Tuesday, November 4, 2008

tread mill

For some time now we have been thinking of getting a tread mill. It seems a bit silly at first to live in the middle of no-where with country roads for miles and think you might want to walk inside the house. But then keep in mind that our middle of no-where is in Wisconsin and there are certain portions of the year- November to April - when it's a bit too brisk to be outside for an hour walk. There is also the occasional blizzard and ice storm to make the roads more interesting. I guess first I should point out that the picture to the left is not me. I wish I looked like that, but alas I do not.
So, a treadmill.
We did our research a few month ago with no money in our pockets to weigh us down and decided on this beauty, the treadmill not the model thank you very much.
Yesterday the monster was on sale, so off we went to the fitness store to do our part for the economy. We could get the floor model for a few hundred less than we had anticipated! After checking it out for signs of 4oo pound users, we decided this would be awesome. Of course then you need to get a stick thingie with wax on it for lubricating the part under where you walk, a mat to go on the floor under it to eliminate static, and I wanted a book holder - hate to only do one thing at a time you know, it makes my ADD go crazy. The nice young man at the store folded and wrapped it up a bit and helped Jim muscle it into the back of the truck. Gosh it sure looked heavy. No matter, Jim has a dolly that he can just zip it up the steps with once we get home.
First order of business was "zipping" it up the porch steps. After about 20 minutes of grunting and heaving the monster was flat on the ground and Jim was wishing the manual wasn't being sent from the company because it sure would be nice to know how to take it apart. After some head scratching and searching he did get the top part thingie off. Well, those 4 pounds were going to help a LOT! We turned it up again and with Jim pulling and me pushing we got it up the 4 steps on the porch and to the door. hmmm. It looked a bit wide for the door, no matter we'll just bully it in. Halfway IN the door it was quite obvious that this treadmill was not going to go either way. Out come MORE tools and off comes the storm door, the inside door, oh heck rip off the weather stripping too, what's one more job on the "to do before snow flies" list?
Meanwhile Jim seems to need a wee bit of break. I tried to cheer him up by pointing out all the great exercise he had already gotten without even turning the monster on.
Boy, that worked really well for me.
More grunting, more squeezing, a bit of white paint from the remaining bits of door frame on the monster and VIOLA it's inside!
How great, now it's totally blocking the hallway and the stairs, and guess what ladies and gentlemen?
There is NO WAY on Gods little green earth that it's going to make it past the newel post.
Time for plan B.
Move some of the sewing things - Miss V's machine and table- upstairs instead and put the monster in my sewing room.
sigh. I can probably drape a lot of fabric on the rails don't you think? No, I really do plan to use it those few days when the weather is not cooperative.
I'll wait for all the Wisconsin readers to get done laughing here...............
Actually I'm just really hoping that the dog learns how to use and thus takes herself for a walk at least once a day so I can have 20 more minutes of sewing time! anyone think that will work? yeah, me either but I can dream.




5 comments:

The Calico Cat said...

Once again, I am "glad" that I don't have room for a guilt machine - aka item to put stuff on... Because I know that the novelty of using it as it is intended would wear off right quick in my little neck of the woods - snow or not!

Susan Freebery said...

ok, so THIS is hysterical! We had a great treadmill that I dusted every week or so. It was in the old house, in a "formal sitting room" that never got sat in. I finally decided that the best place for it would be the bedroom where we could hang our clothes off it, thus allowing it to earn its keep... good luck with that one. wink wink wink

Chocolate Cat said...

I've always said exercise is dangerous!!! and highly overrated!!! Have fun!

Unknown said...

My treadmill collected dust for years until I put a TV in front of it. Now I spend 40 minutes a day watching news or whatever while I walk. Lost 50 lbs. in a year! I tried putting a book on the book stand but found that I couldn't read with all the moving around.

The Calico Quilter said...

My fold-up treadmill is a great stand for my portable design wall. Actually I wish the design wall was about 10 inches taller so you couldn't see the treadmill at all.....As you can guess, I don't treadmill much. Can't read on it (makes me carsick) and no tv in the room. I have a radio, but that only works for about 30 minutes and then I'm BORED. Mine went through the front door just fine but I thought there was no way on God's green earth that it was going to make the turn into the bedroom. The delivery guy was very practiced in squeezing these behemoths through small homes.