[/caption]The Mercury News published an article in their Home+Garden section back in January that I thought I would share with you all. It's a list of ways to keep up with your house's maintenance needs, a little at a time. If you're planning to sell or if you're planning to stay until you're 80, these tips are relevant to your home.
I'll be republishing these, once per month, just as they were written in the original article by Joan Morris. I tried to find a link to the article online, but to no avail. If you find it, please let me know!
"FEBRUARY:
Think "roof". Check the roof of your home for loose or missing tiles, trim branches to prevent damage and to cut off access routes for various critters, and check your chimney for cracks. You can avoid a trip to the emergency room if you actually keep off your roof, though. Stay safely on the ground and use a pair of binoculars to inspect the area. Only go up if you absolutely have to, and make sure someone is nearby to keep an eye on you."
Transcribing this made me think of a less litigious time when I was a child and my dad would get out the old aluminum ladder, the top step of which fell about a foot short of the gutter on our roof, climb on up with his "garage knife" and start cutting the moss off the edges of the shake shingles. This, to me, was a dream job and if he was in a good mood (or maybe it was if my mom was in a good mood, since I'm sure my dad wasn't worried) I could go on up there and help! It was like being in a totally different world. I hadn't yet experienced hiking, rock climbing, surfing or scuba diving, so I didn't get that were were lots of different vantage points of our world, but I did immediately get that I really liked being up in the Sycamore and Oak tree tops, looking out across the other roofs, down to my best friend's house and out at the foothills. A whole new perspective, and hence a whole new world, opened up to me from the small mountaintop of our single-story house. And neither my father or myself ever got hurt up there on that roof. In fact, I would venture to say to we got a little free and little refreshed and a little bit more whole.
- Jocelyn Broyles
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