Interesting day

It's not even noon, and I've had a grand adventure already.

It snowed an inch or two last night, and coupled with our overnight freezing weather, everything is a sheet of ice today. When I tried to open my front door to admire the view, I only could get it open a fraction of an inch. My doorsill, a splendid piece of oak, had swelled up and was preventing my door from moving any further. I hauled and I tugged, bruising a finger in the process, but the door would not budge.

Well, panic almost set in. It's wonderful to be snug and warm indoors, but just knowing that I could not exit my house was not a good feeling. I was supposed to go into town for an appointment, but that looked like it wasn't going to happen if I couldn't get out the door.

I finally called the fire department to have someone come put a knee to the door, as I knew it could be pushed open from the outside. They sent over my mobile home park manager, who is one of the fire fighters. He got the door open, but didn't bring tools with him (which I had requested) to remove the troublesome door sill (which has been sticking a bit for a while--I didn't want to deal with it anymore this winter).

I decided to do it myself.

Bad decision. My grip strength isn't what it used to be, although I have Phillips screwdrivers galore. I worked on the screws until my hands ached. Some of them were willing to move, reluctantly, but one refused to accommodate me at all. Now my problem had progressed from not being able to open to door, to not being able to close it. You see, when I loosened the middle screws, the sill bowed upward. I hadn't been able to remove the screws entirely, and I knew I was at the point of stripping some of the heads out.

I found my electric drill. Well, make that my battery-powered-drill-on-which-the-battery-had-run-down. I plugged it in. I plugged in the battery for my "pivot driver." I waited, reading a Whitney book in the meantime.

I tried the electric drill with a Phillips bit. No help there. The bit wouldn't bite. ARGH!

I called someone in my branch, but he was not home. I called another member. Not home either. I called and cancelled my appointment. Finally I found the card of a local handyman. I got his answering machine, but wonder of wonders, his voice broke in, panting and out of breath, having run up a 100-yard hill to get the phone.

Although his hill is a sheet of ice and he would not get his truck back up if he once got it down the incline, he agreed to walk over and see if he could help me. He arrived about 20 minutes later with two darling little dogs towing him along.

We decided that the best remedy was, indeed, to remove the sill, and he had it off in short order, although he had to break it apart in the process. Not a problem to me. Not at all!

I am so grateful to a very handy man, especially since he refused any payment!