Photos of the new siding

The house is fully clothed again. It's all pretty and new, and thanks to the accident with the electrical box, I got an electrical upgrade on someone else's dime. I just had to live without electricity from Monday evening to Friday morning last week, and have stressful dealings with the mindlessly bureaucratic lady at the electrical company who told me I'd have to wait even longer for power to be turned back on. I talked to this woman on a friend's cell phone in a restaurant over lunch as I tried not to yell or cry or both. No matter what I said, she had but three sentences in her repertoire.

A sample from that conversation:

Her: "The siding contractor should have called us to move the electrical box." (Sentence #1)

Me: "Okay, I realize it's not your fault, but they've fixed their end of the problem, now you guys just need to turn the power to my house back on."

Her: "It has to be inspected, then after that it will be three to five working days before we can schedule you in." (#2)

Me: "It's the hottest time of the year and I don't even have fans! How is this not an emergency?!?"

Her: "I'm sorry, ma'am, it's procedure." (#3)

Me: "Well, can you tell me when I'll know specifically when you're coming out?"

Her: "I told you, it has to be inspected, then after that it will be three to five working days..."

And round and round we went with her three sentences, and I even strayed into about as confrontational as I get, quote: "I think you're being really unhelpful and rude." That didn't change her essential tune, but she did try adding a bit of sympathy to sentence #1: "It makes us so upset when our customers have to suffer because the contractor didn't call us to move the electrical box."

It took the electrician who fixed the box to expedite matters. I think he knew a better number to call than the woman I got. They were out bright and early the very next morning.

It all got fixed in the end, and here it is...



On the porch, a contemplative Scully is indifferent to new blue shutters


Brand, spankin' new electrical box out of the deal


Since the siding workers removed lots of rotting wood shingles, and found and replaced rotting wood around the dormer windows that the house's previous owner had cleverly hidden but not repaired, I am optimistic that the whole goal of this job -- stopping rain from leaking in the attic -- will be a success.