Our weekend was productive, and fun. We didn't kill ourselves, but we accomplished a lot and the property is really starting to shape up. Then Monday showed up...
Saturday morning Andy and my Dad worked on the trampoline, installing the new parts and making it round again, instead of, you know...pretzel shape. It didn't take long and by noon the boys were bouncing away on it. SUCCESS!
After that, Andy took a nap.
Saturday afternoon we made our weekly trek to Home Depot, and picked up stepping stones. (Its comforting to know Mr. Homer Depot's children will be able to afford to go to college.) Actually we bought some clearance items and did not spend a whole lots of money. When we got home, Andy laid stones in one directions and I worked in the opposite direction. We had a silent competition to see who's stepping stone design would prosper. Mine, of course, was a little more complex...while Andy's was simple yet random, which is the look we were leaning toward...so I reset my stones to match his, and all was right in the Universe.
Sunday our friends Roger and Kathy arrived to help us pick up fan palms at ther local nursery. We all thought this was going to be a monsterous task, but it actually went off without a hitch. The palms look excellent, and I am especially excited about the giant bird of paradise we placed on the side of the house. This would be an EXCELLENT place for a Japanese style zen garden. My wheels are definitely spinning!
I know I posted about the clover coming up, but I am still not sure that's what it is. It might actually be weeds. At this point in time, I don't care...its green, which is better than brown.
OK, so here's the part you've all been waiting for. What happened Monday? All day Sunday a storm was brewing, the wind kicked up and by sunset it was freezing cold outside. It started raining right about bedtime. Monday morning we awoke and it was still partly cloudy and cold. The kids and ran a few errands at noon and came back a little after 1pm. The wind was starting to blow and we all kind of giggled looking at the trampoline as the netting was flapping in the breeze. Andy had tried many ways to anchor it down, but decided that cinder blocks were the best option...
At 1:15 Jenny cried at the door because the wind was really picking up and she was scared...so I let her in. At 1:35 the phone rang...it was my dad. "How's the trampoline holding up?" my son answered as he looked out the window..."oh its fine, we have it held down...by...some...OOOHHH NOOOOO!" All that was left were the cinder blocks. No trampoline to be found. ANYWHERE! We ran outside and looked in every direction, the trampoline had completely disappeared. No shit. My dad came over and drove around the neighborhood and still could not find it. Andy came home completely broken hearted and defeated, and set out to find what was sure to be the mangled mess. He drove up the dirt road to the neighbor's house behind us and he found the trampoline in a gulley, the two of us hiked back there with a screwdriver and a rubber mallet and disassembled the big blue giant, resembling a beached whale at this point, and dragged it home. The irony is...(and you know how much I love irony) although the wind carried it three times farther than last time, it was actually NOT in bad shape. Andy was able to hammer the pieces back into shape, all except one...and we actually had a left-over piece from the last repair to replace it. We might be short a few springs, but that remains to be seen when we start putting it back together.
The real question is...how do we anchor this sucker down so it doesn't fly off again? We bought stakes and wire at Home Depot, but the stakes easily pulled out of the ground when we tested it. Our next experiment is sand bags. The manufacturer wants you to take down the netting when high winds come, but that is easier said than done.
Hm. Anyway, it is now Tuesday and I am falling behind in my duties. I welcome any ideas readers might have about our trampoline issue.
No comments:
Post a Comment