Is the bad weather finally over?

I fixed my cock today. I'm talking about the weathercock or weather-vane, as it is also called. During the last storm it was blown off the birdhouse where it is located. Today was finally a wind-still day and I didn't have to worry about getting blown off the ladder.

It wasn't as simple as just putting it back again. When I built it a few years ago, I used materials at hand. For the stem in the middle that lets the wind-indicator in the form of a rooster turn, I used a piece of pipe from an electric fixture. In fact, I used a lot of electrical hardware. Well, the threaded end of the pipe that held it in place at the bottom had broken off. Now the stem was wobbly. I had to replace it with another piece of pipe left over from that same electrical fixture. A good thing I don't throw things away. I managed to fix it and it will last for many years...I hope. Everything is quite solid now and should withstand winds of hurricane force, which I hope we never get.

The problem now was getting everything back on top of the bird house. That birdhouse is over ten feet above ground. I have only an eight foot ladder and that is to the top step that is not a step. I put the ladder on top of a couple of saw horses I actually built for that purpose when I was still working to make the ladder higher. It still wasn't high enough to make it safe. I'm not as agile as I used to be and a bit more afraid of heights now. I fell off the ladder too many times and I have an injured back to live with now. My wife held the ladder in place to steady it and I hung on for dear life to the post that supports the birdhouse. I managed to put the part with the pipe back on and screwed it in place while stretching my body to its limits.

The biggest problem was to slide that weathercock over the pipe. I couldn't reach it. But I finally used a two dollar gadget I bought a few years back at Dollarama. A grabber. It was long and strong enough to hold the rooster and I could lift it high enough to slide the larger pipe attached to the rooster over the thinner pipe at the bottom. Voila...job was done. The weather-vane is back in business letting me know from which the direction the wind blows.

Now I have to steady my wobbly legs, which will take me all evening to achieve. I'm sure glad I don't have to climb that ladder anymore, like I used to have to do every day sometimes. It is good to be retired.

Blow winds blow. I don't care right now.