Gremlin Garage survives wind storms ; house not so lucky!

[Gremlingts@xxxx]

 Well, we had two very high wind days, last Thursday, and Monday as well. 
Winds from 20 to 60 mph, sometimes sustained. Pretty harsh for the northern 
VA area! I noticed on Friday some tar paper material in the front bushes, 
but figured it'd blown from across the street from a house owned by a 
contractor. Monday night I come home, and theres even MORE paper, this time 
in my driveway. I get my flashlight and shine it up to the very top around 
back - uh on! I see roofing peeled and folded over on the very top section. I 
have a low-angle dormer over the upstairs rooms, and they used rolled shingle 
material, so the wind had gotten under the poorly tacked down corners 
apparently, and lifted both ends and trashed about a 4' x 35' area near the 
gutter. I'm about to go up there now this afternoon, as we're scheduled to 
get freezing rain/snow mix, then rain all day Thursday. The Insurance 
inspector can't make it until Friday. Luckily, in my dumpster diving ( er, 
recycling effort), I salvaged about 8 rolls of heavy duty window tint film 
for commercial windows, I"m going to use that as an underlayment for now, to 
waterproof the wood, then tack the remaining asphalt roofing down over it, 
and hopefully I'll get a quick settlement. I sure don't have any extra money 
right now to pay for repairs, and I have a $500 deductible, so I hope it's 
enough damages to cover my material costs, as I intend to do repairs myself 
this weekend, if all goes well. Ah, my first REAL crisis as a new homeowner ( 
not counting legalizing-the-cars fiasco I went thru last winter ), such fun! 
On top of this, though, I find out my Mortgage company is screwing me, what I 
thought I signed up for, I didn't get, and I'm having MORE money taken out to 
pay the mortgage than I thought ( thru Chase and their Accelerator program ), 
so I'm highly ticked about that! Also, the kid ran away last night, too, he 
called us about 9 pm and said he was in FLORIDA!!! ( Hey, Bart, see a 
shaved-head kid with holes in his ears you could stick your pinky thru? LOL) 
He's supposed to try to come back today, but who knows...he may get to do his 
extra nine days in Juvy, as he did some "unlegal" drugs, and realized his 
probation meeting is next week, and he gets drug-tested then, so he knew he'd 
fail. He panicked and took off. Why, when he is THIS close to finishing the 
program and getting off of probation, we may never know. Stupidity, or just a 
cry for help? My ppor lady is turning grayer by the minute, she can't 
understand it either. Oh well, he may have to take his lumps. And I need to 
get busy with the hammer and nails! Catch ya later, time to go " nail down" 
some problems with my roof. 

Jerry