Climbing out windows….

…and other adventures.

Let me first start with the good things about today:

• Once again,  friends and family members took time out of their busy days to bail me out of a predicament — or two.  Or the same predicament twice…  you decide.
• People at Taylor-Foster Hardware store also went out of their way to help  me and didn’t make me feel incompetent at all!
• I have successfully learned how to use a screw extractor.
• At 59 years old, I am still able to climb out of a window without any injuries.
• I am not allergic to yellow jacket stings, although there is now a yellow-jacket on my hit list.
• Half the “living room” of the RV is painted and redecorated.
• Our loan for the tractor was approved, so we should be proud Kubota owners tomorrow.

So, back to climbing out of windows.

The last time I remember climbing in through or out of a window was at the first house I lived in.  I forgot my house key on a regular basis, and the bathroom window was just big enough for me to get through when there was no-one home.  By the time we moved when I was fourteen, it was becoming a tight fit, but as that window required me climbing up onto the window sill and then climbing in the small window that actually opened above the larger window pane, I felt pretty sure I could climb out of the RV window and step down to the bench below.  I was right, but I shouldn’t have had to do that in the first place.

It all started when I went to let the dog out this morning and the door wouldn’t open.  We had always wondered what the second lock on the RV door was for, and we’d lock it for good measure when we’d leave, but today we (I) found out that when that second lock is locked from outside with the key, it prevents anyone inside from unlocking the latch from inside.  Now, I see no reason for this as it could only possibly be of any help to kidnappers and I don’t see RV manufacturers intentionally aiding and abetting crimes, but the fact was that when hubby left in the morning, he unintentionally locked me in!

My first rescuer was our neighbor who seems to bail us out of something or other every time we are here.  He came over, unlocked the door, and I was free.  That is, I was free for a little while.   Before I sent him a text message and while I was waiting for him to arrive, I decided to remove the plate from the inside of the lock to see if there was anything I could jiggle or spray with WD-40 to get out.   That didn’t work, so I had everything half put back together when he arrived.   Silly me then decided to take it back apart and spray some more WD-40 into it for good luck …. and then I put it back together with the door latch part in the wrong position …. and I stripped the one screw that I put it while doing so.  Once again, I was inside with a dog that needed to go out and a door that didn’t open.

 

Now, asking a neighbor for help when hubby has unintentionally locked me in is very different from asking for help when I have very shortly afterwards unintentionally locked myself in.  (It’s a pride thing!)  I googled ways to remove a stripped screw and nothing that was inside the RV worked.  I decided my best bet was to get down to the shipping container to see if a smaller screw driver or anything else that might work was available.   So, out the window I went.   I don’t remember it being quite as difficult 45+ years ago, but I’m still quite proud that I made it out in one piece!  I came back with a hammer (Bob Villa recommended trying to hammer a screw driver a little deeper into the screw among other things), a crow bar (not practical, but it seemed like a good idea at the time), and a screw driver.   The door opened from the outside, so I let myself in and promptly shut the door again to keep the rain out!   The rain was out, I was in, and the screw wasn’t going anywhere.  I needed a screw extractor — something I’d never used before.

By this time, I’d spoken to hubby a couple of times and he was very much against me repeating my acrobatic out-the-window maneuver.    My second rescuer was my wonderful brother-in-law who stopped by long enough to open the door even though he was already running late to catch a flight.   The dog went out, I went out, and I DID NOT close the door again.  Eventually I got the dog back in (she was a little freaked out by my animated language while trying to get out of the window, especially when the window latch latched itself under the back of my bra strap, leaving me dangling with my toes barely touching the bench below the window) and made my way to Taylor-Foster.

I bought a set of screw drivers to leave in the RV for future emergencies and the screw extractor.   The directions were pretty straight forward and the only real problem I had was getting the extractor to turn once I had it firmly embedded, but finally I was back where I was when my neighbor left almost 3 hours before.    The door opens much easier now, thanks to all the WD-40 I sprayed in there, so I that’s another plus.  I don’t see any new bruises and nothing hurts, so I guess I’m in pretty good shape for someone who’s AARP eligible.  I have a new skill and increased confidence in my abilities.   Finally, despite the late start, I managed to get the portion of painting done that I had planned to do today.

I did forget to say how I know I’m not allergic to yellow jacket stings.  There’s one acting very territorially at the front gate and it stung me on the chin as I was leaving and on the hand when I came back.   As hornet stings give me asthma attacks, I’ll take knowing that my body handles yellow jacket stings as a positive.

It’s supposed to rain again all day tomorrow, but I’ll try to stay out of trouble.   Maybe I just need to sit on the couch a read a good book — or maybe I’ll try to teach the dog to at least appear concerned when there are mouse-like sounds in the cabinet under the sink!   But that’s a story for another day….