so how does one move a hot tub?
Last Saturday when Jude and I were walking with friends to our island’s May Day
celebration, we went past a house that had a hot tub leaning on its fence. When
something is put on display like that here, that usually means it’s there for the
taking. Typically, the owner will attach a “FREE” sign. To ensure its removal,
I’d put a “TEENAGERS: DO NOT REMOVE” sign on it.
After I’d verified that the tub was indeed available, we arranged to pick it up. We
have no plans to sip chablis and soak all summer, but there’s got to be a use for it
on a farm — a watering trough or rain catcher, maybe. At any rate, we’ll be keeping
it out of the landfill.
We were heading into town in the truck, anyway. We had to exchange a generator
for some neighbours. They needed a different size. So we packed it back in the ori-
ginal box, hoping the folks at the building suppliers would accept it. The machine
itself was unscratched, but the packaging looked like this:
The neighbours’ goats had snacked on it. Fortunately it was accepted, the exchange
was made, and we pressed on. Securing the tub was more daunting than I thought.
It took up more of the truck bed than I’d anticipated.
But Jude was on the job. She used the assessment skills she’d honed as a nurse and
figured out the best way to tie the tub down. Here she is doing just that.
Just look at the quality of these knots. And please bear in mind that she couldn’t
use a trucker’s hitch because she’s not a Teamster.
This one was her crowning touch, the reason we got the tub home without incident
or lawsuit. Jude calls it the bowline/double sheet bend/Alpine knot/buntline hitch
with monkey’s fist and nasal passages. I’m going to see if a Scoutmaster friend will
introduce it at Philmont Ranch next time he’s there.
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Anchor Struck 
You’re a lucky guy, Allen … all men love a knotty girl.
😉
Jude sounds like my kinda girl…. Knows what to do in a pinch!!! I haul a lot of material for people in construction and tie down better than most men I know, but Jude has me BEAT!!! Good Job Jude!
Jude is obviously a VERY capable woman – – I salute her! As a single mom, I’ve done LOTS of things I never thought I’d do, and I’m the better woman for it!
Yay! for Jude. You could always make a duck pond out of the hot tub!! Think of the birds you could attract in winter~
THIS is why Jude is my friend! Well, this and her cake-baking skills. And her making-me-play-tennis skills. And her disco dancing skills! God, did you luck out with this wife of yours!
Knotty Jude here – My, my, how you girls do go on… Can you see my blush through the monitor? My problem is that each knot is custom made for each job – in other words, I can’t remember how I do them after I am done. When we first moved here and a neighbor woman saw some knots I had made – she about wet her panties laughing. They do do the job though. My favorite is the one I can tie in the middle of a long rope to secure a side and continue to use the rest of the rope without having to pull the whole rope through to make the knot. Sorry – I can’t explain how to do it……… And Kathy, my friend – did you know that now I can disco dance, bake cookies and play tennis at the same time? It isn’t the same with out you. I haven’t made a red devils food cake with butterscotch filling and cream cheese frosting since I baked it for you………
I would love to learn how to tie knots like that!! Speaking of moving hot tubs, my husband and I did just that once. When we lived in Washington state, my neighbor across the street was getting rid of hers. Problem is, the frame was rotting. This we didn’t know before we started moving it. But somehow, and to this day I’m not quite sure how we managed, we got the hot tub onto a few flat dollies, and with the help of several male neighbors, the hot tub made it almost in one piece across the street and into our backyard. My husband had to rebuild the frame, and once we got it all hooked up and the house wired for the breaker, he added chemicals to the water — but a bit too much. The one time we sat in our “free” hot tub, I stank of chlorine for days afterward. It may have raised the resale value of our house, however.
I’ve heard similar stories. Several folks have told me a hot tub is not worth the time and cost, especially with energy costs going nowhere but up.