The Case of the Broken Backyard Umbrella

Recently, Rich and I visited my parents and cooked dinner. (Our menu should be a different post.) While looking at the newly landscaped backyard; however, Rich noticed that the umbrella over the table appeared to have taken on that "broken-dandelion-stem" look. It was, in fact, quite windy that day, and the wind gusts cracked the mechanism that allows the umbrella to "tilt" to the side. Knowing that my mother would be upset, Rich brought the matter to my attention by saying, "Hey, is that a backyard umbrella, or did your parents get a satellite dish?" We managed (after 20 minutes) to disassemble the umbrella from it's post and the table so that it could be removed before my mother spotted the "dangling dandilion." We hoped this would help ease the "breaking news"; but, alas, my mother was still mourning her loss when we left on Sunday morning. They've posted another version of the story on their blog (http://papasasa.blogspot.com) if you'd like to compare stories.