Tuesday, November 7, 2017
You can always tell when someone has no clue about the difficulty of a job when they set you up to do it without asking you first.

“Home Depot will be delivering the new washer and drier on Monday and I figured you could hook them up.  Oh…and I told them not to worry about hauling the old ones out because I figured you could do that, too.  It would have cost us $30 for them to do it!” the Director told me.

Now bear in mind these old units are in a basement with narrow stairs and two doors leading to the outside.  The machines would have to come up those stairs and make an immediate turn on a small landing.  Two doors would have to be removed.  Another person would have to be employed to help lift the load up and out.  I would have to then load them both onto a truck and drive them somewhere since we do not have curb side waste removal.  All these things are known by the person asking the question, though I highly doubt she’s ever picked up a washing machine and tried to drag it up some stairs…without a refrigerator dolly (or with one).

I’m no shrinking violet when it comes too hard – or risky – work, but sometimes you need to push back.  I laid out all the reasons I’d just stated and said, “…and $30 would be a hell of a bargain compared to what it would cost us to remove them.”

She considered this for several moments…I’m thinking the math would be about $250 for me to move it in time, money, extra person and gas…but she considered a couple of more moments before agreeing with my line of thinking.  Sometimes I just want to scream ‘trust me to make these HUGE executive decisions!’  Ah well…I’m just a man, after all.

I brought Mimi over to see the new place.  We went to dinner at Fisher’s where I ordered the ribs, but skipped dessert.  After dropping her off back in Gates Mills and driving home, I noticed I was still 3,000 steps short of my daily 20,000 goal.  This would not do.

It was biting cold outside, but Dakota and I when on a 2-mile hike to make up the difference.  No…not a workout and those have been few and far between lately, but I continue to eat mostly Paleo and the extra steps seem to be helping me drop a couple of pounds.  After the latest round of home improvements are complete and I have my cycling trainer set up in my Man Cave, I think I will get my riding mojo back in high gear and have a good winter of conditioning.