Workaday
Got back in the saddle this week when Goose helped me install a skylight over there at Applewood. It felt good and right, and I got the highest compliment when Goose said, “You’re as comfortable on this roof as I am on that bridge.”
The work felt risky as the slope is steep and the pebbly surface of the shingles sloughs off and creates ball bearing-like things to ski around on. We looked like a combination of Mutt and Jeff and two of the Three Stooges as we struggled to get the skylight up the ladder and into position on the roof. It would have been far easier had we come up with a plan, but we’d scratched our heads and our chins and under our arms so long that, in frustration, I just grabbed the thing and told Goose to meet at the top of the ladder.
I’d balanced the skylight the wrong way on my shoulder, we were out of position, the ladder was in the way, and after awkward twists and turns it looked more like we were trying to make love to the copper and glass unit than install it. I count the sketchiness of what I’m doing by the number of “oh gods,” Goose utters. This time, there were too many to count.
i think it was in the upper 20s, somewhere around there, absolutely terrifying. Give me a 5.5 no rope solo any day over what we did…. crazy
Comment by goose — August 31, 2008 @ 9:50 am
And the landing after the slip? A barbeque, maybe, to cushion your fall onto the concrete?
Comment by rakkity — August 31, 2008 @ 12:13 pm
Oh my. That coming from Goose? Mom, don’t listen.
Comment by Jen — September 1, 2008 @ 5:52 am
Goose wasn’t afraid of the height or the fall, in fact, he said, “I’d survive, you wouldn’t.”
Comment by michael — September 2, 2008 @ 8:13 am
It’s not the height or the fall to fear. It’s the collision with the ground. And why, exactly, would goose survive and not Michael? Rubber bones?
Comment by rakkity — September 2, 2008 @ 12:39 pm
I’m thinking that Goose would survive his hospitalization but Michael wouldn’t survive Goose’s hospitalization, for reasons which have to do with the current locations of their respective (and respected) mothers.
Another possibility is that Goose figured Michael might do something stupid like try to rescue a slipping skylight while Goose might have more practice climbing, balancing, and choosing what to let go. (I’m the one who tried to catch a 16 ft 8×10″ beam, remember? There’s a moment in which you can’t analyze; you do what your body has practiced. Sorry, I know you-all would rather I was in that non-analytical moment.)
Comment by jennifer — September 2, 2008 @ 10:10 pm
I think he thought it was as simple as who’s more likely to break and into how many pieces. The front side is all concrete and backside is a longer drop and has a/c units upon which to skewer oneself. At one point Goose was pretty convinced he and the skylight were going off the roof.
That practiced body comment did come up when I was showing Goose how to use a table saw. He was pulling a piece of wood through the blade rather than pushing it from the front. I asked,. “What happens when the blade grabs that hunk of wood and pulls it back through the blade.” He didn’t have to answer because we both knew that his hand would go after it.
I like your first paragraph a lot.
Comment by michael — September 2, 2008 @ 11:08 pm