That said, I do try to economize and of course, to reduce, reuse, recycle. Sometimes that plan works like magic. Other times, for instance.....
Ok, here is the deal. We recently bought a hot tub - used, of course. We justified said purchase by playing the crip card. Yes, our injuries were useful once again. That purchase was quite an ordeal. In our quest for a bargain, we ended up traveling an enormous distance, through sweltering heat, then, ah.... but this is not about that endeavor.
No, indeed, for the hot tub, is now up and running, "cleansed" with "natural minerals" and really quite soothing and we hope, healing. This, then, is about the hot tub gazebo.
Living where it rains 7-9 months a year, our intent was always to get or build a gazebo to protect the spa from the rain. Mainly, we wanted something open and simple, lightweight and lovely, cedar with a shake roof perhaps, something compact and graceful.
Simply something to cover the spa.
Of course, we do have another situation besides the rain. That is privacy. We live in a "subdivision". Well, ok, our house is 95 years old. But there are neighbors. And those neighbors decided the hedge was too constricting so they whacked it down low. We love our those people, mind you. That is why we don't want to give them heart attacks watching us hot tub nekkid. And so besides cover for the spa, we need "cover". This is in direct opposition to the light and airy feel mentioned above.
Ok, I did not rant on at length above about finances but can we just stipulate that yes, money does matter? So the best plan would be to just rig something up out of scraps, right? Right. Problem: We have exquisite taste. In fact, we want cedar or similar non pressure treated, long lasting stuff.
And that is why I have been dogging craigslist for the last month looking for a gazebo, some scrap cedar, or.....
In my one month quest, really there has been not much incoming on the cedar or other cool hot tub gazebo radar. There has been a pretty darn nice one on the market for a while. It is a mere ten years old and they only want $600 firm. But like I said, money does matter. I finally broke down and sent them a little email today saying that if they ever soften up, to please let me know before posting a price reduction on craigslist. Unfortunately, we figured, that firm 600 would need to melt down quite a bit. Where oh, where, then, was my killer deal?
Well, time heals all wounds and after a month, I began to forget about the ordeal of hauling a hot tub gazillions of withering miles. So today I also called about an ad er, in another state... but a close one! Who could resist - the ad said hot tub only $100 and they would throw in the cedar surround. That surround could be a gazebo, right? So I left a message and failed to inform Kevin of my query. Well, a while later, the phone rang. Yeppers, it was the hot tub guy.
Indeed, by cedar surround he had meant gazebo. As long as I was fishing for miracles I cast out this idear: "Would you be willing to sell just the gazebo?" Sure, sez he, how about for $20.00? I just want to get rid of it right now.
Ok, here is the deal. When you are negotiating for something which is virtually free and a great distance away, you have a handicap. The person is dumping a nice item cause it is a pain in the tush to him. Therefore, he may not take kindly to being interrogated regarding said item's condition, dimensions, configuration, etc. Also, he does not know how far away you are - cause you have not volunteered this info since he might then opt for a "normal" taker who could just come on over and get it. Therefore, I hold myself back at such times and just get the info I can without showing my entire hand ie "I am an impulsive bargain hound and I am willing to drive hundreds of miles to save a buck but since that is such an ordeal, can we have a long drawn out discussion on the merits of your item - saturday sports shows, yardwork, and anything else you care about be damned?"
So on one end of the phone, little hints about the size and condition of this gazebo, already dismantled and piled in the please get it outa here spot were emerging while I endeavored to gather and assimilate..... meanwhile, my husband and partner in wacky schemes, Kevin was whispering and nodding emphatically "just tell him we will take it"
So even while the description was sounding more and more like exactly what we had decided not to get or do, I, uh, said "We will take it", whereupon the seller said. Ok, come today because tomorrow..... Oh. Okay, sez I, dreading presenting that little development.
Once I had committed to driving nearly two hours to load this thing, which the seller assured me I would need two trucks or a truck and a trailer to haul, I looked at the clock. Hmm. All trailer rental places I knew of were closing in 7 minutes. And I still had to explain the situation to Kevin. What could I do? I got into the hot tub. Kevin got in too. We fretted and stewed out there for a while, and Kevin kept saying one truck could haul it all. Then we came inside and I showed him a pic of what I thought we had just agreed to buy and haul. Hooboy. Kevin did not like the idea of such an enormous and elaborate enclosure. But we agreed that the raw materials alone would be worth the trouble. And since Lebanon Public Library had failed to yield even one book with gazebo plans (They had a backyard builder book, in fact, with a picture of a gazebo on the cover - cute. No bonus points), and since we were hemming and hawing about size and shape etc. etc., we thought this might be a way to get started since the basic roof shape would need to stay the same.
Ok, next prob: We just happened to have two trucks but no trailer. One truck, the newer, smaller more beat up truck was "ours" and insured and readyish to go. The other, older, cleaner, almost sold to pay for the smaller truck - long story - was uninsured since it was supposed to have been sold by now. In fact, it was lined up to sell in one week.
Simple. Just call our insurance agent. Oh yeah, welcome to modern America. I have never even met the guy, much less gotten to home phone number status with him. So I called his office since they are always bragging about being "like" a good neighbor and available 24 hours to provide service. When the 24 hour service people answer, they make noise like they are doing that - providing service. "Chris N__'s 24 hour customer service center". Shortly into the ensuing discussion it became clear that they only provide answering service. Undaunted, I googled my agent. Hm..... unlisted number. More googling... as the clock ticked. Aha! I emailed him and yes, called his cell phone- hey, I am a good googler. No answer. Twenty minutes of what the heck can we do now later, we called to explain to the gazebo guy. His fiance answered and said ok, just come with one truck and get half tonight and you can get the rest tomorrow. That went really well when I told Kev I had agreed to that. Not.
At any rate, we headed to the door. Just then, my agent called back. He said he was out of town for the weekend but I could call the 24 hour - no, sez I, been there, no fun that. Ah, he said he would call and tell them he authorized the plan. Ok. So we unleft. Yeah, sat around another 25 minutes, tried to call our agent again, then decided to what the heck, just go in the one truck. Problem being, even two trips in the small truck might not do it. We would deal with that issue manana. As we headed to the door once again, the woman who had said no way earlier called and said she had now been authorized to insure my truck. I was informed that my demands were unusual but they would do their best to accommodate me. This is a company I have been with through 4 homes and umpteen vehicles and my old agent was used to my spontaneous requests. Do you think he really retired or just went into hiding?
Anyway, this woman said to just wait a moment while she pulled up my agent's account info.... dumde dum dum dooo de dah dum ..... its so late now I think I'll giiiiiive up... dum de dum dooooode dah dink de dooo da dooo daaa .... where'd she go? Oh, here she is....
"I'm sorry, I am unable to access Mr N's computer info. We will have to write up a whole new policy." I did pretty well at all the easy stuff, year, model, style, how many wheel drive, all the while thumbing through old insurance receipts looking for my VIN. "So what is the VIN?" She asked. "I'm getting it now." "You don't have the VIN?" "Well, I have it, I just don't tend to carry it on me". Ah, here it is, on my title. I carefully read the vin twice, using cop style once, "Mary, Victor eight nine two, Anna Bob 4 etc.... That was apparently not received well because there was no reply. In fact, it was not received at all because we had lost the connection. I tried to call her back but my phone showed no number at all for that call. Weird. So I waited several minutes, thinking surely the agent would call me back. Nope. No prob, just call the main office, wade through the voice mail system....hope to find the same person again... a furtive glance at the clock. Oh, crap! Screw it, sez we, if we don't leave now it will be dark when we get there!
For the third time, we headed to the door. Riiiing, Riiiiing! Ah, yes, she says, we were disconnected. Uh, yeah, like ten minutes ago. Look, sez I, how long is this going to take? "Oh, it shouldn't take more than ten or fifteen minutes" sez she. Translation: 45 minutes.
"Ok, I am afraid I have to go. I have to get somewhere before dark. You are a 24 hour service so I can call later or tomorrow and do this, right?" "Oh, yes, that is fine and I will make sure it is all clearly annotated so when you call there will be no question or delay." Uh huh. Appreciate the intent.
So off we went. It was such a relief to hit the road and DO something. We made it to I5 and started feeling on our way and losing that dread you sense when you are ignoring your inner voice that says "bail! bail!". It really was lovely out on the road but the western sun was sinking at an alarming rate making that voice a bit louder. By the time we neared Salem, I started to realize we might arrive in the dark after all so I called to
1) Tell the sellers we were on the way finally.
2) Let them know it might be dark when we arrived.
They said they would still try to help us load. Good thing since Kevin is on crutches.
I hung up and breathed a huge sigh of relief. At least we were en route and could seal the deal on our "score". "Ah", I said. "Now we can relax and just enjoy the ride." At that moment a rock flew up and cracked our windshield. We had to laugh. Ok, it was a slightly hysterical laughter.....
Onward.
The trip was kind of strange, like it can only be when you are bucking odds. A near side-swipe on the freeway.... We did in fact get there, just before dark, load what we could, and head home. On the way back, I was playing word games on my phone :P and we were feeling fine when suddenly there was a huge breaking sound. Kevin pulled off the highway and almost said "shutup" to me since I was screaming in terror. I was sure the load had slipped forward and crashed through the rear window. It turned out that the end tiedown at the front of the load had slipped between the bed and the cab, caught on the drive shaft and snapped the uppermost 5'X7' wall panel at the top and bottom before the nylon strap itself snapped. Ok, honestly, that was a relief. We still had a rear window intact, if not a windshield.
The next day we were supposed to call the 24 hour service line, get the insurance for the other truck and head back up for the second load. First, I insisted we water the garden because I knew we would not be home "early". Then, with a feeling of dread, I placed the call. If I had it to do over I would have made some tea, hopped into the hot tub, relaxed and called from there because this is how it went:
First, a navigational adventure since they had changed the voicemail system, apparently overnight. Then I told the service person, "Dawn" what I wanted. She asked me to hold while she read the notes. Awesome, I thought, the notes are in place! When she came back on, I told her what I wanted and she asked lots of questions like would I be keeping my other car, what sign was I and did I see Pink at the AMAs. She said it would be so much easier to just give me some kind of extension than to actually write a new policy since I was only going to own the truck another week or so. I said I really did not care how they did it, I was willing to pay - that I just wanted to drive my truck legally today. She asked me to hold for just a moment twice more, each time for 5 minutes. Then she said she was going to try to contact my agent. I said I hated to bother him again since he was out of town but did she have the number? I said he had already approved it yesterday so why did they have to contact him. The answer to that was vague and followed by - yes, my holding "just a moment".
After numerous holds and discussions and 45 minutes into the call, I was transferred to the supervisor. "How long will that take to transfer me?" I asked. With yesterday's time investment added, we were fast approaching the point where it would take me longer to insure the truck than I needed to drive it. Also, part of my gazebo was locked inside a garage and the sellers were planning to be home only part of the day. "Just a couple of seconds" I was assured then thanked emphatically once again for my patience. What this lady lacked in efficiency she clearly made up for in character. I liked her. Maybe it was an exercise in redundancy but it was lubed with politeness.
Five minutes later, when the supervisor got on the line that all changed. "Good morning ma'am. How can I help
As I attempted to forcefully state the facts to this guy, suddenly "Dawn" was back on the line apologizing and telling me she had just found the notes regarding my agent calling, etc. So this last hour had all been compounded by the fact that I had not been informed that they could not find the actual notes regarding my agent's call.
As soon as "Dawn" went through a long spiel about her 4 children and how much she needed the job, about her philosophies in life and a few other pertinent details, she started getting my truck insured. We went through the policy questions. I kept saying I just wanted exactly what I had before with no collision coverage. "Dawn" insisted I add that because after all I had been through she would hate to see anything else go wrong.... I succumbed and added that.
Finally, for only about the same price as renting a truck, I could drive my own truck so off we went.
We got the rest of our gazebo loaded. It took a long time to get things situated safely. This time, I oversaw strap placement. The ride home was smooth. We even celebrated by stopping in Silverton, a darling town, and sharing a Thai dinner. As we drove through the last sizable town before home we pulled into a grocery store parking lot so I could go in and get a couple things.
When I came out the truck would not go into gear. The linkage cable(?) was broken. So there we sat, 25 minutes from home, perishables melting, truck loaded down with over half of a gazebo on it. OMG sez I thank goodness we did not take off in frustration without insurance. We have towing. I pulled out the "card" I had printed from the confirmation email. No towing. We should have run it into a rock I guess, instead of breaking down, cause we had that covered!
I decided to hitchhike home and come back for Kevin, leave the truck parked there, gazebo and all and call our agent on Monday and beg for mercy since I had asked for exactly the same insurance which should have included towing. But Kevin crawled under the truck and played around, first putting it in reverse, then miraculously, drive.
We made it home just before the linkage gave way entirely and now the truck, originally sold, is a fixture until further notice.
Here we are, then! Two trucks loaded with gazebo in the driveway. Exhausted. Off to bed early. This morning, lots of noise outside. A huge truck with a cherry picker delivering shingles to the roof of our house. A knock on the door. Could we move the silver truck? Ah..... about that........
