Reach for the sky

For a long time, we had no way to climb on the roof or get up high enough to, say, fix the antenna. (Yes, we still watch TV off an antenna and not cable or satellite.) We'd sometimes back a vehicle up to the house, and Danny or someone would scramble as best they could up on the roof to do whatever work they needed to do. If it was too high, they'd put something like a chair in the vehicle (usually it was a pickup truck), and climb from that. Not a very safe way to do home improvements, eh?

Yes, we understood about ladder safety. Yes, we understood that what we were doing could cause injury. One of the little giant ladders would have been perfect because of their versatility. But what do you do if you don't have a ladder?

We looked at places like Lowes and other home improvement or hardware stores. We were suprised by how expensive ladders can be! We had an old wooden stepladder for awhile, but it finally gave out so it was dangerous for sure.

Then, one day, Danny came home with a big extension ladder in his pickup. Where did he get it? It was on the shoulder of the highway on the interstate! lol He saw it, went to the next exit, made a loop and came back 'round to where it was, picked it up, and brought it home. One of the "feet" was mangled pretty badly, but otherwise it was in good shape. Amazing for an aluminum ladder that had obviously fallen off someone's work truck. I was even more amazed that the owner hadn't gone back after it himself. But maybe he didn't notice the loss until much later?

But you also have to know Danny. See, he had a sort of radar about things alongside the road. He's brought home chains, binders, a truck tire still mounted on the rim, wrenches, tools of all kinds...well, just about anything you can think of and some you can't, like the copy of the Torah he found once. It's to where now I don't even know anymore what he bought and what he just found someplace!