Our Load Of Wood Pellets Have Been Delivered

I try to post positive things showing the beauty of nature and all the happy times we have as a family.  However, it isn't always peachy out here in the country.  Sometimes the personalities don't align.  That's what happened yesterday.

This is not a happy face.

I should start my story from the beginning.  For those who don't know, we burn wood pellets for our heat source.  We have a gas furnace but it very rarely runs.  Every year at this time, we purchase a years supply of pellets.  Last year we got them in July, but they came ahead of schedule this year.  This is the link from last year explaining the delivery.

July Pellet Delivery

On Wednesday we received eight tons of pellets.  They came on eight pallets of fifty bags each.  Each bag weighs forty pounds.  Last winter was brutal, and we burned almost all the pellets we had purchased.  We usually have a ton left over, but not this year.  Because we have a pellet stove in our lower level, we need to have some available for use downstairs.  Usually my husband carries each bag down the stairs and stores them in our furnace room.  This year he decided to store two ton in a small area under our deck.  The problem was getting down a steep hill or walking all around the house with each bag.  Being a clever man, he devised a system for getting them down the hill.  Initially he thought he could just slide the bags down using these rollers he borrowed from our son in law.

I think these are from a grocery store roller system.

That didn't work because the bags molded themselves around the roller and wouldn't budge.

The first attempt didn't work.

Next he went in the shed and hauled out an old wheelbarrow.  He had taken the wheel off for another purpose.  He attached a rope and proceeded to lower the bags down to the bottom.

The old rusty wheelbarrow.

It held 4 bags and was gently lowered down with a rope.

It looks like we have a plan.  The only problem with this is that my dad wanted to help.  He couldn't understand why just putting it on the rollers wouldn't work.  He thought he could catch the bags and stack them.  He is almost ninety years old.  We weren't prepared for him to hurt himself.  He wouldn't take no for an answer.  Finally I explained to dad that Mike thinks things through very carefully and analyzes the situation.  Just like my dad, I tend to jump in with both feet.  Generally my husband shakes his head no before I even finish presenting my idea.  Dad finally agreed to help wrap the plastic around the bags after they were lowered but he didn't like it that we wouldn't let him risk his life.

Dad looking over the situation.

Then he thought he could help from the top.

Making me very nervous.  He thinks he is forty.

He managed to get up the hill.

Discussing the options, even though Mike had already decided.

I know dad wants to help.  He feels that he should be helpful, but geez sometimes he is like a dog with a bone.  Sometimes his ideas are just not feasible, and he gets his feelings hurt very easily.  We have to walk a fine line sometimes.  On the other hand, how many almost ninety year old people can climb a steep hill in sand without a cane.  Not very many. 

This storage place is pretty ugly but fortunately it is hidden from view, and it will be much more convenient for us this winter.