Glen and I worked together for a while today on the roof. He set the chimney flues and did the flashing (we used lead, I love working with lead, it's deceivingly heavy and pliable). I replaced the slates as he flashed.
We used a system of pulleys to bring up the flue which weighs 170 lbs. Glen told me some war stories, how the Viet Cong would put a grenade wrapped with tape in the gas tank of the helicopter. The tape would eventually disintegrate in the fuel and "the helicopter next to you would disappear". "Your first thought would be thank god it wasn't me, then you'd feel guilty for thinking it, later you came to accept the whole experience for what it was".
He also told me about his Canadian and Native American roots (his Grandmother denied being Native American, but when his father found her birth certificate in 1960 he knew the rumors about her being Native American were true and embraced his heritage.) and growing up in a family of house builders in Springfield MA.
Most unbelievable was that he was an executive at an Insurance Company for many years. It's hard to imagine Glen in and office wearing a suit. I wonder if he wore his sandels.