all in a day's work...

So, I'm at home trying to rest so I can get over from my cold I get each month (grr!!!, but beside the point), and suddenly, there's a knock on the door...

My neighbor pieces together phrases, "left a message with maintenance (sarcasm)," "can't get in to my apartment," "door won't open," "waiting out here since 4:30 (it was 5:30)," "you're the only neighbor who answered the door," "ladder?"

Hmm... LauraGuyver to the rescue!!!

So I dragged out my handy "tools"

and decided to scale this:

When I got to the first ledge, I realized I was still too weak to haul myself up there, so the box really came in handy to give me an extra boost...Once I got up there, I informed my dear neighbor that she locked one side of the window, but not the other (she usually leaves it unlocked). I also told her that it was already cracked in a couple places. She encouraged me to break the window after I pried off the screen with one of her garden tools... I made sure she wasn't going to make ME pay for it before I went for it... notice that these windows were REALLY old -- before "safety glass" that just shatters...I unlocked the locked side and slid the window open and climbed in. This is a shot from the inside looking at the balcony. I had to climb over a TV cart and into a very cluttered apartment.

Here's my very happy and relieved and promises-not-to-sue-me-for-breaking-and-entering neighbor, back in her home!How did this happen, you might ask?

Well, when I unbolted her dead bolt, I noticed how EASY it was to turn -- unlike our door which you have to get some hip action into in order to close properly. Notice the table right by her door? Well, her cats like to play with the things on the door, and with just a flick of the paw were able to deadbolt my dear neighbor out of her own home!

All in a day's work...