Big Thaw

For the first time this year, the temperature was above freezing. Saturday hit 46 degrees (8 degrees Celsius) and Sunday was only marginally cooler. It was a massive melting session and most of the roofs are now free of snow. The new gutters handled the melt very well, with only one small drip that I need to go up and examine. The hardest event on the gutters and roof is the spring thaw/freeze cycle. The sooner the snow is off the roof and the gutters are free of ice, the happier I'll be. The rest of the week is forecast to be above freezing every day, with temperatures on Tuesday predicted to be 50 degrees (10 Celsius).

The rapid thaw is great for the roof, but it's a disaster for our basement. We're watching it carefully in hopes that the mudjacking we did last spring to tilt the sidewalk away from the house is working. Even worse than the rapid thaw though is the forecast for rain this week. The ground is frozen so all that rain pools up on the ground before whooshing to the lowest spot. If that lowest spot happens to be next to the house, we'll have another incident of Mannekin Pis.

There are worse things in life though. I just found out today that my previous boss, the one who was willing to take a chance on an American who wanted to live in Ireland and hire me, has terminal pancreatic cancer. Doctors are telling him he only has a few more weeks. The last time I saw him was a year ago when I had a business trip to Ireland. As far we knew he was fine then. He's in his mid-forties, so it is completely unexpected. It really puts things in perspective, leaky basement and all.