The Roof, Completed

When I visited a good friend a few days ago, she reminded me that I had not mentioned "the rest of the story" of the new roof on my chapel.

The roof was successfully completed, and seems to be doing what I had hope it would! We had a heat wave with several days in the 90's, but the chapel maintained an inside temperature of about 65, sometimes going a few degrees higher. After several hot days, it did go up to about 72 at one point. I can live with that! I do have to open windows and use fans at night to pump cooler air in and warmer air out, but I enjoy having that flexibility. It's nice to open the windows and let the fresh air in. I can't do that when I have the air conditioner in the window. 

As my husband always says of his handiwork, "it's not perfect". Sure, I may have preferred "perfect", but this is an improvement, and it is functional, and it was a labor of love.  (And the price was right. Lol!)

For the sake of comparison, here are a few "before" photos:

And here are the "after" shots:

As an afterthought, we added these panels on the back to provide more shade; yeah, they look like an afterthought, but they are very effective!

Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me.

A Roof Over My Head

For years, we've thought of adding a peaked roof to the chapel. Last September was the 10th anniversary of the establishment of Holy Family Chapel, as we call it, and in all those years, we probably debated the merits of a roof every other year.

The expense always seemed disproportionate to the building itself, which is really just a remodeled shack. But every summer, I have at least wondered if a peaked roof would alleviate the heat build-up in there. The flat roof didn't help, that's for sure. I have always put in a window air conditioner, starting about mid-May and continuing through October. That works, but I'd rather not have to bother with it. And last year's air conditioner didn't even last the season; previously I've had air conditioners that lasted several years, so I don't know what the issue was this time.

Anyway, the roof is now in progress, with the hope that I might be able to keep things cool enough without an air conditioner. We'll see. Maybe I'll only have to use it for July-August.

Here's how it's been shaping up:

Before this project started, my spiritual director paid a visit and said Mass in the chapel twice! That is always an exciting event for me. In this spiritual wasteland, to have an extraordinary form Mass said in my own private chapel is pure bliss.

Here it is, almost ready for Mass to begin:

And tomorrow, I'm leaving for a real retreat - not a "working" retreat - for the next few days. I am looking forward to that!

Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me.