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Thursday, September 22, 2016

The New Wheelbarrow; or, the Perils of a Too-Small Car

A few weeks ago, we had two cords of wood dumped onto our lawn -- potential energy to provide our winter heat.  Two cords is is big pile and it takes some effort to move.  We started in, piling it into our rickety wheelbarrow, and stacking it.  Until the off-balance wheelbarrow, which we bought second-hand at a garage sale, got a flat.  And not just a flat, but the flat after the flat after the flat that we already fixed.  So, we decided it was time to purchase a new wheelbarrow.

We went to box store #1.  Didn't find what we were looking for.  We went to box store #2.  Found what we were looking for.  Bought it, unreasonably excited to have a new wheelbarrow.

And we couldn't fit it in the car.

We both drive small, economy cars -- we try to be as efficient as possible.  But there was no way that wheelbarrow was going to fit in either of those cars.
A quandary.
Option: we decided to buy online.
Which we couldn't, without paying a huge shipping fee.

Option: get a wheelbarrow that's not assembled yet.
All the wheelbarrows, upon arriving at the store, are immediately put together.
And they can't be disassembled, because the people at the store use a fancy machine to make sure the bolts are too tight to remove.

Option: rent a truck and drive it home.
Really?  We have cars.  Why can't we get an unassembled wheelbarrow?!  We don't even need the box.
Plus, renting a truck for a wheelbarrow ....

Option: find a friend to pick it up for us.
Unfortunately, none of them with big enough vehicles were around at the time.

Option: go somewhere else and try again.
And so we did.  A locally own smaller-box store.  They had what we wanted, assembled, but were more than happy to take the time to disassemble their wheelbarrow, so we could fit it in our car and take it home.
And now, despite having too-small cars, we have a new wheelbarrow.  Soon we will also have marvelous stacks of wood, seasoning in our back yard, readying for the cold of winter.  With this heat potential, I can almost look forward to winter.

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