Friday, April 21, 2006

Coffee and porch materials

Today, Preston and I had lunch after work and then had coffee at a new shop in Moore -- The Blue Bean Coffee Company. There was quite a bluish/purple tinge as we walked in. The coffee was pretty good and the atmosphere was ok. The proprietors tried to give us one coffee card and asked for Preston's name, as if we were married. I said, "They think we're together," and we laughed, and Preston said we probably would be but we're both gay. There was a pause and then one woman said one of her best friends is gay and that was funny too but we took it in stride, as Preston and I will, got separate coffee cards and drank coffee, occasionally talking to the women at the shop.

Then we went to Home Depot and I bought three 4x6x12 posts, six 80 pound bags of concrete and six 2x4x8s. He helped me load it up and when I got home I put the concrete and the 2x4s in the barn and the posts in the yard. (I have a very special way of unloading 80 pound bags of concrete.) Then I went and got 15 small bales of alfalfa for the goats and stacked it in the barn. Then I watered some and fell asleep on the sofa for a glorious few minutes as the unmistakable sound of the hummingbirds at the window feeder hummed me into dream land. I awoke and read and watered some more

So now I have the beginnings of the porch. Next, I will dig the holes. Right now, I will go to bed.

1 comment:

oklahoma exile said...

Aren't you observant!

Well, it's all in the leverage. I push it to the end of the tail gate, then hang it over the edge, then lower it onto the platform I have on the ground. I know that sounds like a no-brainer, but what I am getting at is actually lifting the bag for as short a time as possible. I can actually load the bags, too, but after three or four I am wiped out and can barely lift them from the cart to the truck. Ideally, the bags need to be at the level of the truck bed but when that's not possible, I like to take a strong friend with me. Preston did most of the loading.

I learned the art of applying leverage when I worked at the bronzeworks, an artistic foundry. I have moved some very heavy things by myself with hardly any exertion. When there's a strong person handy, they sometimes use their strength instead of their brains. I guess when you've got it, flaunt it! And, obviously, there are things I can't move that a strong person can. It's funny sometimes if I can't budge something and then someone stringer comes and just moves it or picks it up. It makes me laugh. I know my limitations about all that.

I picked up a 100 pound of sand one time at the foundry, just to be able to say today that I did that. Now, that was heavy!!!

So, next time you're out here, we'll have a little leverage lesson, one of my favorite subjects.