March 5, 2012

• Don’t Messer with Michael!

  Ah, the adventures we have!  Tonight at supper, I decided we’d learn some German words over dinner each night. Tonight’s choice? Knife, fork, and spoon.

  Knife is “Messer” as in “Don’t messer with him. He has a knife.”
  Fork was “Gabel” as in “Clark Gabel has a fork.”
  Spoon was “Löffel” as in…Well, you say it “LUR-fel” according to Michael, so I said, “I am full of Lur-Pak (a butter we got in England) because I ate it with a spoon.”  Um, yes.

  Anyhow, during the course of dinner, I related the story of how due to limited cupboard space, I decided to try to store the cereal on top of the fridge.  How was I to know that there was a six inch-wide gap beside the fridge with a caulked-to-the-wall false panel in front of it? Down fell the Froot Loops! NOOOOOO! Michael said, “I am going to get those out!” He had tried earlier by reaching up under, but all he found was a bag of oranges some previous tenant had let fall down there which were now…well…uh… Then he wanted to use the giant pile of decorative sticks in the corner of the living room (picture in previous post), but I was worried they’d break. So, we left it.

  But, a full stomach and an empty evening filled us all with the Can Do Spirit! First idea–use the headless mop we found on the balcony to try to capture it.  The nice thing was that the mop handle retracted, so Michael could get it down the hole even though the ceiling clearance gave him limited space. First, an inspection occurred. Rachel helped to balance him at first, but James and a pillow under his stomach helped more.

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  Attempting to trap the cereal box with the mop and slide it up the side of the fridge did not work. The next idea presented was to use the vacuum cleaner in an attempt to suck the box.  So, we pulled out the vacuum for the first time.

  

  But, oh no! The metal pole on the vacuum hose fell off into the hole! AAAAH! This was getting worse and worse! Thankfully, Michael was able to capture the metal pole with the mop handle and bring it to safety. We taped the hose and pole together and tried again. This time, the hose and pole were not long enough to reach the cereal box. (I doubt the suction would have been enough, given the size of the canister, but you never know.)  Now what?

  We thought maybe if we could stab the box with a knife, it would sort of hook it and it could be more easily dragged to the top. Michael fashioned his Messer and Mop Masterpiece.

  

  It looked rather unsafe.  But up he went, prepared to do battle.

   

  

  And with a little help from James…

  SUCCESS!!!

  

   

  Don’t come between a Man and his Froot Loops. Ever.

  

   

  • 2:40 pm
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