Why can't I be more like MacGyver?

Yesterday, we went to the school play ground for Family Home Evening. It was a cool evening and we had the playground to ourselves most of the time. When we came home the garage door would not open and I, of course, didn't bring my keys, or my phone. My kids looked at me like I was the village idiot. Hey! The garage door always opens! I didn't know.

CC and I punched in the code over and over, but alas, we were locked out. Raspberry cried and tried to bang down the garage door. I considered all the possibilities and costs of breaking in to my own house. CC looked at me and said, "Mom, we really need to put a key somewhere outside of the house." Yes. Thank you. I got that.



As we sat on the porch in the dark and I contemplated broken windows, I suddenly wished I was MacGyver. MacGyver was my 80's hero. If I was more like MacGyver, I could have opened the door with a paper clip, some chewing gum and some wire thing from CC's bike. When MacGyver was locked in a room he saw the key in the other side of the locked door. He took out a map, unfurled it and stuck it under the door. He then pushed the key out of the lock using his Swiss Army knife, which landed on the map. He then pulled the map back under the door, thereby getting the key to unlock him from the room. A true genius!


He also saved people from buildings: To help rescue a group of people trapped in a building, he ties a fire hose shut, places it under a girder in the way, and turns on the water. Using the water pressure to lift the girder, he pushes it out of the way.

He stopped acid leaks: MacGyver plugs a sulfuric acid leak with chocolate. He states that chocolate contains lactose and sucrose (chemically C₁₂H₂₂O₁₁), which are disaccharides. The acid reacts with the sugars to form elemental carbon and a thick gummy residue.


AND he could deal with insects: As a way to hold off killer ants for awhile, MacGyver makes a flamethrower out of a hose, pipe, and tank of gasoline. He also uses some "kitchen ingredients" as a fuel-thickener to prevent the contraption from simply exploding. (The vagueness about the "kitchen ingredients" prevented potentially dangerous recreations of the stunts by younger viewers.) See, not only smart, but also in tune to possible dangers for children. Moms love that.

What a guy.

We eventually got back in through the garage door. The one thing I know that MacGyver didn't, is that a garage door opener is like a PC. It will freeze when it doesn't like what you are doing to it, (for example, having your 5 year old pushing down all the buttons at the same time), but if you wait it out, and be patient, it will boot back up and let you in.

oh, and just in case it doesn't, have a nice neighbor nearby with a lock pick. That will work too.