This morning was the Pride Parade in Fresno. Andy went, and said it was great, even though it was hot. I wanted to go, but I was too tired.
Maybe an hour after Andy left, Bob came a knocking. Well, actually, he rang the bell. And, it couldn't have been at a worse time. It's one of my great fears, and it's come to pass a few times already: I'm home alone, sitting on the toilet, in the middle of doing my business, and someone is at the door. Argh!
Anyway, Bob is the neighbor who sold us the trailer. He and his wife live on the other side of the park from us. They are both probably in their 80's. And, when he was showing us the place, he said that if we were going to pull out the ramp, that they'd want to buy it. So, last weekend, he came by to talk about it again. He said that his kids would be visiting, and they would help him move it. And, he offered us $50.
It's probably worth more than that in scrap metal, but it's welded together. I don't have a way to tear it up, nor a vehicle that could haul it (whole or in pieces). Besides, I feel like it'd be a shame to tear up something that is still so useful. And, they really needed it. His wife had been injured right before we moved in. So, passing it on to them was the right thing to do.
Getting to them was another matter. And, even though his son-in-law was joking about the agreed upon price not including delivery fees, they took care of the whole thing. I did help a little, but that was my choice. Moving it out from underneath our awning was the hard part. It was about four feet longer than the distance between the support columns, and there was no room to pivot because the building was right next to the ramp.
We figured that either the ramp was put in place before the awning was installed, or the ramp was built on the spot. They brought along a furniture dolly and a hand truck which helped a lot. But, the only way to get it out was to back the whole thing up to the end of the trailer, back by the swap cooler, and then pivot from there. Then they had to pick it up, and carry it over the old garden bed. By the time they got it that far, they decided to just keep going all the way to the road.
They loaded it onto the ten foot trailer behind their pick-up truck. I could see that it was a bit of a strain to lift the front of the ramp up over the front wall of the trailer, but once that was done, and they secured the chain around it, they were ready to go. The last two feet were hanging off the back end of the trailer, but at least they didn't have far to go.
It is quite amazing how much roomier the yard feels. It was only 30 inches (76 cm), but it seems bigger because the patio went from being four feet wide to seven feet wide. There's enough room to put a chair or two, and maybe a little table.
