Longer Than Summer Solstice

That's how yesterday felt. Our morning careened out of control, then came back between the yellow lines and we were all okay. Then, out of nowhere, came The Afternoon...

It all began simply enough. Zorak would head to the house to work. The boys and I would head to Home Depot in Decatur to pick up the will call items we'd purchased. Now, first off, these items had been purchased one evening, but then the staff decided they really couldn't get them together that night and so they voided the transaction, but said they'd hold the stuff for us until the next day. The next day we had to round everything up again, and pay. But they did let us pay and said we could pick up the will call items the next day. ooookay...

1:29PM - The boys and I arrive. They can't find the transaction. Not even using the will call sheet I had on hand. Then they find it and will be "right out".

1:50PM - Ohhhh, no. Sorry. They're out of 3/4" tongue-and-groove OSB. They'll have some Friday, though, so we can come back then. But they have the tub.

2:00PM - Oh, wait, they can't find the tub. No, they have the tub, but it's way up high so it'll be a little while before they can reach it.

While we wait, I inquire as to whether we could somehow pick up the OSB from another Home Depot store. No, they aren't connected. Oh. OK. If we void this transaction and refund our money, would another store honor the discount code we'd used? Angela, who is the absolute BESTEST MOST WONDERFULLEST EMPLOYEE at the Decatur Home Depot, called the one in Madison (NW of Huntsville) to find out. Yep. They will do that.

An hour later, I have a refund and Angela is well-acquainted with James, the only child who was awake during this process. Yay.

3:05PM - But, um, where's my tub?

I guess the guys had spent the last hour and fifteen minutes looking for the lift thing to get the tub down. They finally found it - parked right there in front of the pickup.

3:30PM - Here comes the tub. (Which, not related to yesterday's adventure, is not a deep tub, nor even a nice tub. It's a regular tub. I'm disappointed, but don't know how to handle emotional reactions in engineers and so simply opted to voice my disappointment and leave it at that.)

The guys load it. Upright. Straight down the middle of the bed. And tie it with twine.

"Um, I know y'all do this for a living, but don't you think that might tip if I, um, turn?"

The guy scoffs a bit and says, "Oh no, we do it like this all the time. It's fine. See?" He grabs the tub top and begins to wiggle it. It sways like Old Glory. "Hmmm..."

They turn it around and begin to lay it down. With the tub at the tailgate end of the bed, facing the cab... think drag racing parachutes. More twine.

Me, feeling quite awkward by now... (I've been there nearly two hours, I have to pee, and I don't trust any of them to stack lumber properly by this point) "You know, I have about a half hour drive on the highway. I, um, well, don't you think that'll cause a bit of drag?"

The guy glares at me and says, "You're going to have drag no matter what!"

This pushes me to quit feeling awkward and get a bit bold. "I'm aware of how drag works, as well as how to lessen the coefficient, and that. is. not. it."

At this point, a Specialist walks out and the guys ask him how he would load the tub. He takes one look and says, "Well, NOT like THAT!" I smirked and walked back to the cab while he helped Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum get it loaded properly.

3:55PM - We head out with a tub that has been partially mangled (but I don't notice that until we got to the house). Call Zorak to let him know I'm on my way. He suggests taking 565 to 67 instead of coming down 65.
*blink* *blink* What??
"Aren't you coming from the Madison store?"
*snort* Explain the status, Ohhhhh, okay.

4:45PM - I dropped off the tub, kissed the boys, and headed to Madison. It's rush hour now, but that's okay. I have names. I have written authorization to do this. I will have OSB soon.

5:21PM - Coming up the road, the train lights begin to blink and the bumper-to-bumper traffic grinds to a halt as the bars descend. I'm close to the front and have a good view. Totally bummed that I'd left the boys at the house - they'd have enjoyed this.

5:22PM - Is the train slowing down???

5:25PM - Train. Stops.

5:50PM - Train resumes forward motion, and enough cars have left the line that I'm near the front. Yay. Forgot I was driving a standard and stall. Crap. Got going. Yay!

6:20PM - The train really backed up traffic in all directions. Finally made it the two or so miles to the Madison Home Depot. Both contacts are at dinner. This is where I start getting a little wobbly, and my ability to laugh and say it's okay is starting to wane a bit.

The rest of this is a blur, but I can say that the folks at the Madison Home Depot are phenomenally organized, kind, helpful, and really really normal. I love them. They got it all set up, cleared, and ready to go.

7:09PM - Loaded the pickup (which dropped like a low-rider with the load), slapped her on the tail(gate) and sent us on our way with the admonition to put more air in the tires (which had been squished flat like pancakes).

The drive home was not good. I was tired, emotionally and physically. I could not get into a turn lane to come around and ended up going all the way to another town I didn't want to go to before I found a place with air. It was eight before I got back to the house.

We worked for two and a half hours longer, then came home. And I crashed. I'm pretty sure yesterday was at least 36 hours long. It had to have been.

But did ya notice we have the OSB now? *grin*

Kiss those babies!
~Dy