If I added the sound clip from Creedence Clearwater Revival’s ‘It Came out of the Sky,’ Google’s algorithms would likely dish out a stern warning. Three of these and you can forget about blogging and hosting a You Tube channel again. I would never pirate John Fogerty’s music, he was stolen from enough in his earlier days, and I dug his work. Good for Google to protect artist’s rights. Incidentally, I grew up a few blocks from him in California. Living just over the city and county line, he went to El Cerrito High, myself Albany High. He is about six years older, which is a lot when you are young, and I really didn’t discover him like many until 1968. But this has nothing to do with what fell out of the sky.
Last Thursday afternoon, Feb. 20th my son and I heard a loud knock. It seemed like something hitting the roof, but I checked the garage to see if something fell. Nothing. We have a large Honey Locust tree in our backyard. Indigenous, seventy foot canopy, airy, tough as nails. We have it pruned every 2-3 years, and it has bent to all Mother Nature has thrown its way so far. Only once it deposited an attention getting branch on our roof. So I donned winter gear and before I could cast my eyes at the gray shingles above, the object in the image below sat in the snow alongside our patio. I picked it up, put it on our covered grill, and went inside to grab a tape measure.
Something like this could deal a little insecurity to a guy. Er, I mean if I was in the wrong place at the wrong time, I could be a victim of a deadly game of DOGE ball where one less de-icer puts me on ice. Yeah, I’m thinking aircraft, likely from the frame…but did I just maybe handle something that was discharged from the facilities inside a jetliner? Yuk! Hardly an icicle was to be seen looking around anyone’s house, so all evidence points upwards. What about our roof? I grabbed a pair of binoculars and scoured the entire expanse of our split level and found no blemishes.
Still, something could show up later in the form of destructive leaks so I deposited the evidence in a freezer bag and tossed it in the freezer compartment, hopefully not mistaking it for a jumbo Frosty Pop one late intoxicated evening. With a large homeowner’s deductible in place to help offset rising premiums, (thanks to those who dwell in paradise…until it’s burned or flooded), we could potentially be out some coin. So I called a regional office of the FAA just to flag the event, and miraculously got the correct building. The cooperative gentleman told me I do indeed have the correct location that could investigate the incident, but I would have to call a person in Fort Worth to help me. So we shall see…
