A Failed Mission!

I know, I know! Those who are not family are going to get tired of barn pictures. I just couldn't resist going back today to watch the progress. I had told myself it was kind of silly, but in the

end, I couldn't resist.

The above picture is how it looked when I arrived today. I was afraid the roof would be down by the time I got there, as I didn't get there until 1:30p.m. When I arrived, Matt said, "Did you bring your camara?" I said "Of course! Am I going to see something exciting?" He proceeded to tell me that they were doing a minor repair on the forklift, and they were planning to take the roof off. It seemed to me that I had perfect timing.

(Note: I thought it was interesting that the beams on one end of the barn were in an A-frame . That's something we couldn't see until all of the siding was off.)

The picture above is a little dark, but you can see the welder working on the forklift. He worked on it for about 15 minutes; then he told them to wait a little bit to let it cool off and it should be good to go.

I had made some coffee, and offered some to the men while they were waiting. I told them they might become famous by being seen on my blog! I'm sure they were impressed.

Starting the Action!

The forklift was ready to go and they started on one end of the barn. He loosened several pieces of aluminum and lifted the corner of the barn up.

He was puncturing the aluminum strips on this section trying to get them loose. All of the sudden the guy on the ground shouted at him to stop. I didn't know what had happened at first, but as it turned out, the fork lift had bent. The part that telescopes had bent, right at the place where it should retract back into the arm. The guys said they had never seen anything like this happen.

They were able to back the forklift back down the barn bank, and they could lower the arm. but the extension was very definitely bent! It was disappointing for me, but it will be a major set back for them. They obviously had to quit for the day.

The Bent Arm
(It's a little hard to see the bend as there is a chain
right in front of the spot where it is bent)

I have a Dr's appointment tomorrow, and I really have some other things I need to do, including going to the fitness center (I have a free week's pass, and I hate to waste it!). So I won't be going tomorrow. I'm not sure they'll even be able to work unless they get a replacement forklift. I'm not sure if this one can be repaired. I believe some of my siblings will be there on Saturday, so I'll have to depend on a report from them.