When last we joined the Over-the-hill gang moving furniture, it was planned that they would find a couple young men to do it.
But such was not to be.
A lot went wrong, but not the things we thought would go wrong!
I reminded them about my recent abdominal surgery, and was called just to "supervise", but the moment I stepped outside to go to the car, I knew I would end up working.
(All grandchildren live in other cities.)
That was last Wednesday. I got there last. It seems the 83 year old, whose home it is, gets impatient and always wants to do things now, the 72 year old was going on a transatlantic trip, leaving today, and he was in a hurry now too. I'm the only one without deadlines. I'm
Who was it said with 3 old men we'd spend a lot of time debating how to do it? Sure enough. And there really were questions.
Take the door off the fridge or take the door off the laundry room, to get it out.
Then at the foot of the basement stairs, there was about 3 more feet and then a wall, not enough room for the handtruck and the fridge, even after we took its doors off.
So we lay the fridge on its back and pushed it up the stairs, 8 and 6 at the bottom and 7 ot the top, but he said he couldn't get a grip on it. (I have a big strap at home, but didnt' bring it.)
It was far lighter than the one 40 years ago. Maybe 1/3 to 1/2 the weight. That made all the difference.
The 83 y.o. may have been doing most of the work. I certainly wasn't doing much. But maybe it's really that light and I was doing half. I didn't let my belly tense up, I think, where the hernia might have occurred. Mostly I leaned against and used my weight, not my muscles. It's been 4 days. If I'd hurt myself I'd know by now.
So we got it up and then across an outside stoop and down 4 outside steps to the back patio, and I went down for the handtruck, but 8 followed me and took it from me and was pulling it up and I was at the foot of the stairs when I saw his body and head disappear. Ran up the steps and he had falled back, and was lying on his back at the foot of the steps. Then the handtruck had fallen on him. It took him a whlie to get up. But he did, without my offered help. He said both knees, his elbow, and his back hurt. The knees were hit by the steel handtruck.
Then we used the handtruck and put the fridge in the back of a Nissan Pioneer mini-pickup. We closed the tailgate and had to reopen it and I did that, and the plastic tail gate handle broke while I pulled on it. There was a thick plastic bed liner covering the inside of the bed and tailgate, and the pickup has a cap, so now we couldn't get the fridge out of the truck. 8 said how his grandson had once broken his car door in the same way. Since his grandkids are in their 40's I figured this was 30 years aog when the kid was 10.
We went to 8's new house, pried off the tailgate liner (after unscrewing the two screws holding it in place. First time I used the off-set screwdriver in 20 years. And opened the tailgate.
Used the handtruck at this end too. 8 sent me to his car to get the fridge doors, gave me his keys. Alarm fob unlocked front doors but not back. (Later he told me if I had pushed the button twice, it would have done the back too) So I opened the drivers door and broke the plastic off of that. Only then did I realize it was THIS car that had the broken handle (it had been glued together) He had alrady tied a string around that handle so the door still worked. (and I think they could have used stronger glue.)
Even though 8 doesn't watch tv and 7 doesn't much, we all knew about Patricia Richardson, but otoh, that doesn't happen often. The next day he went to a doctor because of the pain, and he was given a continuous release pain patch, and maybe another prescription.
So a lot went wrong, but not the things we thought would go wrong!