MacGyver Lives

MacGyver was a popular TV show in the 80's where the lead character used his wits instead of violence to outwit bad guys. Able to build a telescope from a toothpick and gum or create a car bomb from a Tickle Me Elmo doll, MacGyver had the moves.

Blair likes to fashion himself a modern day MacGyver. We have a joke that stems from when we first moved into our home, twelve years ago.  The drainpipes outside needed cleaning, so Blair took some nylon scrubbies and hung them on a fishing wire which he weighted. The idea being he would cast the line down the drainpipe, the weights carrying it to the bottom, and all the internal debris would be wiped clean by the scrubbies that were pulled through the pipes. His face was positively glowing as he showed me his invention. "You are a total MacGyver," I told him.

Two hours later he reentered the house, looking as if he'd been in a cat fight. His hair was mussed, his arms scraped and bruised, dried blood on his hands... "What happened?" I exclaimed.

Turns out the scrubbies got caught on metal pieces inside the pipe, thereby completing a complete block of the pipes, and Blair spent the better part of the day tussling, cursing, and struggling to remove them. A sad day for him, but one that worked in my favor. Now whenever he wants to try something weird around the house I just have to say, "Scrubbies," and it usually silences him.

But I acquiesced the other night when he started building a barricade across the wooden blinds in our bedroom. Olivia has taken to climbing on top of a wooden chest we have under the window and banging on the blinds at 4 AM--her signal for us to get up and feed her. It really is disrupting to our sleep patterns so Blair decided to train her to stop.

To that end, MacGyver-Harris used posterboard, Sticky Paws double-sided tape, and wire hangers to hang this contraption in front of our windows that, at least last night, worked. Basically, there is sticky tape in Olivia's reach so if she reaches up to bang the blinds, she's not going to like that. Hopefully we'll train her to keep away and then we can remove the...thing....from our windows. (Invention isn't always pretty...)

Even if it works, I'm still holding on to my upper hand. I will never, EVER  give up the catch-phrase, "Scrubbies."