Roof Quandry

The workers arrived at 7:30 AM today to begin installing our new roof.  I would prefer they let me sleep a little longer, but for me, the inconvenience is worth finally having that new roof on the house.  The cats don't agree, however.  The large one hides in a corner behind the couch, using a low crawl if she has to emerge for food or drink.  The small white one is unnerved as well, which is odd because nothing usually phases her.  She sticks to me like glue all day long.

Choosing the roof was an interesting experience.  They have several styles and colors to choose from, I began to agonize almost at once.  This is a VERY permanent fixture, and far to expensive to replace if I don't like the color, so choosing the right one is vital.  I enlist my usual techniques which involves photographing the roof and applying different colors in photoshop until I'm completely overwhelmed.

As I'm sitting there, I wonder how anyone could makes such a decision easily.  Then, as I'm driving along in the car, I begin to notice the roof of every house I pass.  Many houses in Fremont now have metal roofs (like I soon will), and I had no idea.  How could I have missed this new trend?  I thought my husband was nuts when he first proposed it.

Well for starters, the hailstorm a few months back ensured new roofs for most of the town.  But then, the answer is obvious.  No one looks at your roof.  Sitting here now, I could not tell you the color of my parent's roof, and that's the house I grew up in.  Not a single roof comes to mind.  And slowly the agonizing wanes, even if the color isn't perfect, it isn't likely to matter much anyway, because no one pays attention to your roof.

A sigh of relief.

PS: Why do I have an instinct that the plural of roof is rooves?  Spellcheck assures me otherwise.  :P

Weston A. Price

One of my latest obsessions has been finding the right view on food.  I sympathize with vegetarians, marvel at vegans, and end up right back with the carnivores I started with.  I get a little frustrated with some Taoist groups I attend, because even if they claim not to push vegetarianism, they spend so much time talking about it, it gets pretty old pretty fast.  Top this off with the fact that no matter what argument I've read (and I've read a lot), I'm just not convinced.

Enter into the picture the Weston A. Price foundation.  They have some pretty radical views on things, but then again, some of the views of Western medicine are pretty radical in my opinion, too.  From what I gather, WAP has a view that cows should eat grass (I wholeheartedly agree) and that we should eat butter.  Among other things, they have a different view on saturated fats, feeling they are a vital part of a healthy diet.  They also advocate making raw milk available, something I have long felt to be a good idea.

I am only beginning to explore what they say, but it all makes sense to me so far (similar to when I came across Taoism).  I saw there is a chapter in my hometown, but a quick email resulted in no response.  It's a shame, because I'd love to meet some people who practice this way of life and talk to them about it.  Perhaps I'll keep my eye out for signs of WAP at the local farmer's market.