Creativity is rewarded!, if you survive...

On the theme of no project is impossible with enough bodies, one of our favorite pastimes at Hat Creek is moving things from one spot on the property to a different spot on the property. There's always a good reason to do so, but the size, shape, and weight of the items to be moved is rarely taken into consideration. So figuring out creative ways to get large, awkward and heavy stuff to move is a survival skill as Trish told me about below.

Dad had a gigantic thousand pound gun safe in one of his storage containers (That's another story, maybe several) that needed to be moved to the garage. Instead of busting out heavy equipment (Pry bars, heavy duty dollies, cranes..) he figured the simplest way to move the safe was to back a trailer up to the container and walk the safe onto it. Because of the weight it took about five of us including a couple husbands, a young Zach, and Dave to get it to budge. Getting a grip on the safe was a real challenge so the safe door was opened and Zach was positioned in front to help guide the safe onto the trailer. At about this time everyone discovered that if you tip a large safe onto it's door, the door itself can slide off of the hinge pins and, unsecured, find the fastest route to the ground. This route happened to be right where Zach was standing and he quickly discovered how heavy the door truly was. We were able to prop the door up and free him without harm, but it was a valuable lesson in survival when out in the woods surrounded by loving family members.

As an addendum to this tale, we did manage to get the safe onto the trailer in one piece and quickly drove it over to the garage where we discovered the lip of the trailer was about a foot lower than the entrance to the garage. Trish takes credit for the solution to this little conundrum by having all non-safe-moving family crowd onto the opposite end of the trailer which lifted it high enough to slide the safe into it's final destination.