Just trying to keep a roof over our heads...

Reminiscent of our early years during WWII London, the roofers have been here for a week now and are making considerable progress. What with shovels and forks removing the old roof, packs of shingles being dropped at various points, pneumatic staplers and nail guns, massive hammering and periodic cascades of old roof falling past the windows, the entire process is quite stressful. Apparently, the tear-off of the old roof is particularly strenuous due to the cedar shake style originally installed. In the first picture, the mound of scrap from the left-hand section of the roof, can be seen piled up against the side of the house. So far the crew has filled two 24 foot skips and will shortly start on the third which is being delivered as this is written. The original cedar roof is being replaced with composite shingles - by far the most common choice throughout the mid-west - all 18,900 lbs of them. These are delivered in 75 lb bundles, 36 bundles to a pallet. The pallets, by the way, are lifted onto the roof by a crane on the delivery truck - much better than trying to lug them up a ladder! Meantime, a veritable army of workers keep busy with the numerous processes involved in what I erstwhile believed to be a straightforward task.
The accompanying pictures were taken yesterday, November 28th, which was another gorgeous "bonus" day at near 70 degrees on a day when the average high is around 43. Today is in the sixties again but, watch out, Mother Nature is about to get back on track, reducing daytime highs to the low thirties and overnight lows to the low twenties with a few inches of sleet or snow tomorrow night for good measure. Nothing like this kind of forecast to motivate roofers, it seems