I have an almost-whole-house generator, so this is a minor issue, except that the garage door opener is not on one of the circuits the generator feeds.

The garage door has a set of rails, and a gadget that rides on those rails. They call the part that rides the rails a trolley, because the marketing folks vetoed calling it a "hobo" or a "bum".

The trolley has a pull string that disengages the door from the opener, so you can open and close it manually.

Well, it turns out that the rope is made of a material that rots. I gave it a yank and the rope dissolved into wisps of dust and memories.

When the weather got nicer, I climbed up a ladder to replace the rope.

That was the plan.

It was a good plan.

I liked that plan.

The garage door opener had other plans.

I started by disconnecting the lever that attaches the trolley to the door. This is two screws that hold a small chunk of steel rod that the lever rotates around.

When you loosen the second retaining screw, the lever will suddenly remember the laws of gravity.

Now, laws about speed limits on the Interstate are more like advisories. Nobody pays much attention to them. But the Law of Gravity is serious and everything pays attention to it.

There's also a law of cause, effect, actions and consequences that states that if there's a small part held in by two screws a couple feet over your head, and you loosen the second screw, it will absolutely come loose and fall.

Now, when we think of bouncing, we think of rubber balls, not little chunks of steel.

We lack imagination. The rod bounced and scattered and was nowhere to be found.

But, first things first, I'd work on the trolley and get the new rope attached, then worry about the half-inch of rod.

Many profanities later, I'd managed to dis-engage the trolley from the chain, just like it's designed to behave when you have a rope to pull.

According to the documentation, if you push the slider again, the trolley will re-engage with the chain.

That was the plan. And we know where plans get us.

I pushed, pulled, prodded, removed more screws. I couldn't get a new rope into the thing, and I couldn't even make the trolley re-engage itself to the chain. I finally gave up, replaced the screws I'd removed and looked online to see if I could order a replacement trolley.

Curiously enough, the most commonly replaced part on this model garage door opener is the trolley. They come with a new rope attached.

But, connecting the trolley to the lever that attaches to the door required that little chunk of steel last seen bouncing into oblivion.

That's OK. I know the trick for finding little lost parts: you get a broom and clean the garage and the part will show up in the pile of leaves and muck.

That was the plan. ibid.

After a lot of sweeping and no finding, I gave up. That part will appear someday when I don't need it and it can be in the way.

I did some digging through my scrap bins and found some correct diameter aluminum rod. Aluminum isn't as durable as stainless steel, but it's good enough for the few days I expect to wait until the new trolley arrives.

I deliberately cut a slightly too large chunk of rod. I've got a nice little grinder in my basement workshop and it's easier to grind something down to size than try to make it longer.

After several runs up the ladder to test, then down the basement to grind, I managed to re-assemble the garage door opener. Everything is perfect except that the trolley won't re-engage the chain, so the garage door won't open or close.

One engineer's mantra is that if it ain't working, you can't break it. Worst case, I'd break the trolley beyond repair, but I already have a replacement on order, so...

I gently applied excessive force to the slider with screwdriver and hammer until I forced it back into position to engage the chain.

A couple hours later, everything was back like it was when I started except that the trolley pin is now aluminum instead of stainless steel.

Finally, time to finish cleanup. There's this pile of leaves and dirt on the garage floor to get rid of. And, there, on top of a leaf, gleaming in the afternoon sun, sat the errant trolley pin. Bright and shiny and completely innocent, now that it's job was done and it had caused as much annoyance as possible.

One extra outcome from this exercise is that I now know more (than I wanted) about the garage door opener, and after applying a little excessive force on the other garage door, that one is now working properly for the first time in a half-dozen years.