Are These Heavy?

your Barista Paul
Welcome to Willow’s weekly coffee and tea garden. My name is Paul; I’ll be your barista today. I’m happy to see you have come for a cuppa and a chat. Please come into the garden and make yourself comfortable. Willow fluffed the cushions on the chairs and set the tables in the garden so we can have a cuppa and chat as we soak up the sun and enjoy the beautiful plants. As usual, I’d be pleased to bring a pot of whatever beverage you prefer – we have a wide range of teas and coffees to satisfy our world-wide readership. Also available is a large selection of spirits for addition to your cuppa or in its place. We can relax amongst the flowers while we discuss the affairs of the week both personal and/or worldwide. How has your week been?
It’s great to be back here at Willow’s this week. Mark and his family were wonderful hosts whilst Willow was touring the Rhine. So, personally it has been a relatively uneventful week this week. My bed is quite low to the floor and I was having a hard time getting out of it in the morning as my knees don’t work as they used to. I was looking around trying to find a way to raise the bed up 6 or 8 inches – not only for ease of egress but also to allow more storage underneath.
So, I took my handicap bus to Home Depot – for our continental readers, this is a huge building supply chain in North America whose stores each cover acres. You could easily build a house inside the store and never have to go out to get anything.
I wandered around the store for over an hour looking for blocking or anything that could be inexpensively repurposed to raise the bed. I had checked out concrete blocks on-line before going, so I visited them out in the building supply yard. Whew, they were a lot bigger in person than they were on the screen. At almost 50 pounds each, they were heavy. I checked out the lumber dept but I have few tools and lumber was only sold by the 8, 10 or 12 foot sections. Besides the planks were quite expensive.
Would you like another cuppa? Perhaps a sweet? In the end I found myself back at the concrete blocks – at only $3 each, definitely the best option financially, but the weight. I had a shopping cart and it groaned when I put the first block in – in hindsight I should have gotten one of the big platform dollies they have for heavy supplies. I shifted the block to the back of the cart closest to the handle and over the bigger wheels. Then I loaded in 3 more blocks as the cart sagged lower after each addition. Making my way through the store to the checkout was an adventure as the heavy cart wanted to go in straight lines only. I paid the bill and pushed my blocks out front to wait for my ride. I must confess I was concerned that the driver might object to 200 pounds of concrete blocks. I have seen the unionized drivers complain about too many bags of groceries, let alone building supplies.

Honkin’ Big Home Depot Stores Bed lifters x4
I was thinking up all sorts of approaches to convince the driver how important these blocks were when a taxi pulled up. More often than not, the handicap service uses their own busses but sometimes they farm out work to taxis – no cost to the users. Hmmm, interesting development. I waved him down (they put a “PARA-Transpo” sign on the side of the car when on handicap service) and he backed up to my cart, popping the trunk.
I greeted the driver and he looked hesitant, asking: “I hope these aren’t too heavy?” Ha! I assured him they were not heavy at all as I swung one into the trunk. He grabbed a second one with one hand and couldn’t move it until he adjusted his grip and used both hands. He let out a grunt as he lowered it into the trunk. I had the other two aboard before he could straighten up. I just smiled at him and walked around to the front seat. He dropped me and my concrete blocks off at the back door to my apartment so I wouldn’t have to lug the blocks all the way through the building. The wooden steps up to my back deck are not the sturdiest and I was a bit concerned about having my own weight plus the blocks on one step. So I moved them up a few steps at a time as I stood below. In short order I had them in my room and under the legs of my bed. They work perfect. When I sit on the edge of the bed now, my legs hang straight down and my feet are flat on the floor. Time for a cup of coffee.
On that note, that’s about all we have room for this week, so it’s time to settle in with another cuppa and enjoy the garden. Sweets anyone? Please join me in thanking Willow for her invitation to tea. We are all honored that you dropped by today to visit. I hope you’ve enjoyed yourself and the conversation and please look around at Willow’s other posts while you’re here. Willow is over there serving her guests and chatting it up. Let’s go see how she is today. Have a great week. We look forward to seeing you back here for sweets and beverages of your choice again next week.
If we were having Coffee Original idea from http://parttimemonster.wordpress.com/
And of course the
IF WE WERE HAVING COFFEE: WEEKEND COFFEE SHARE
over at Part Time Monster and Gene’O’s
Jul 18, 2015 @ 20:35:55
Thank you very much for the opportunity to guest post Willow. I hope all is well with you and yours. I trust you are getting used to waking up in the same city as you went to bed. Ha!
Jul 18, 2015 @ 20:41:49
Yes sadly I soon got back to the normal way of things!! Thank you Paul for another great post….. a bed raising tale!!
Jul 18, 2015 @ 20:57:44
Be careful. You don’t want that bed slipping off those things. Could be quite the jolt. 😉
Jul 18, 2015 @ 21:06:13
It could couldn’t it!!
Jul 18, 2015 @ 21:30:24
Ha! They’re big Victo – 8″ X 8″ X 16″ each – I’ll keep the bed gymnastics to a minimum. Ha! Thanks so much for dropping by for a read and a comment. Great to see you.
Jul 19, 2015 @ 12:28:56
😉
Jul 19, 2015 @ 16:14:28
When I was single and poor, I lived in a third-floor apartment and I made an entire bookcase out of those cement blocks and gold-painted wood planks. I think the darn thing was something like 8 feet long and 5 feet high. It never occurred to me that the might be too heavy for the floor – fortunately, it never collapsed. I loved that bookcase better than any “real” bookcases I’ve had since!
Jul 19, 2015 @ 17:35:04
Oh! my!!
Jul 19, 2015 @ 21:58:40
Hi CM! Thanks so much for dropping by. Yep, I remember having similar bookcases when i was in university as well. Super strong. Ha! Oh my, memories – it is entirely possible that is why I thought about the blocks when I needed a bed raiser.
Jul 19, 2015 @ 22:34:53
I actually thought about doing that in my own house when we first moved in. But hubby made me buy real bookcases.
Jul 19, 2015 @ 22:38:06
🙂
Jul 19, 2015 @ 20:51:17
Oh, those concrete blocks….My husband and I were just talking yesterday about how those blocks and lumber made up most of the bookcases we had in college. Hope they work as you need them to for the bed!
Jul 19, 2015 @ 21:33:36
another conrete and wood bookcase…. I see a pattern emerging!!
Jul 19, 2015 @ 22:02:15
Hi Diana! Great to see you here. Thanks so much for dropping by with a comment. Yep, they were common constructs when we were young. The bed is very stable – my guess is the blocks will outlast the building. 😀
Jul 19, 2015 @ 21:31:49
I’d say the taxi driver is still shaking his head after that trip!
Delighted that you found a way round both him and the initial problem. Certainly shows ingenuity!
Jul 19, 2015 @ 22:02:20
He is a clever man Jean!!
Jul 20, 2015 @ 06:02:01
That’s getting more and more obvious!
Jul 20, 2015 @ 08:21:48
🙂
Jul 19, 2015 @ 22:10:31
Hi Jean! I am honored that you dropped by and left a comment. Yep, the taxi driver seemed a bit puzzled – Ha! I just pretended that this was “normal” – Who me? Sure, just me and my blocks. What, you’ve never seen us travel together before? Ha!
Thanks for the compliment and the visit. 😀
Jul 20, 2015 @ 06:03:53
I’d say he’s been dining out on the story since and warning his mates about man and blocks!
Jul 20, 2015 @ 08:21:18
Yes that sounds just about right. 😉
Jul 20, 2015 @ 13:18:03
Ha! He’s probably asking around to see if anyone else has seen the nut and his concrete blocks. ha!! Block-head they call me. Ha!!
Jul 20, 2015 @ 14:55:02
🙂
Jul 22, 2015 @ 01:45:20
Good story Paul, i hope you laid the bricks sideways and not vertically. Don’t want to have any surprises in the middle of the night! 😉
Jul 22, 2015 @ 04:26:38
🙂
Jul 22, 2015 @ 04:34:18
Ha! 1EU! Thanks for dropping by – it is an honor. I looked at setting the blocks on end – unfortunately I would need a ladder to get into bed – Ha! Their length makes them very stable when laid flat – if perhaps a bit of a hazard to the toes of the unwary. 😀
Jul 22, 2015 @ 21:25:02
That’s good to hear Paul, lol. Storage is an added bonus. 🙂
Jul 23, 2015 @ 12:47:27
🙂