Geraldine "Gerry" Palmer, a week shy of 90, at her Durango Colo., home Monday Feb. 11, 2008, holds the ax that she used earlier in the week to break the glass of her sliding door. On Saturday, she went onto her snow-covered patio, but the door locked behind her, forcing her to use the ax to escape the cold and snow.(AP Photo/The Durango Herald,Jerry McBride)
DURANGO, Colo. " Accidentally locked out of her home and stuck in the bitter cold, Geraldine "Gerry" Palmer took matters into her own hands.
An ax, to be more specific.
Palmer, who turns 90 this weekend, said a sliding glass door locked behind her Saturday after she went outside to rearrange some things that had gotten wet on the patio. Snow had formed a pile about 7 feet high between her and the yard, so she had no escape.
So Palmer picked up an old ax she had once used to chop wood and broke into her own home.
"I had to bang the glass four times with the ax before it broke," she said.
After smashing the glass in the sliding patio door, she reached inside and unlock it.