Fran the Fan, who is a very important contributor to our quality of life, recently became a little less efficient and a whole lot louder. In the absence of a ladder, we put our heads together, and came up with a resourceful solution. (Actually, there were two solutions; this is the second. The first one, which hypothetically might have involved a rope and the second-floor railing, ended before it began, so there are no pictures.)
Dave disected the fan and applied WD40 while Paul read a book, Chris shielded Paul's head from falling debris, and Adam hung on to Dave for all he was worth. Meanwhile, Mindy took pictures, handed tools, and said, "Please don't drop him." and "You guys are out of your minds." While we are pretty sure we did not actually fix the problem, Fran at least acknowledged the effort and the TLC and has given us no problems since.