The day the new-to-us roaster arrived, was a head-scratching day. The main question on my mind was, how am I going to get this 300 pound piece of steel down 9-10 steps? At the same time, how was I to keep it & myself in working order after the job was done?
Enter friend, & think-tank, Randy. He brings a stout perseverance to any table he approaches. I knew he would be interested in helping solve this problem.
At this point, the roaster is in a crate (about the size of a couple refrigerators)outside the shop. It's perhaps 38 degrees, & sunny. At my disposal, I have a fantastic oversized scraper a friend made for me in N.C. It was designed to scrape the underside of a two bag coffee roaster cooling tray. It's a fine piece of steel. It has been used as a pull up bar, an ice breaker, & potential self-defense weapon. Now it was being used as a pry-bar, and a lever to inch the half-crated roaster towards the shop door.
Randy arrives, we take a coffee break.
Break over, we head back outside & deliberate the preferred methods of overcoming this obstacle. Half-hearted attempts at mumbling brilliant solutions exit our lips, and dissipate weakly into little plumes of steam.
Enter friend #2: Wes. Phone call:"hey man, I was wondering if you were roasting today, and I could swing by and pick up a bag of coffee?" Me:"um, yep. C'mon by..." My response upturned not so casually at the last second with the optimism of a guy who truly almost believes this substantial task will "just take a second."
Accelerating the story now, Wes arrives, we all deliberate, and start moving the mother towards the doorway. Maybe we lugged it up a step onto the landing, when the idea that had been brewing, slowly dawned on me. One must draw upon what one has to work with when one is in a position of challenge, no?
Being a climber has aided me in a number of applications, as it helped me this day. I grabbed my harness, tied in, and tossed the rope over one of the supports of the warehouse. After tying the rope to the roaster, the fine citizen, Andy Michael stood near to grab on and hang off of me as I dangle. Wes & Randy lifted as I hoisted & Andy hung.
As you can see by the picture, the roaster and I made it in one piece. The other fellas survived as well. "Welcome to the coffee industry," I said, as another of the many foolish things done in the name of coffee roasting was finished.
We are moving the roaster again in a week. However, we will utilize the roll up door this time.
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