It was a bright glorious sunny Iowa day and we had all gathered at the State Capitol for the annual Heart Association Walk. We used to do lots of walks when we lived in Des Moines and were attuned to what was going on. However, as we travel, we can’t find out about walks very easily and miss them. Today, we had heard on the evening news about the heart walk and decided to join it. We were going to walk today anyway, why not walk for a good cause?
The walk was at the Capitol and we were going to walk down one street about 2 miles and up another back to the Capitol.
As we drew closer to the site, we could see people streaming in, lots of families, lots of company groups in their matching t-shirts and lots of individuals and couples. The excitement and energy are palpable. Everyone is milling around, eating, talking, visiting the booths and enjoying the wonderful weather. They had dummies on the sidewalks there to practice CPR, the announcer was leading us all in stretching exercises and the emcee was giving his spiel. Finally it was time and we were off, all of us. The group must have spread down 5 or 6 blocks.
We enjoy the walks immensely but then we see something like this and it really strikes home why we are walking. There were many groups walking for someone in particular but this person was only 15 years old when he died. It just tears at my heart. We then realize that we are not just two out for a walk in the park but part of a much larger undertaking.
When we were all done, there were sandwiches, yogurt, bananas, ice cream, and other things to eat while the band played.
When we got home, we shut the garage door. Later, Gary went out to do some yard work, opened the garage door, heard some grinding, some popping and finally a cable snapped and the door ground to a halt, half way up. Oops. See that cable - looks pretty loose, doesn’t it. Not looking good.
Now, let me explain something about the garage doors in our development - they weigh about 400 lbs. Not possible you say. Not practical either. However, because our development was supposed to have ’style’ the builder put wooden boards all over the doors in a pattern to match the siding. That’s why each section of the 4 sections weighs about 100 lbs - they are covered with wood.
The car is inside, it is Saturday, we can’t lift the door nor can we get it down. Now what? Well, my Gary is not just a stud muffin, he’s pretty ingenious.
We were able to raise it enough to get the car out by using the motor. Luckily, because we tried lifting it and got nowhere. 400 lbs. is 400 lbs. is 400 lbs. However, when we began to lower it, the cable wrapped around the bar held it tight at about shoulder level. Gary started thinking - I could see the cogs turning. Here’s the scheme.
First he had to disconnect the cables from the door so the door would ride freely down the track to the bottom. This done, he cut 2 2x4’s long enough to hold the garage door up when wedged in at either end. You can see these in the picture above. Then he unhooked the cable. Now the door, all 400 lbs, is riding freely and held up by the 2x4”s. Then he pulled the one on the right side and cut it 5” shorter than the one still holding the door on the left side. We then wedged the shorter one on the right hand side, pulled out the one on the left hand side and, using all the strength he had, he lowered it slowly to the shorter 2x4. He then cut this one about 10” shorter and we wedged it into the left hand side, pulled the one on the right hand side and lowered the door to the new level. OK, 10” and we’ve spent 30 minutes doing it. Looks like a long night. Slowly but surely he cut new ones, put them in and pulled the longer ones and we were able to lower the door about 5” with each new board.
At 2’ from the bottom, it got more difficult to use our strength to lower the door 5” and he had to rig up a lever system using the cut pieces of the 2x4’s. Precarious it definitely was but it it failed and the door fell, it had only 2 feet to go. 3 more cuts of the 2x4’s and we had the garage door down. Whew.
Of course it is Saturday night so we’ll have to wait until Monday to call to get it fixed but at least he car is out.
Now, it’s 7:30 and time for dinner.
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