I ordered 450 cement blocks (often misidentified as cinder blocks, but are no longer made of cinder) online from a big-box hardware store.  I would heartily prefer getting them from my local hardware store (and if I ever need replacements you can be sure I’ll do just that), but for this job the big-box store delivers!  There is no way I can pass up home delivery of 450 cement blocks.  I don’t even know how many trips and how much time it would take up to get those from the store to my driveway in the back of my first generation Prius (smallest car ever).

My order confirmation clearly states that once the order is received, the store will contact me within 24 hours to set up a delivery time.  “Great!” I think.  “I can order tonight and schedule a delivery for later this week so the blocks will be here for our event this weekend.”  Er, no.  The delivery man called me at 7:21 this morning – on a weekend! – and said gruffly, “Uh, yeah, I’m calling about a delivery for a Mr. Dillon Hendrick.  I’ll be around to drop the blocks off between 8 and 10 AM. Bye.”  This left Dashel very excited.

I bolted out of bed, threw on some incredibly warm [sarcasm] yoga pants and a sweatshirt, and started chucking things from my driveway over the fence into my backyard to clear a path, disconnecting hoses along the way.  I moved the car to the street, turned on all the outside lights, and then I waited.  Sure enough, at 9AM, right square between 8 and 10, the delivery truck shows up and wakes up every dog on the block.

Six shuttles back and forth brought me 450 cement blocks and six pallets to work with this weekend.  George, the delivery man, was very nice and remarkably pleasant for having been up so early in the morning on a weekend.  I actually think he drove the truck past the house at 7:30 this morning on his way to work, checking out his drop location.  In the time it took him to unload I was able to feed the dogs, makes a grilled cheese sandwich, and empty/reload the dishwasher.  Not a shabby start to the day.  Now I just have to resist picking at the plastic on the pallets until it’s time to use them.  It’s like homesteading christmas!  With that checked off my list I’m moving on to the next item: obtaining massive amounts of quality compost.