That black goo that you put on the roof

(listening to the Democratic convention on NPR)
My father-in-law gave us a lot of help on the house this past weekend. He fixed some drywall, did some realignment of the attic pull-down ladder and fixed a leak in the roof. None of it was terribly high-tech, but it was fairly time-consuming. It was not a problem for a man who has owned a number of houses, but I, a man who has always rented his roof, found the whole thing very reassuring. "That's not a problem; we can fix that," he said a number of times during the weekend. It was all typical stuff that needed to be fixed.
I got back from the house a couple of hours ago after dropping off some stuff and checking the mail. The rain gauge told me that 1.8 inches of rain had fallen in the 20 hours since I had last checked it. Most of it was during concentrated periods of deluge, and the attic was dry as a bone. I'm overwhelmed by relief that I can relax and enjoy the rain in my new home. I like rain.
I guess John Kerry seems like an okay guy. I'm still more anti-Bush than pro-anything, and that's unfortunate. Bill Clinton, Ron Reagan, and John Edwards are a little easier to listen to. A lot of people are just getting to know Mr. Kerry. He's just beginning to become something other than Mr. Not Bush. Perhaps the U.S. will enjoy more esteem in the world if Mr. Bush gets the boot. People hate a swaggering moron.