song du jour: Rocket Man, Elton John

mood: the tail end of another cold (yuck!)

Yesterday, I Rescued a Flying Saucer from my Roof

I'm not kidding. That was after I got it out of a tree, which was before I rescued a Spiderman air pump plane from the side street. For this I was declared a HERO!

Necessity is the mother of invention? No, the mother invents whatever is needed to deal with whatever situation arises. When I was miserably pregnant and dreaming of the day I would play with my child, I had no idea it would involve learning so much about aeronautics. Spiderman was easy, just a trip through the gate and to the curb. (So what if, once again, my neighbors saw me out on the sidewalk in my jammies?)

The saucer in the tree required my using a 25' bamboo pole retrieved from my neighbor's yard clippings and set aside (left on my deck since last September) for the fence I will one day build around my back garden. I'm sure watching a 5' 0" woman navigating a giant stick 5 times her size and yelling at an under 4 footer to stay out of the way was utterly charming to behold. The pole just reached the tips of the branches that held a propeller driven piece of Styrofoam that would have left Da Vinci knowing he was dead on about lift. When it went up on the roof, I figured this present had a 2 day life span. I asked the pilot a number of questions concerning its final moments.

We went back thru the house and out the front. I was hoping to see it in the yard, but there was nothing in site.

"I have an idea! But you'll have to be really really quiet. We have to wait until the traffic dies down."

"What are you going to do?"

"Listen for it"

"What?"

"Listen for it. I'll hit the remote control and see if I can hear the motor."

"Can you hear it?"

"No, there are too many cars."

"What?"

"Ok, shh!"

"Can you hear it? Can you hear it" Can you hear it?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"You're asking me questions."

"Oh...Can you hear it now?"

"SHHHHH! Listen!"

[a faint whrrrrrrr]

"It's on the side! Let's go back around!"

"Do I have to take my shoes off to walk thru the house again?

"YES!"

(sigh)

The spacecraft in question was perched diagonally on its back just at the edge of one of the gables. (It's a helluva roof.) By flicking the motor on and off in short bursts, it began to rock then slowly roll off the roof at which point MASA (Mom's Aeronautics and Space Administration) emergency back up crew hit the control and brought the spacecraft to a graceful one point landing. Today, I noticed mission control opted to fly the saucer in the dining room.

- For Al, who told me he needed more material through which to live vicariously. ;-)