Look it, look it.  Conex one of two for the house has arrived.  One half of the house is visibly sitting at Boxes in Fields.  This is not to be confused with the Halfway House as in a previous post.  This is just half of the total house.  Having been purchased many many months ago, the two Conex boxes have been sitting in storage at the Doubter property.  At the end of February, the Doubter is retiring and moving to do fun things for a change.  And for all those people (Boxes in Fields included) who have been storing crap at his property, they have to come to collect or it will be sold with the land.  YIKES!

Boxes in Fields has made about four trips to and from Big City #1 to collect our goods.  Some of the goods were personal (old wedding dress and suit), some were work-related (materials bought in large quantities for cheaper costs), and some were Boxes in Fields (house boxes). But as when most people move, they end up selling or donating lots of good stuff so they don’t have to pack it, move it, and unpack it. The Planner made off with some good stuff for future usage at Boxes in Fields.  Those things will be mentioned as they are used.  Thank you Doubter as all of this good stuff was free.  The best kind of stuff: good, free, and useful.

Having to bring home the boxes required some planning.  Where were they going to be placed where they will not be in the way?  Where were they going to be placed where they would not float away?  Where would they be placed where they could be easily reloaded onto the trailer again if needed?  The best area for ease of drop off and pick up holds water.  Wait, everywhere holds water it seems.  To off set the water issue, we used a mumbo-jumbo telephone pole as corner blocks.  The poles once belonged to my neighbor who told us we could have them if we needed them.  That was two years ago and the need was not needed.

Now with a need, the pole was pulled out of the pile of rubble.  It was so big and heavy only the end could be picked up by the tractor.  A section was cut off and then cut again into 1-foot sections.  Four were needed but five were made.

Cutting them was a little more than the saw could handle.  The wood was wet/rotten in the middle and the blade did not reach all the way across.  Never having let this stop us before, the sections were cut in stages and life proceeded. A newer blade and a better running (or bigger saw) saw would have helped, too.  But hey, this saw has not been used since Harvey over a year ago so the fact it started and ran on the first pull was a testament to a great product.  A little blue smoke never hurt anything.  It got the job done.

How do I know the saw needed a new blade?  The blade produced dust, not chips.  With a new blade, this would not look like dirt, it would like pencil shavings.  Notice all the color variations.  Some of this is wet wood, some of this is old dry wood, but most of this is oiled wood. Overall the blocks even with the wet/rotten middle, will work for the Conex box.

With the blocks ready, now it was time to slide the box off.  But first a quick fix of a mishap on my part.  In attempting to remove the ramps from the storage box, I hooked the tractor fork over one brace and under the second.  When the ramps were lifted off the ground and into the air they slide down the fork and got stuck.  Like stuck, stuck.  With time not on our side as the rain was coming yet again, the Planner simple cut off the second brace and life went on. To my credit, I was unaware of the bracing under the ramps as this is normally not my job duty.  It has always been done by the Planner or the Doubter.  And to think I was just trying to be helpful.  Good intentions all that…

Once fixes, the ramps and tractor were aligned.  The Conex was chained to the tractor and away I pulled with the truck.  Easy peasy, so to speak. 

If I were being honest, it really was one of the best pull-offs.  I personally just can’t stand the What Ifs.  What if it wedges against the slide rails?  What if the chain breaks?  What if the slides off the ramp crooked?  What if, what if, what if?  It is all undue stress and it wears me out.  My stress wears out the Planner and the Kid.  Pull-offs are exhausting work.

Don’t take my word for it even the doggo is exhausted. Turned her heating pad on for her old crunchy bones and she was done for the night.  It may only be 3:53pm according to the date stamp on the video but the doggo is done-o.

I’m telling you, pull-offs are exhausting.