10 January 2007

Just over a week ago, the men who are siding the garage staged the "get the final heavy-as-sh*t patio door moved two stories up and installed into the opening" project. Tom came home over his lunch hour, and, using pump jacks, the four of us attacked the project at hand. (For reasons too lengthy to explain, the door had to go in from the outside of the garage instead of the inside).

So picture, if you will, a VERY heavy patio door resting on a very-narrow-seeming 18" platform along with four people - two of whom are on either side of the door steadying it (Tom and myself) and two of whom are operating the pump jacks by foot - being pumped high into the air. Then, continue imagining, if you will, our realization - slightly less than 3 feet from our destination - that the 4x4s that all the weight (OUR weight) is being supported by are starting to bow . . . towards the point of snapping.

So - quickly - Plan B is put into action, and Tom and I squeeze up into the 2nd floor of the garage through the door opening . . . being ever-so-careful to not throw the precarious balance of the door and the two workers off! Then, with sheer and ultimate fear propelling them (remember the bowing 4x4s), the two workers heave the door up and into the opening. Tom and I hold it in place, and jubilant cheers erupt followed by the boss's quiet admission that, despite the very cold day, "all of a sudden I'm covered in sweat!" OSHA-approved, perhaps it wasn't. But, that last one of ALL the windows/doors - that had been waiting FOREVER - is FINALLY installed!