The delivery guys from Lowes took a look at the angular land surrounding our house and scratched thier heads.

“Anything flat here?”

“Only the spot where you’re parked.”

The driver had negotiated up the long driveway leading to the house, managed to back the truck up to the entrance to the garage only to emerge from the cab and wonder how in the hell he and his helper would manage to get our new washer and dryer into the mud room that leads off the garage.

“Ain’t got a lot of room there.”

“Well, you could try coming in the back through the porch.”

Of course, getting to the entrance to the porch meant lugging the appliances up a hill. Going through the garage meant neogiating two sets of steps that lead form the garage floor to the mud room landing a half-story up. Trying the front door meant another hill and another set of steps.

“This,” he said, “aint gonna be easy.”

Amy had measured the mud room carefully before picking out just the matched pair of washer and dryer she wanted and the delivery men, ended up taking the dryer in through the back porch and the washer in through the front door.

Took them about three hours to get the two appliances in and installed. When complete there wasn’t more than a half-inch to spare on either side of the pair and a close fit when you open the door to the garage.

But they fit and the first load went through both washer and dryer that morning.

I looked at what the two delivery men went through and wondered, aloud, what would happen if — and when — we decided to update the fridge.

“Do me a favor,” one of the delivery men said. “Have it delivered on my day off.”