I"m at my parents' house. My friend has decided to rappel off the roof, though he has little experience in rappelling. As I arrive, he's already made it from the roof to the ground, and he asks me to check his setup.

He took a strange two-pitch route, down the back by the kitchen, and then down another pitch around by the garage. I think it would have been easier to just go down the high wall by my parents' room. I check one anchor, and it is to a small rhododendron. I mention to him that I wouldn't have used this, but he survived, so what the heck.

Then I go up onto the top of the house. There's another way, out the window and along the roof, but I don't know the route, so I follow my dog up a ladder in the attic.

Another anchor is around a chimney, and the loop is tied in a strange knot that is like a figure-8, but I can't make sense of it. It's strange that it's tied there, where it doesn't need a knot at all. I'm going to rappel down this one, across the front where I thought the rappel should be, but I think I'd better untie so that I can get my rope down, though I worry about the rope getting caught up in the rough chimney.