If We Were Having Coffee – July 19/2015 : Guest Post

Are These Heavy?

Working with concrete blocks requires a tea break

 

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.

Home Depot

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.

 

stickers

 

 

 

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

Coffee Maker that Uses Hand Print Recognition to Make the Perfect Cup for Each Person