Mission Impossible: Retrieval Conclusion

So…it’s been awhile.  My heart just hasn’t been into writing these last couple of months.

But, let me back up.  The last time I blogged, I was up to my armpits in Christmas decorations.  There were still some in the back of the storage space under the eave off the stairway.  I needed something longer than the cane.  There were lots of long-handled items in the garage.  As I headed out there, I thought of something even longer than a rake or hoe.  (Note:  Sometimes bigger is not better.  Yeah, I know, probably just this one instance.)  The snow rake!

This is just like the one I had, except my dad had affixed some type of spongey material on it so it wouldn't pull the shingles off with the snow.

The snow rake was an extremely long aluminum pole with a spongey end.  My dad used it to scrape snow off of the roof.  Ostensibly, this kept the roof in good repair.  I think he was just trying to keep the roof from completely disintegrating.  But that’s just my opinion.  I had to get it from the backyard patio.  I maneuvered the crazy thing through the back room, through the kitchen and living room and then started up the stairs.  The cats took off running when they saw this ginormous thing coming at them.  Then I tried to get it in the storage area.  Um, there was a problem with it being so long.

Since the stairway was enclosed, there wasn’t enough room to get the spongey end all the back to the boxes.  Did I put the snow rake down and go find something else?  No.  More’s the pity.  No, perversity made me keep trying because I noticed it was inching its way in.  It was doing that because the aluminum handle was bending!  Well, alright!  I could work with that.

I cheerfully pulled out two or three boxes.  When I grabbed it to go after another item, I heard a *snap* and the *ting* of aluminum hitting the floor.  Whoops, the handle broke!  It broke just close enough to the head that I couldn’t get anything more out of the storage area.  Well, there were only two things left.  One was one of those wire lawn displays.  The other was in a plastic bag.  I figured I had lived without it for nearly a decade, I wouldn’t miss it now.

I took the pieces out to the garbage.  The part with the spongey end was a bit too long to fit in the garbage bin.  No problem.  Feeling a bit like Wonder Woman (eat your heart out Lynda Carter!) I grabbed the piece and bent it in half.  It didn’t break, but at least I could fit it in the bin.

That was the climax to my Christmas decorations retrieval story.  If it left you wanting, well, maybe you should try chocolate?