Flight of the Trampoline

When it got light, (before we knew about the puddling corners), I looked out the kitchen window and noticed a big blank spot where the trampoline is supposed to be.

It has never moved before in a storm--now it was gone.

It took a few minutes to find it--about 100 yards away, in the storm-water retention pit! The place where we go sledding in the winter.

(I'm standing at the top of the sledding hill for this picture).

The amazing thing is, it seemed to have fallen from the sky, landing in the soft mud and ankle-deep water; the cattails around it were not damaged. It probably picked up and flew like a UFO over the tree tops.


It must have done a somersault somewhere along the way because grass is shoved into the top of one of the poles, but it landed upright. A number of springs were lost, but it is in reasonable shape. We had just written it off, having viewed a couple of other trampolines rolled into an unrecognizable shape in our neighborhood.

On Saturday afternoon, Alice reported she saw someone jumping on it! We had thought we’d have to bring it back in pieces, and I was planning on how to landscape the bare spot it had lived on, but it is still useable. The boys were happy to help us carry it up the steep hill and across the meadow to our house. They had enjoyed jumping on it down amongst the cattails--they had made a pathway to it, then smashed down the cattails underneath it, found as many springs as possible and played for about 3 hours. They were 8th graders, so strong enough to truly be of help. And now it is back in its spot.