Ghetto Rigged Ladder

Sunrises like this just make my soul happy.  I love seeing the rays of light pierce through the breaks in the clouds.  What I thought was going to be a nice & relaxing day actually ended up being really worrisome yet funny thanks to Dad.

After work/college, Autumn & I went over to Mom & Dad’s house and had pot stickers and corn on the cob for dinner.  After that, Dad got a burr in his butt to fix the light above the stairwell.  The painters took out the light when they took the popcorn off the ceiling last year.  But, they forgot to put it back and Dad decided tonight was the night to fix it.  The ceiling is about 24 feet high, so he got out our normal A-frame ladder and then had the “brilliant” idea to just lean the tall extension ladder against the A-frame ladder to be tall enough to reach the light.  Right away I started telling him no way and that this was a horrible idea and I was totally against it.

He said it would be fine b/c he would tie the extension ladder to the A-frame ladder.  I kept making funny comments the whole time like how I hoped his life insurance policy was paid up on.  I told Nick he should climb up there b/c he’s expendable while Dad isn’t.  While Dad was tying one of the ropes to the ladders, the rope broke (that’s the piece Nick is holding up).  I called Mom and asked her if she wanted to say any final words to her husband before he climbed to his death.  She just said he was crazy and now we know where Nate gets his daredevil (jumping off the roof into the pool) stunts from.

Yep, those are strings that he has tied around the balusters of the upstairs walk way.  He was hoping they would hold the upper and unsupported part of the ladder.  I asked him if we was doing this just so I could have something cool to blog about.  We both got a good laugh out of that.

As I was standing there holding the bottom of the ladder while he was securing the top of the ladder, I couldn’t help but notice these warning stickers on the side of the ladders.  Great, just great…one more sign that this is such a bad idea.

I called Curt and told him to come over and either try to talk Dad out of climbing the ladder or to help figure out a way to do it safely.  He came over and said he’s seen construction guys try crazier things.  So, w/ Curt standing on the bottom of the ladder to help anchor it, Dad started climbing.  I was standing on the other side of the ladder to steady it and realized if he fell he would land right on top of me.  Luckily, he wasn’t able to go all the way to the top (this picture makes it look like was close to the hole in the ceiling, but he wasn’t at all) b/c he said it was getting wobbly and he isn’t very fond of heights so he had the sense to climb back down.

Curt said he knew the Jones’ had a ginormous ladder to change light bulbs in the vaulted ceilings at their house, so he and Dad hopped in the truck and went over to Jones’ to borrow their ladder.  While they were gone, I did the dishes and Autumn & I watched AGT results show.  Dad & Curt came back and weren’t kidding when they said it took 3 people to set this ladder up.  It is a 20 foot ladder and was so heavy and cumbersome.  But, we finally got it set up and Dad was able to climb to the top and fix the light.  He said it was so much more steady than his ghetto ladder.

Curt was telling Autumn to come over and pull his finger and she kept laughing and saying no even though she didn’t know what pulling someone finger means.  I am glad that Dad was able to finally check that off his “to do” list, since it was over a year ago.  Dad & Curt took the ladder back to Jones’ and I untied the ghetto ladders so he could put those away when he got home.  It was 9:30 by the time Autumn & I got home and I put her right to bed and then unwound from the crazy day by watching some TV before bed.  I’m happy that Dad didn’t fall and break his neck, that he accomplished what he wanted to, and that we had a lot of fun w/ his crazy idea.