The engine arrived!

DHL called me first thing this morning and asked, “Is this a residential or commercial address?” I responded, “residential.” Hesitantly, the caller asked, “Do you have a fork lift to remove the crate from the truck?” I replied, with a little amazement, “No, the package should only be about 180 pounds.” “We’ll have to schedule a special delivery, one with a truck and tow motor then.” Disappointed, I tried to tell them we could handle it. “I have 4 people here to lift it off the truck, we have this. It’s only 180 pounds. We fly a hot air balloon and routinely carry around a 300 pound balloon basket.” DHL responded, “Let me check with my manager.” In the background, I heard him yell, “Hey, he says he has 4 big guys to take the crate off, is that OK?”

It turned out being OK, but I did not say guys, nor did I say big. I had myself, my wife and two of my daughters, but their farmers! The truck arrived (no pictures as we were all getting the crate off :-/) and we took the crate off, placed it in the garage and the delivery driver was amazed at what he saw. Once he left, the girls asked me, was it really that big of a deal to take that crate off? I explained not everyone carry’s around 50 lb bags of feed on a routine basis like you girls do. I also explained a little of potential liability.

Anyway, I thought that was a fun story to remember.

We of course spent the afternoon taking the engine out of the crate, looking it over, opening all the sub-boxes, etc… Not too much work got done, but it was all important to the project.