Did you hear about Max McGee the ex Packer footballer, 75 years old, his wife going to the store told him, "Now don't you go getting up the roof, you hear?" and came back to find him dead on the ground, he just had to rake the leaves off the roof. Hearing this news on the tube, I said to my wife, "Is that some kind of an omen, telling me I shouldn't go up on the roof tomorrow?" "Don't think that's going to get you out of going up on the roof," my wife chuckled. "He was an old fart. You're only . . . "Yes," I said. "And he was in Minnesota where the roofs are steep. Our roof is so shallow upon it you can sleep." So, up I went.
Dave Barton, Torchdown Man, when he climbed the ladder to the roof the first time and gazed upon the broad expanses, said, "If I knew the roof was this big I'm not sure I would have taken this job."
He didn't go up and look at the roof before he started. It's because he didn't trust my ladder with the ding in it from the time I was cutting a tree limb and the ladder slid off the limb down to the ground and I rode it to the bottom. Pounded the ladder as straight as I could, but it still looks kinda iffy.
David brought his own ladder. And an assistant, his son-in-law, Derek White. It's a big job. Four days into it and we're still not done. Took one day off because it rained like hell during the night so we let it dry out for a day. We're almost there. One more day should do it. We're resting today and again on Monday and will resume Operation Torchdown on Tuesday. Here's some stills.
Dave Barton, Torch Man
