“They’ll need a crane, they’ll need a crane…”

“They’ll need a crane, they’ll need a crane…”

I missed them getting the bulldozer into the house and I did not want to miss seeing them get it back out again. I went down to the house at sunrise and started a stakeout, waiting.

The crane showed up before 8:00. - Building our Schumacher Home: The Crane
The crane showed up before 8:00.

I’m glad I went so early! They showed up with a crane a little before 8:00.

It was really cold and the wind had picked up. Cliff had left an airplane blanket in the car and I wrapped it around my ears. I was not expecting it to be so cold! Notice Jonathan in just a T-shirt? Even he eventually had to put on a jacket.

The crane got stuck at first, but got through with his Torque Converter, the crane version of four-wheel-drive. - Building our Schumacher Home: The Crane
The crane got stuck at first, but got through with his Torque Converter, the crane version of four-wheel-drive.

The crane backed onto the new gravel, toward the garage.

At first he got stuck. The he turned on his Torque Converter, the crane version of four-wheel-drive.

He was sinking in the mud. (We had flooding rain over the weekend.) But he got backed up pretty close to the house.

Stabilizing the Jack Floats - Building our Schumacher Home: The Crane
Stabilizing the Jack Floats

He extended the Outriggers. There are four of them, two on each side. Then he put on the Jack Floats. He sort of leveled the area under each with his foot, just kinda pushing the gravel leveler.

Car with eyelashes - Building our Schumacher Home: The Crane
Car with eyelashes

A car drove by that had eyelashes.

Extending Outriggers - Building our Schumacher Home: The Crane
Extending Outriggers

He put timbers under each jack float and then lowered them until the crane was raised up.

He took his time to be sure the crane was steady and stable. I was freezing! It was cold enough for Jonathan to even put on sleeves.

Hook and the front stabilizer - Building our Schumacher Home: The Crane
Hook and the front stabilizer

There is another thing on the front of the crane that I think is an outrigger beam. They lowered that, too. Then unhooked the, I forget the name, the red thing that looks like a fishing floater with a hook.

Pivoting the boom to get under the power lines - Building our Schumacher Home: The Crane
Pivoting the boom to get under the power lines
Raising the boom - Building our Schumacher Home: The Crane
Raising the boom

He pivoted the boom to get it under the power lines, then raised it.

Changing the hook - Building our Schumacher Home: The Crane
Changing the hook
Both hooks - Building our Schumacher Home: The Crane
Both hooks
Changing the hook - Building our Schumacher Home: The Crane
Changing the hook

He turned it back, lowered the cable and hooked up a different hook with a winch. He set them down on the ground and they did something. When he raised it again, the red hook thing was on the bottom. He turned the boom around again and lowered the red hook into a box, unhooked and secured it.

Checking photos of how they did it last time - Building our Schumacher Home: The Crane
Checking photos of how they did it last time

Jonathan had taken photos of how they had hooked up the bobcat when they got it in, so they looked at the photos on his phone.

Chains - Building our Schumacher Home: The Crane
Chains

Then he hooked some chains on, turned and extended the boom REALLY high.

Securing the Bobcat - Building our Schumacher Home: The Crane
Securing the Bobcat

They attached the chains to the little bulldozer.

Raising the Bobcat out of the house - Building our Schumacher Home: The Crane
Raising the Bobcat out of the house
Raising the Bobcat out of the house - Building our Schumacher Home: The Crane
Raising the Bobcat out of the house
Raising the Bobcat out of the house - Building our Schumacher Home: The Crane
Raising the Bobcat out of the house

As they lifted, it started to spin. I had a heart stopping concern for my piers, but the guys rushed in and steadied it.

Raising the Bobcat out of the house - Building our Schumacher Home: The Crane
Raising the Bobcat out of the house
Raising the Bobcat out of the house - Building our Schumacher Home: The Crane
Raising the Bobcat out of the house

Then it was up, over the wall and out of the house. Just like that.

The Bobcat is out of the house - Building our Schumacher Home: The Crane
The Bobcat is out of the house

They unhooked the chains from the bobcat.

Putting everything away - Building our Schumacher Home: The Crane
Putting everything away
Putting everything away - Building our Schumacher Home: The Crane
Putting everything away

They slowly lowered the chains into a container while they carefully made sure they didn’t tangle.

He put everything back, locked in the boom and retracted the outriggers.

When they were wrapping things up, I asked the names of everything. Then I googled to make sure I had it right. I forgot to ask about some things, but I think we will all sleep fine tonight anyway.

 “They’ll need a crane, they’ll need a crane…”

They Might Be Giants

There. Now you know more than you ever wanted to know about how the crane got a Bobcat out of our house. It took more time to make sure the crane was stable and didn’t hit the power lines than it took to move the bobcat.

Next: Framing – We have a floor!