The Swing Rises

Readers may remember one of my first posts, back in 2019, called My Life As a Swinger. Peter and I had recently bought a new back yard swing in bright red. We invited an unsuspecting son and his family to have dinner and, by the way, help us assemble the swing. It took 4 university-educated adults an entire day to figure it out.

For years the swing was my summer happy place, where I devoured novels, figured out new blog topics, and snoozed through lazy afternoons. Grandchildren spent many hours rocking back and forth, and telling each other stories. Party guests rushed past the bar and straight to the back yard to get the prime seats – on the swing.

So it was pretty sad when, late last summer, the fabric holding the seat cushions gave way to old age, and dumped two guests on the patio. Nobody was hurt but, without the piece holding the cushions, the swing was useless. I checked on Amazon and it seemed that the part would be pretty easy to replace. So we packed away the cushions and gave up on the seat for the winter.

A couple of weeks ago, when it stopped snowing, I decided it was time to research a replacement part for the swing. Lowe’s, the hardware store where we had purchased the original, had gone out of business. So I looked for the company that made it; Garden Treasures. I was directed online to another website called Sun Swings, operating out of Nevada, USA.

Yes the part was available. It was called a “sling,” and it came in 5 models and 18 sizes, with a warning: “Be absolutely sure to order the correct size, as replacement slings must fit exactly, including cutouts for bolts and various other hardware.” There was even an installation video with a woman wearing a gas mask as she wielded a blow torch. Furthermore the cost for this apparatus was $262.00 US dollars and it had to be delivered to a US address. We almost gave up.

Maybe we could manage with just some extra chairs and footstools. But our back yard wouldn’t be the same without the beloved swing. We thought again. Lowe’s had been sold to Rona. Would Rona know anything about our swing and how to fix it? As if by magic, the mailman arrived, (these days that IS magic) and delivered a Rona sales brochure. And there, on page 7 was Our Swing – the exact one!! And it was on sale for only $400 Canadian dollars!

We tore off our pajamas and rushed to Rona. We found our swing, set up as a floor model. As we stared in amazement, a salesman offered to search through the warehouse to see if he could find a boxed one. We sat contentedly on the floor model, swinging and cheering while he looked. It seemed that Lowe’s had sold off their excess inventory to Rona and, hidden in the very back of the warehouse, there it was.

For only $400 Canadian we bought a whole new swing. The correct sling was already attached to the seat part, along with an extra frame and set of cushions for whatever next disaster we had. This seemed like a very good deal to me. Peter may not have agreed, as he spent a long couple of hours organizing the hardware, figuring out which screws and bolts we needed, finding the right tools and assembling it on his aging knees. But he did it all by himself and we didn’t have to call in the family.

Finally it was assembled. We celebrated with a few swings back and forth, thinking that summer has arrived in our back yard!

So dear readers, the swing is now available for use. Send in your reservation early.

Sue