About a week ago, we had a ferocious rain storm, rivaling, I'm sure a monsoon in Asia. I happen to look out onto my neighbor Mark's roof, and noticed a Niagara like plume cascading over the gutter by his garage. I related a cautionary tale of another neighbor in another hood with the same scenario. Over time, water, which if it can, it will, do damage. It gradually seeped under the foundation of his garage, so when he came home one night, pulled his car in, turned the key off, the floor cracked, and settled down a foot in an instant, giving him a fright nearly overriding his bladder control.
The next day, a special towing operation finally got his car out of the new pit his garage had turned into, and $20,000 later, he had a new garage floor.
After hearing this, Mark soberly agreed to remedy his gutter problem. I offered to assist, and he said he would call if he needed me. I was hoping he would call, because I remembered another neighbor who started to clean his gutters (before gutter guards); I again offered to help, and this neighbor said he could handle it.
My wife and I then went out shopping for a few hours. When we returned home, I saw this neighbor, Jack, walking into his house with a cast and sling on his right arm, and the ladder leaning at an angle against a tall tree in front of the house, were it landed when he fell. He handled it alright, but he didn't come well armed for the task (ouch!).
Fast forward to today, I hear Mark rustling with a ladder against the gutter. I went outside and said to him,
"Would you like me to hold the ladder, or drive you to the hospital?"
He chuckled, and wisely said, "Yes", to the former.
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