up the ladder on to the roof and put it back on. Well, needless to say, when he got to the top of the ladder and realized how steep the roof was, it never got done. For an entire year!

Fast forward to the fall this year and we had redone some stuff in our basement and one of the things we did was paint the floor. This is all related, trust me. One day I was sweeping the newly painted floor and noticed water on the floor coming out of the old chimney that went down to the basement. It is now closed off but water was getting in our chimney and collecting on the floor in the basement. So I told AJ we really needed to get the topper back on the chimney. He said he would if someone was there to call 911 when he fell off the roof. So I recruited JJ and off they went setting up the ladder and JJ was going to spot.

Well, after AJ got up on the roof and had attached the chimney cover, JJ talked AJ in to taking down the antenna as well. So AJ sat up on the roof while AJ ran home to get a few tools and in a matter of 30 minutes, both the chimney cover was put on and the antenna was down. AJ never fell off the roof but had a close call.

JJ had brought over a tow strap that AJ rigged around the chimney and attached it to himself so he could grab it if he fell. Well, the antenna was down and AJ was headed back to the chimney to take off the strap, he was using it as a lead line and it fully come undone and basically would not have held AJ at all if he had fallen. Thank goodness he didn't need it.

Anytime you get AJ and JJ together, our house always looks a little different when I come home. From cutting down trees, to putting up under cabinet lighting and now removing an antenna. We love how handy and helpful our brother-in-law JJ is!