I learned a new term last evening: Fascia board.

Most of my fellow port-swillers probably already know that this is the horizontal board that caps off the bottom edges of the rafters and to which the gutters are attached.   I can now assure you that when said board rots out and detaches itself from the rafters on the corner of the house during a violent rainstorm, it will take the gutter right along with it, as I discovered upon my return to the port-swiller residence after work yesterday.

The good news is that I also found a note attached to the front door.  A handyman who lives in the neighborhood had spotted the twisted and hanging gutter as he passed, turned in, and wrote out a diagnosis and price quote on the spot.   I appreciate that kind of enterprise.

UPDATE: The WaPo snapped some coo-el pics of the storm that blew through my neck of the woods yesterday and caused the fascia board swan dive.