On Wed, 11 Nov 2009 16:37:08 -0800 (PST), coloradotrout
wrote:

In all those photos you see the same theme -- shingles atop flashing
and nails through both. I'm going to take some more photos as I
recall seeing rows of nails in a few other places. Uuuughhhhh.

A properly installed "step flashing" can be almost totally invisible.
If a roofer puts a roof on my house and the flashing along a wall is
visible he'll be taking the roof off and doing it over again.
Only "root flashing" should be exposed (bottom of a vertical wall
where it meets a horizontal roof surface)
At least that's how it's done up here in the "great white north" where
ice dams are a fact of life.
Lots of roofing cement is used installing "step flashing" - with no
exposed nails and no "exposed" roofing cement
On "root flashing" it IS occaisionally necessary to have an exposed
nail go through flashing, in which case it is liberally coated with
fibrated roofing cement - which usually outlasts the shingles.