mrs. monochrome threw in a lowball bid ($65) on an antique double bed frame at an estate sale yesterday. At 5:30 they called to say she had won the auction. Of course that meant I had to rent a truck to go get it today, but all the rental places were closed at 5:30 and most were also closed Sunday.
So I reserved a truck on line for 11:00am pickup Sunday at a Sunday-Open Enterprise about 15 miles away. At 10:30 they called to say they didn't actually have a truck, even though there was one available online and my reservation was Confirmed.
So they offered me a full-size Minivan. I asked my wife how big the 4-poster bed was, but she hadn't actually measured it, so I reserved a Chrysler minivan with roof rails as Plan B. When we got there they had already rented the minivan even though my reservation for the minivan was also Confirmed. By chance as I was looking at SUV's with roof racks someone dropped off a minivan with roof rails. But they wouldn't rent it to me because it was dirty - like I cared. So I waited while they cleaned it (they said they found 7 assorted flip flops in children's sizes and a pair of women's Small panties under the seats, so I guess I'm glad they cleaned it).
So I got the van, my wife followed me home in my car and I rounded up a couple furniture blankets and - knowing her answer already - asked my wife how the bed comes apart. She looked at me sheepishly and said, "Don't they all come apart the same way?" So I loaded a small toolbox with combination wrenches, an adjustable wrench, a rubber mallet, a socket driver and a box of sockets and grabbed my ratchet set. Then I chased down 2x 100' hanks of paracord and some Ziplok bags.
Of course the bed rails had screwed down bed slats and I hadn't actually thought to bring screwdrivers - but the socket driver set has three sizes of Phillips bits, so that worked, but very slowly. The rails had two dowel pins and a 4" threaded bolt in a routed out channel tied to a countersunk nut in the head and footboard. My ratchet with socket drive actually JUST fit in the channel so I avoided flip flopping wrenches 1/2 turn at a time - that did the trick, we carried the pieces down to the yard - and someone had blocked the loading area. So we waited. And waited. And waited. It was a neighbor who was annoyed by all the traffic and had parked there to be spiteful. Twice.
At any rate, all the pieces fit in the van if angled and inched and utched, so we got the bed home, got the van back to the Enterprise 15 minutes early. And they were already Closed.
3 1/2 hours of beautiful, sunny Sunday planned for K-1 and SMC, not an old bed we don't need. I looked at mrs. monochrome and said, "Never. Ever. Again."
Last edited by monochrome; 09-19-2016 at 07:47 AM.