Necessity= the mother of invention

Alternately titled: Honky Hook-up

Jeremiah and I thought surely the 'cherry picker' (engine hoist) would work fantastically to get the wood stove into the truck so we could deliver it to its new home in northern Kansas. Surely it would have if the kids hadn't bled off the fluid some time ago. Now the seals are probably bad and it 'bleeds' off every time it's jacked up so that wasn't going to be of any help. What's a person to do? Well, first you need hard headed ever so optimistic and unwilling to give up man, key Jeremiah, and his willing idiot wife, Amanda! You put those two heads together and usually it's an insane successful combination.

Ever wonder how ingenuity can come together to get the job done? Look no further! Let me just say though, this stove is a heavy son of a gun! I mean like, 400 lbs. heavy. I'd like to say 500 lbs. but that's probably pushing it. Honestly, I am a fairly strong person being able to lift 120 lb. alfalfa bales and move them around short distances and these small squares we deal with here in Kansas (55-70) lbs. make me feel like the Incredible Hulk! This stove...not so much! We tried lifting it, the correct way of course, straight from the ground. Yeeeeeah, not gonna happen! So, we think, okay maybe we can 'scaffold' it up. Seems logical right? As we were already late getting on the road, we didn't actually build scaffolding, we jerry rigged improvised and...well, I'll let you see the rest.

Exhibit A: 1' off the ground. Mind you, this was after about 6 lifts to scoot bricks to get it up on these logs in the first place!

Exhibit B: Notice optimistic man in background carrying bricks.

Exhibit C: almost ready for another set of logs all the way around!

Let me interject briefly to say that this is about the time Jeremiah mentions that perhaps we should remove the ash pan! I mean, REALLY? THE ASH PAN!?!?! He says, "Weight is weight". I roll my eyes. Meanwhile, there are probably over a dozen fire bricks in the dag'on thing that we didn't think to remove!!! But, don't forget the ash pan!!!

Exhibit D: Jeremiah: "All right, Honey, are you ready for the lift and shift?" Me: "Um no!"

Exhibit E: I am thinking, "Fabulous, NOW WHAT!?!?!"

Drum roll please....

TA DA!!!!!!

So, needless to say we got that heavy son of a gun in there but let me tell you, it didn't come without a massive load of adrenaline from me to get it to the bumper, some tears, a lot stress and I am sure maybe even some whining and complaining questioning our his sanity and the method. After all, anyone who knows Jeremiah, knows 'he can read the water' (I'll tell you about that story later). I saw this going very badly! Jeremiah said he was quite surprised though as there hadn't been as much carrying on on my part as he would guessed there would be before we started. Thanks a lot, Honey! Wouldn't you question when it took 4 grown men to get it up on the truck the 1st time!?!? Getting it off is the easy part, gravity helps there. It kinda hinders going the opposite way, as I am sure you can imagine.

At any rate, we did it. It wasn't nearly as bad after all. It did take about an hour though but it's delivered and I am relieved it got there in one piece! Nice little stove it is. 'Thomas' is still workin' away for now and we have plans to add a 'room to room' fan and see if that doesn't solve the bubble issue with the un-moveable heat  in the living room.