One comment about "fixing the roof" - the weekend before, I spent time cleaning up dead brush and grass around the premises. I knew that high winds were forecast, and I realized that the adjacent hills had not burned since November, 2008, meaning that we were due for another episode.

So a lot of duff was corralled, but not all. Returning home yesterday, I realized there was a line of dead, dry leaves on the sidewalk next to the house - a perfect fuse to ignite the dwelling. Luckily there were no flaming embers....

Note to self: If you start a job, finish the #$&& thing...