PAIR O' HERMITS - Nancy L. Mills and David M. Perkins

News and Photographs

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The Latest Hermit Happenings:

    It has been many months since our last website update and, for the most part, life has been fairly routine at Our Hermitage -- but not completely! Our biggest "excitement" has been the replacement of our roof. As you can imagine, this is not a project we particularly wanted to do but we felt that it had to be done. While we're not sure about the exact age of the shingle roof, we've lived here for over eight years and, to the best of our knowledge, at least part of the roof was 15 years old. There were some obvious signs of deterioration and many patches of moss (more about our wet weather later). We were concerned about possible leakage, particularly in the roof over the living room -- which turned out to be a valid concern. We considered various alternatives and finally decided to re-do the entire house with a "tin roof". The material is actually steel with an anodized paint finish. We chose evergreen for our cabin in the woods. We also had the skylights replaced, another good decision.

    Getting the quote and making our decisions took some time, then materials had to be ordered before the real work began. We'll spare you a blow-by-blow description of the joys of living in a construction zone: the need to rise early, the incessant noise, the disruption, the feeling that life was totally out of our control. And Elmo didn't think much of it either, although he was calmer than the human inhabitants of Our Hermitage. Dave was kept on his feet checking on progress and Nancy was busy with the camera documenting the project. One morning we couldn't take it so we bailed out and went to breakfast, taking Elmo with us. (No, he didn't get to go into Big Wheel!) As is typical, there were some problems with not having the right materials in the right place at the right time. There was one section of roof with old water damage that had to be replaced. We expected that might be a problem so, while we weren't delighted with the extra work that had to be done, it could have been much worse. The workers on the crew were careful about keeping the gates closed so Elmo couldn't escape and good about cleaning up at the end of each day, which we appreciated. An added difficulty resulted from our HughesNet satellite antenna (the big one in the first two pictures below) which provides our Internet service. It had to be lifted and replaced to put down the new roof. Unfortunately, it ended up too much out of alignment. We lost our Internet and email service for ten days until we could get a serviceman out to restore our service, another extra expense. The technician weighed about 250 pounds and was afraid of heights so Dave had to climb up on the roof with him and give him a hand! Since we both spend quite a bit of time every day on the computer, being disconnected for so long was an adjustment! Although the entire project took longer and cost more than estimated, we are very happy with the results. (By the way, the dish in the third picture is our satellite TV antenna.)

    One real piece of luck during the roofing project was relatively dry weather. Considering that it has been an exceptionally wet summer, we lost very little time during the roofing job due to weather. For those who live in drought-stricken areas, it may seem ungrateful to complain about rain but we are well above our normal rainfall for the year. Everyone around here is struggling with the 4 M's: mold, mildew, moss and mushrooms! Our yard is more moss than grass -- which means we haven't had to mow as often. And everywhere we look -- mushrooms! We have seen more varieties of fungi than we ever thought would grow here. If only we knew if any of them are edible!

    We are definitely hoping for a drier fall. We're also ready for cooler weather. Spring found us busy with our usual deliveries of firewood for the coming winter. Thanks to the additions and modifications we made to our electric heating systems, we only needed two huge dump-truck loads of wood this season, instead of our previous three. We also got a little smarter and used our lawn tractor and trailer, rather than wheelbarrows, to transport the wood from the dumped pile to the wood stacks. Of course, we still had to stack it! But we are ready for winter now.

    This spring also brought an addition (sort of) to our family. Nancy has spent the past five or so years making friends with Teeny, a little feral cat. Finally, in May, Teeny found her way to our house and has taken up residence with us. Nancy is thrilled. Elmo is not! Dave is working as peacemaker. Knowing that Teeny has had at least six litters of kittens and certain that she didn't need to have any more, Nancy managed to take her to the veterinarian and have her spayed. That had to be traumatic for Teeny (it was for Nancy!) to be put in a carrier, taken in a car, handled by strange people, given a rabies shot and then surgery -- none of which she's ever experienced in her entire life. Thankfully, all went well and Teeny is settling in happily at her new home. And speaking of cats, Nancy continues to make Snuggles for the animal shelter, using yarn donated by Jennifer Koger. Thanks, Jen!

    In mid June, we made a quick trip to Philadelphia to see Dave's 75-year-old brother, Bill, who had suffered a stroke. By the time we arrived, he was out of the hospital, back at home and under the care of his older daughter Susan. Fortunately, Bill has no paralysis as one typically expects from a stroke but he has lost much of his speech ability. He can take care of his own physical needs but communication, while improving, is still impaired. We were glad to be able to see him and his daughters, Susie and Sandy. Bill went to live with Susie outside of Philadelphia while completing neurological testing and starting speech therapy. At the same time, he has bought a new house in that area and moved! Amazing for someone who had lived in the same house for most of his adult life. Dave is planning a quick visit in the coming week to check up on him again. We continue to hope that he will eventually make a full recovery.

    As usual, books have continued to be our constant companions, no matter what else goes on. The lists below give some of our recent reads, most of which we borrowed from our local libraries. The BookPage publication is a good source of suggestions and we always enjoy receiving recommendations from other readers also.

New photos added on August 31, 2009.

Old Roof on Shop and Kitchen	New Roof on Shop and Kitchen	Quite a Contrast!
The Finished Job: New Roof & Skylights	Just One Example of Bountiful Fungi	Getting Smarter Moving Firewood
Teeny	Dave as Peacemaker	More Snuggles

So Many Books ...

Nancy's Latest: (selected)

Miami (NF=Non-Fiction) by Joan Didion Bad Monkeys (F=Fiction) by Matt Ruff American Wife (F) by Curtis Sittenfeld What Was She Thinking? (F) by Zoe Heller Smart and Simple Financial Strategies for Busy People (NF) by Jane Bryant Quinn Revolutionary Road (F) by Richard Yates The Great Man (F) by Kate Christensen Breakable You (F) by Brian Morton The Ghost Writer (F) by John Harwood

Dave's Latest: (selected)

The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns (F) both by Khaled Hosseini Reading Lolita in Tehran and Things I've Been Silent About (NF) both by Azar Nafisi The Age of Entanglement (NF) by Louisa Gilder Borderliners (F) by Peter Hoeg Tea Time for the Traditionally Built (F) by Alexander McCall Smith Amsterdam (F) by Ian McEwan Lark and Termite (F) by Jayne Anne Phillips

We've Both Read:

Leave Me Alone, I'm Reading (NF) by Maureen Corrigan (Enjoy it, Jean!) The World According to Bertie (F) by Alexander McCall Smith The Unprofessionals (F) by Julie Hecht Still Life with Chickens (NF) by Catherine Goldhammer Outliers (NF) by Malcolm Gladwell Houseboat Chronicles (NF) by Jake MacDonald Three Cups of Tea (NF) by Greg Mortenson Pickets and Dead Men (NF) by Bree Loewen (experiences of a climbing guide on Mt. Rainier)

Comments or Questions: Email Nancy and Dave