The windows weren't the expensive part. It's the installation combined with the window price. We have 16 windows to replace. The guy was here for two hours. I know wayyyy too much about windows. And this is just the first salesman to visit. I think the next guy is going to have to be on a timer. We already had the double pane glass replaced in a few windows, but it didn't really work very long. Some of our window frames are covered in limestone. Those have to be broken out and then he new windows will have to be set into the rock again. Always something......

Yes the labor does tend to be very costly. And if they are working with stone, that sounds like work!

Dh does most of the labor around here... I am very thankful of that, cost wise it helps immensely. Of course, he wishes he didn't have to & there will come a day when he is just no longer able to do so much.... we're not getting younger!

I don't think we have a single pane window in the house. The window with the puncture is a four paned window and the whole thing would have to be replaced, it's all one piece.

Too bad. DH was telling me something about doubled paned windows...that they seal them and inject a gas between the panes.

The 'gutter guy' just left to get his ladder and tools. He's done some other work for us before, and then we lost track of him. He showed up ready to get started on the gutters this morning! Husband is meeting him at HD to buy supplies. He made us an offer we couldn't refuse...
I only asked (whined) for one strip of gutter (about 24 ft) across the highest part of the roof line in backyard. Then we went to look at the garage side, then in front of the courtyard, and why not over the bedrooms...... I'm fairly sure husband thinks he was in charge of the situation....but...
Not the best pic, but you can see the roof line over the upstairs is way too tall for husband to safely tackle it alone. And the other two roof elevations in back have gutters. But there's none on the front 3 since we got the new roof. I'll be busy today plotting stuff I can get worker guy to do next.....
.....Stop feeling sorry for Bruce!

Poor Bruce!

I love the stonework on your patio... it looks very nice & I like the contrast too of the different stones vs. brick.

What was I supposed to be looking at?

Oh...too funny! My pic was not the best. Just trying to show how high the roof was.....but it really didn't show up at top of pic. Our gutter guy finished about 7:30. His son helped too. I now have gutters galore .

The house patio is Saltillo tile with Talavera insets. Husband laid it a few yrs ago. The big rock patio is river rock slab. ( According to SIL, it isn't available anymore). My husband ordered 7 tons of the rock and a truck load of sand when we bought the house in 1979. Then the military sent him away....and I laid that entire patio by myself. We only planned to be here 2 yrs, so it didn't have to be permanent. I had a great time learning to mix concrete from a book! There were nights when I dragged the TV onto the patio, so daughter could watch Little House on the Prairie, etc. while I laid stone under a flood light. Turned out we moved to Hawaii a couple of yrs later, then got to come back to our house we had rented out while we were gone., and are still here. I love that old patio for a lot of reasons. One of our oaks is trying to push up thru a few spots. Not sure if there's a way to remedy that without killing the roots.

Okay, here's the gutter at the top of the 2nd story... Now I'll have to whine to get the house re-painted!

Boy, I bet you are glad to have them gutters! Yay! Looks good.

I'm still admiring your patio.

We're supposed to get rain tomorrow, so we'll see if the gutters work. When I look at the photo, I see that we need to repaint, the fan blades need to be replaced, etc....!

Snakes, Snakes, for goodness Snakes can anyone I D this one. That I picked up at least 10 times and didn't know it. It's a long drawn out story about me, some daylilies in a big black tub and this darn snake. It was Red, Yellow, and Black with a different pattern on it's body and underside/belly.

Yelp, That's his head chopped off over at the right top side of it. I HATE SNAKES!
I'm going to try to locate a picture of it's belly. I don't know what kind of snake it was but it will no longer be camping out here. I have a feeling there will be many more snakes to take it's place. This was about the 5th one I've had either in my hands or under my foot. It could be that they are attracted to all the rocks around my pond out in the front yard. If it gets too snaky I'll fill it back in. LOL

It's bellly has the strangest pattern on it and its color is not very good in these photos. We have all kinds of deadly snakes here, copperheads, cotton mouths, water snakes, rattle snakes, just to mention a few. I have no ideal what kind this is/was. I hope one of you can tell me what it is!

I have never seen a snake like that! It's almost like it is a hybrid or bred to have such patterns??? very decorative that snake is.

Bubbles has a snake book so maybe she can find something.

Are you finding these snakes at your house? You mentioned camping. Winnsboro is not very far south of me, I'm north of I-30 in Dike, Texas.

But that head laying their confirms my theory..........chop it's head off first and ask questions later!!! Yikes.

I'm just getting home and I pulled out my snake book. The second snake's belly looks like a Western mud snake. Was the top grey? They like ponds! I'll look some more tomorrow and see if i can ID the first one.

A guess on the first one.....Broad-banded water snake.... Only one that looked close to those markings Now I'm going to have nightmares! Google 'em by name tomorrow and see. BTW...do i win anything by IDing 'em?!/!

I killed another Copperhead (an adult) just 20 mins ago....Dee & I were cleaning up limbs & debris from various trimming jobs, fallen trees, etc and I turned over part of a Hickory tree trunk and there it was coiled & very still. I stomped its head...then it was dead

I only kill the poisonous snakes because of our 4 legged kids, predominantly.....I suppose for us too...considering my recent record
The non-poisonous snakes are good for us and our environment and really won't hurt much if they happen to bite you....in defense of itself....but most won't bite unless one is attacking it...hurting it.........dogs & cats ....even gophers & lizards will do that.....even humans will do that...now that I think about it

Can't have the poisonous snakes around!! And you are so right about the non poisonous snakes.

I read something when I was looking to ID the chicken snake you see above. This site I was on said some things ~
RE: chicken snake vs rats and other vermin that it eats.... basically the rats carry many diseases that will make you sick; the snake which feeds on the rats does not harbor these diseases and if you happen to get bitten by the non-poisonous snake it will only hurt for a brief time, or if it is even able to break the skin a little peroxide will fix you up. Raising the question, which would you rather deal with, illness from diseased rats, or a possible bite from a snake that probably won't break the skin? I will choose the snake & I definitely prefer to let nature take care of itself... only problem there is the fear of snakes makes one respond in an instant manner... causing snake to lose its head.

And the fact that we will take care of us and our own first...when they start taking your food, you have a whole new fight!!

LOL....I understand that!

As my old French grandmother would say, "All this talk about copperheads is giving me the willies!"

LOL

yesterday found two eaten eggs in the chicken's nest...