Sounds like whoever put the shed extension on removed to many joists. Pitched roofs produce a spreading force on the structure. The ridge tries to move down and the rafters push outwards ion the walls. The ceiling joists (attic floor) are in tension and resist this spreading force. Collar ties can also be used, but they increase the size of the rafters required. A structural engineer is probably required at this point to figure out what is going on and try and design a fix.

What a sad situation! Maybe it will not work out there and they will move back! No matter what make sure to keep in touch with your grandchild with phone calls often. Maybe set up e-mail and webcams! Also make plans for your grandchild to come back and stay with you.

In a few weeks my husband and I turn, respectively, 63 and 59 and retirement is a topic of frequent discussion between us. Financially either or both of us could retire tomorrow; the real decision point is when we will leave. Husband is doing IT work that is boring and repetitive, which he despises. I've been passionately dedicated to my job for 20+ years, yet I find myself increasingly tired of the stresses and the work load. And yet.....we both make very good salaries, have great benefits and are in positions that allow us reasonable flexibility and autonomy in our schedules. He has a volunteer commitment in which he has served for decades with great distinction. It provides him with a lot of gratification and the sense of providing value not only due to what he does but because he works extensively with young adults--both of us enjoy mentoring this age cohort and I do it through my job. He takes one day a week to do that, and when he retires he has a standing offer to work as much or as little as he wishes. I struggle with what retirement will mean for me. To 3katz' point, I do know very clearly that at 60 and beyond I will NOT want to continue to work forever. In hopes of finding a future role for myself post-retirement, I accepted a role in a mentoring program this past year that gives underrepresented high school girls guidance about life and education skills. However, it turned out that the work was almost entirely organizing monthly presentations, with no individual interaction. Frankly, the part of my job I hate most is event planning and all the volunteer role brought me was 10 more events to plan, which I had to do around my normal day job! So, no more of that. I responded to another request for volunteers which seems meant as more of a one-to-one commitment....and although I called and emailed several times and spoke to an enthusiastic coordinator nobody has let me know about actually getting involved. At this age/stage what I'm trying to do is disengage enough at work to let go of doing a lot of the things that stress me (event planning!) and consciously enjoy the part of my work I do love which is advising students while I try to figure out what the great unknown of Retirement will be. I do anecdotally seem to see that people who I know who have retired are enjoying life, and I do have a sense that I can correct my course if what I first do doesn't turn out to be enough to keep me busy and engaged in life. We both feel we are in holding patterns, as we each have an elderly parent living locally, our son just got married and we foresee in the next few years responsibilities ramping up. As husband says, we'll probably keep working until 'something happens'. Could be a good something like a grandchild. Could be a not so good something like a health crisis with a parent, or a work situation that gets more stressful. We'll see. I don't foresee me staying more than 2-3 years, husband....who knows? And finally I strongly agree temperament and attitude are incredibly important in aging happily and healthfully. Those elderly parents--my MIL is now in assisted living at 92 YO and basically has always been unhappy, solitary and stubborn to the point of hurting herself. She never had friends or a social circle, counted on 'my boys' to be her entire social world and sank into dementia as once my FIL died 18 years ago she quite literally lived a life of sitting alone in her house every. single. day. Seeing no one, talking to no one except her sons and DILs, and gradually losing complete touch with life. Very sad. My father, OTOH, is 82 and this February lost his wife-who was #3-very suddenly in an accident. His first wife (my mother) died of cancer, wife 2 left him after 20 years and now he is a widower again. And yet, he greets each day with a big smile, he faces the world with enthusiasm and grace and he is the most resilient person I've ever seen. So striking to see the two of them age in their own ways and I sure hope I take my father's path and not my mother in law's!

Kay keeps enabling me on Bob Marley. It is a color I like and it looks great in your garden. In a similar vein, I liked Birthday Wishes enough to look it up and find out it's a Selman............. Both of the cream whites are pretty, Thelma and Victorian Princess. I don't usually like daylilies in white, but darn those both have such great form.........Maryl