We have hail damage!

OK, so that's not normally something to cheer about. But in this case it means the insurance company pays for the roof. It turns out the garage has damage, too - who knew? Plus a couple of screens, a gutter and the flashing around the skylight. So today I called the roofer and asked them to add the garage (it was built at a different time than when we re-roofed before, so it has a completely different set of shingles, and they aren't the defective ones). I found it amusing when the adjustor asked how old the shed was - he didn't see any damage there. He understood why when I told him it was only 3 weeks old!

The insulation upstairs still stinks to high heaven. We have all the windows open, but it's taking its time de-stinking. Maybe the cooler weather will hasten the progress? Just for the record, 2 days ago it was 103, and the projected high for tomorrow is 60! Unfotunately for the smell (but good for the garden), rain is also forecast, so we'll have to close up in the morning.

We had to call Gopher State One Call before the patio gets done. This is silliness, as we know darn well there are no buried public utility lines in the backyard. But you gotta dot the i's and cross the t's... What's funny here is that Xcel came along and planted a sign that it's fine to dig - just about on top of the buried line to the garage! Notice I said there were no public lines - that one's private. We're hoping the previous owners put it far enough down. It's supposed to be 16", but with those folks, you never know. We only need 9" so we're hoping for the best. I have no idea what we do if it isn't that deep! We didn't run into it putting in the big garden by the garage, but we didn't go down very far, either.

We've decided to put an electric line out to the shed. I like the idea of lights inside, and just maybe a little fountain on the patio...