Last summer my wife and I decided to buy our kids a swing set. We wanted one of those indestructible plastic/rubber swing sets with a slide. Then we began researching how much they cost. I had no idea a basic swing set cost over $500 and that’s for something very basic. It’s even possible to spend several thousand dollars on a large wooden set that includes professional installation. Suddenly, I didn’t really want a swing set for my kids anymore.
But after a few weeks of checking Craigslist we found the swing set we wanted and it was less than $200! I called the lady and told her I would be right over. When I got there I saw the swing set, fully assembled sitting in her yard. I have no idea why I thought it would already be disassembled, but I was wrong.
I had to ask the lady for some tools just to take it apart. When I unscrewed the top piece of the swingset I also unleashed a hellish fury of bees. I took me an hour and one can of Raid to disassemble the swing set. I also had four of five bee stings that I planned to show my wife for some sympathy points after I got home.
I dragged the pieces of this swing set from the back yard up to my SUV. The inside of my SUV held about 25% of the swing set pieces, the rest would have to go on top. As I started piling pieces of the swing set on the top of my SUV, people from all over the neighborhood came out to watch my plan in disbelief. One girl even asked if she should record me driving off so she could put it on You Tube.
I was five miles from home and only able to drive 15 miles an hour to get there. I did eventually make it home, at sunset.
In the dark, drinking beer, with my wife reading assembly instructions off the internet, I finally got that damn swing set put together.
I’m now starting to see why new swing sets come with professional installation.
-Pete
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