I didn't think I would be alone in this, but it is good to have it confirmed. Thanks Bill.
As I suspected, this is now going to become legend. My daughter told one of her friends and her suggestion was to write down the details and retell the story at my 70th birthday. (That is still many years off, hence the suggestion to write down the details). Everyone in our neighborhood now knows about the misadventure because one of the strategies my wife employed was to call our friends who have houses in the Arrowhead area to see if they could come and rescue me. None of them were close enough to help, but they now all know the story so I won't be able to avoid it.