Diary #534

Steel has grown steadily more (disproportionate to inflation) expensive in the 18 years I’ve been buying it, but fortunately Grace is good at finding deals.  So we got a reasonable price on the 1100 kilograms of steel we need to build the bathhouse roof structure, provided I was willing to drive a couple of hours and pay cash.  But thanks to my lovely visit with Dr. Quest last week, I had the latter; and thanks to many, many years of long-distance driving, I’m not bothered by the former.  It did occur to me that I’ve never pulled a heavily-laden trailer that far before, nor ever successfully backed a trailer into anyplace, but one does what one must, and our dog Trip was with me for moral support.  I rather enjoyed the reaction I got upon exiting the truck at the steelyard looking like I look, and I enjoyed even more the look on the guys’ faces when they realized I actually knew something about steel.  The return journey was relatively uneventful, though, and my cargo is safely stacked in the garage awaiting fabrication into trusses. And I didn’t even break a nail moving it.