This fun project was originally slated for November, however, we were contemplating delaying it until February to ensure enough reserve funds to cover incidentals. Judging from today's events, this has been moved up to October, possibly September.A little background on this less than fun project. The previous owner of this wonderful abode built the patio on over the existing roof.
There is currently a leak that we believe is at the point where the patio roof joins the old roof. It does not leak in the house, but it does leak on the patio. It is causing the soffits to rot out, so it has to be corrected. Whenever we remove the actual roof from the patio, we will have to put new shingles on at least two sections of the roof. Since we have never shingled before, it should be interesting. But as John says, "I saw it in a cartoon once." 
The only major challenge today was avoiding the rage of red wasps. 
Of course, John arose victorious. I just enjoyed sitting on the patio taking it all in. My pink roses are quite pretty. 
Oops! Apparently, the main water line into our house runs right under the front flower bed. 
Enter, project number two - replace the broken copper pipe. This was not as simple as it sounded. John has never worked with copper pipe, and he was less than anxious to learn how. So, he cut out the section that was broken, and off we went to Home Depot to review our options. There was a really nice guy in the plumbing section, that offered some helpful tips. We bought 10 foot sections of 3/4" copper tubing, 1/2" copper tubing, and PVC pipe, lots of shark bite connectors and other miscellaneous supplies. Just over $100 later, I was starting to think calling a plumber might have been the smarter option. Once we got home, John hooked everything up, and water shot out of one of the shark bite connections. Because of the angle of one of the connections, the pipe needed to be soldered.
In addition to replacing the pipe, he also installed a main shut off and spliced into the pipe to run water to the faucets in the back yard. The previous owner just had a pipe running from the front faucet and it looked pretty tacky. He did a great job and now we can move on the finishing the original project. 
Oh wait, since we spent our plant money on plumbing supplies, I guess the flower beds will remain bare. At least John learned some new skills and he definitely stayed busy. No boredom here.
