Murphy's Law has come into play recently around the Larsen house. Several coworkers, neighbors, and friends advised us to hang our Christmas lights before the middle of October, or else it would become a nearly impossible task. Apparently, the extreme cold weather stiffens the wire coating to the extent that the coating will actually crack and break when it is manipulated during the hanging process. Well, October came, and I half-heartedly put up lights one or two strands at a time. I was going to finish my project a couple of weeks ago, but the snow started falling. In spite of the snow on our steep roof, I decided to climb up and attempt to place the last strand of lights, completing the look. I figured that no matter how steep and slick, I would be able to slither up to the top and complete the job. To make a really long story somewhat shorter, it just didn't quite work out that way. After going up about two 'steps,' my forward velocity abruptly became reverse velocity. Fortunately, I was able to grab the ladder and the gutter and keep from plummeting earthward. On the plus side, I left an amazing snow angel print on the roof!
So, after nearly killing myself by attempting to free-climb my roof, I decided that it would behoove me to utilize a rope and belay myself to the top of the roof. The only problem was how to get a rope over the roof. I first tried just slinging said rope up, but fell well short. Tried tying a small rope to a tennis ball, and a football, and throwing and punting the ball over. No joy there, either. Finally, I attached some (pink) mason's line to one of the fins on Trevor's model rocket, and blasted it over the house. Ok, it was on the second try. The rocket also managed to get entangled in the TV antenna and a branch of a tree, well out of reach. I actually had to use the extension ladder against a tree, and hit the rocket with a long stick to get it down to where it could be grabbed and used as a line weight. Finally, after two days of attempting to get a rope over the roof, I have been successful. Now, it is snowing, so I will attempt to string the lights tomorrow.
I only wish there was a video showing this...
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
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2 comments:
Is it really worth it? Maybe the lights you have up are enough. With all the snow you'll get maybe the job is done enough. Then again, if it's not I guess you should finish. Have fun!
I would probably have left them as they were, but like all evil geniuses, my nearly impossible plot required a 'keystone,' the last piece to fall into place. I left the lights that were to go on the top of the roof as the last piece in this plan, connecting the two halves of my Christmas lights. Sadly, after all of the work I put into them, the last strand I hung burned out, killing the other half anyway (sigh).
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