In 1979 or 1980, I bought my freedom from a woman named Barbara with quite a few monthly payments, after an outrageous down payment. To say that I sympathized with the indentured servants from Europe in the 18th and 19th century would be fair. Being practically poor and needing about everything that it took to live, I bought my first 3 pieces of furniture, a bed, a table, and an oak entertainment center. The bed wore out, but I still have the oak table and entertainment center. I probably should have eliminated those items around 1992 when I first bought this house, but they matched the oak kitchen cabinets perfectly and who would have dreamed that anything as neutral as oak would ever go out of fashion. It's been told to me that by maintaining that oak look makes me look like a dinosaur of the 90's.
As life goes on and downsizing is mandatory, I find it useless to start redecorating now. So, making use of the furniture that I already have is practical and in an effort to look more modern, I took the liberty of losing my Mullet and shaving off my long sideburns. With the loss of the Dynamic Duo this month, I'm making every attempt to "de-dog" my house. Not an easy task after so many years with them. I eliminated the old big screen TV that had slobber on the lower portion of cloth covering the speakers and I pushed the old dog sofa out to the street for trash pick up, scrubbed the floor and vacuumed the hell out of every damn thing. That brings me to the topic of this story.
The old entertainment center weighs about 400 LB, naked. That means with nothing on it, not me without clothes. With the TV and the stereo system and all of the books and nik-naks and bottles, add another 200 LB. It is one heavy mother. Somehow, I needed to move it from point A, to point B. It's sitting on a tile floor and I tried giving it a push and to my surprise, I determined it doable alone. With the center of gravity where it was and factoring inertia into it, I found that it was easier to push than to pull, go figure. With my feet braced on the stairs, I found that I could not only move it, but push it in one continuous effort actually making serious progress. However, when I reached a certain point, with my feet up against the steps and my arms extended as far as they would go, it became more difficult. With an additional push of extra strength, I gave it one more enormous push and it moved, changing MY center of gravity and tearing both rotator cuffs in my shoulders as they over-extended. That was about a week ago and if when you see me, and I don't wave, I hope you'll understand...
As life goes on and downsizing is mandatory, I find it useless to start redecorating now. So, making use of the furniture that I already have is practical and in an effort to look more modern, I took the liberty of losing my Mullet and shaving off my long sideburns. With the loss of the Dynamic Duo this month, I'm making every attempt to "de-dog" my house. Not an easy task after so many years with them. I eliminated the old big screen TV that had slobber on the lower portion of cloth covering the speakers and I pushed the old dog sofa out to the street for trash pick up, scrubbed the floor and vacuumed the hell out of every damn thing. That brings me to the topic of this story.
The old entertainment center weighs about 400 LB, naked. That means with nothing on it, not me without clothes. With the TV and the stereo system and all of the books and nik-naks and bottles, add another 200 LB. It is one heavy mother. Somehow, I needed to move it from point A, to point B. It's sitting on a tile floor and I tried giving it a push and to my surprise, I determined it doable alone. With the center of gravity where it was and factoring inertia into it, I found that it was easier to push than to pull, go figure. With my feet braced on the stairs, I found that I could not only move it, but push it in one continuous effort actually making serious progress. However, when I reached a certain point, with my feet up against the steps and my arms extended as far as they would go, it became more difficult. With an additional push of extra strength, I gave it one more enormous push and it moved, changing MY center of gravity and tearing both rotator cuffs in my shoulders as they over-extended. That was about a week ago and if when you see me, and I don't wave, I hope you'll understand...
No comments:
Post a Comment