Monday, June 27, 2011

Aerial Maneuvers

I've just decided that, if I make a major career change, I'm going to become a crane operator. I thought operating an excavator was fun when I rented one years ago. How much better to make things fly through the air! I will not skimp on these pictures of my lumber order being delivered because I know Finley, especially, will appreciate every one of them.

First to back in my driveway was the boom truck.


Then, my lumber order was backed in on a flatbed dump truck.


The boom-truck operator lifted the crane,


spun it around and used it to lift all the 2x lumber,


spun back around,


lowered the load,



and set it precisely in place.



Then the crane was spun back around to the flatbed dumper to pick up all the plywood


and set it near the trailer in the driveway.



Without a load once again,


the crane spun back to the dump truck and picked up the pallet of shingles,


spun back around again,





and set the pallet in place.



After everything was set in place and the trucks left, I scurried around--moving things into the house, covering and securing everything else. I kept tripping in my yard until I finally figured out that one of the outriggers that steadied the crane while it was operating left a substantial square indentation in my lawn. Not surprising, I guess, given the size of the thing!


I also noticed I had a visitor during this fine day...


7 comments:

  1. This is so freaking cool!!! You're one more step closer to the build and this is a HUGE step. Congratulations.

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  2. Why, thank you! This does feel huge to me. Believe it or not, placing the lumber order felt more daunting than starting to build does. I hope to show good progress over the next few weeks!

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  3. Wow. All your materials in one place. I've seen a few blogs which documented the incremental build, but this is the first one I've seen from the start. I'm looking forward to it. You must be excited.

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  4. Wow, wow, wow!! Even with all the pictures, I still can't believe they got all that huge equipment into the yard and had room left over for the lumber
    ;-)

    What did you use to set it all on? Did any stuff arrive on its own pallet, by any chance, like maybe the shingles?

    And is that *sunshine* I see? That should bode well for the project :-)

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  5. Oops—I was just scrolling back through the photos and saw your reference to "pallet," so ignore that question! So, were you anticipating that, or was that a bonus?

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  6. Actually...My post gives the condensed version of the delivery story. The order arrived on the flatbed dump truck, and the driver's plan was to dump the whole order in my yard. Yup, just dump it and drive away. Needless to say, I was not enthusiastic about this plan. Thankfully, the driver quickly agreed that this plan would not work very well in my tight space, and he offered to unload the whole order by hand. That seemed a shame to me as well. Not only would it be a lot of work for this poor guy, but everything that was bundled on pallets would end up loose. When the driver called his dispatcher to explain that he was going to be delayed, he learned that the company had a crane truck making another delivery nearby. So, everything worked out great. The flatbed driver off-loaded all the light and loose stuff--bundles of insulation, roof underlayment, screws and bolts, etc.--so that, when the crane arrived 15 minutes later, just the big, bundled loads needed to be moved. It was impressive to watch, everything ended up in the staging areas I had planned, and I can unbundle and re-stack things as I choose, and when I choose. As for the extra pallets I had on hand (and proved to be especially helpful for setting all the 2x lumber on), I got those from Dale. He had 8 pallets just "sitting behind" his garage! (He's especially excited that this fortuitous development helps justify his "holding onto things" because they just "might be needed someday." :-)

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  7. Yes! Sun all day on delivery day. Supposed to rain tonight and tomorrow, though.

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