The Fifteen Puzzle
As the year 2000 progressed, we lent space in our backyard to our neighbor, Scott, and stored some of our stuff back there. Hey, why not? We've got the room and weren't using it during the design process for the garage. Everything had a place, and everything stayed put. That is, until we needed to make room for the garage construction to begin. A lot of the stuff needed to be moved several times, since there was a lot of it. Thing A had to be moved into the empty spot, while Thing B moved into Thing A's old space. Then, Thing C had to move into Thing B's old spot before Thing A had to move into Thing C's original home. It took some doing to figure out, and we realized that it was exactly like those plastic puzzles where you have to move the pieces around using one open spot to get them back in order. Kinda like the picture above.
When I wanted to find an image of this puzzle as a metaphor for our funny process, I searched the Internet, natch. After a few minutes, I learned that the marvelous little plastic thing that we all toyed with as kids is called a "Fifteen Puzzle." And, for those of you with few pressing tasks, here in all its glory is the history of the Fifteen Puzzle:
The fifteen puzzle was invented by Sam Loyd in the 1870s, and appeared in the scientific literature shortly thereafter. The editor of the journal where the paper on 15-puzzle appeared said at the front of the paper, "The 15 puzzle for the last few weeks has been prominently before the American public, and may safely be said to have engaged attention of nine out of ten persons of both sexes and of all ages and conditions of the community" -- In other words, it was the Pokemon and hula-hoop of the 1870s.
And here is the story of our Fifteen Puzzle:
The beginning configuration of the yard,
including a metal storage shed that came with the house, the remnants
of last year's garden, and an RV that belongs to a friend of Scott's.
|
Another view of the beginning layout, with
the travel trailer on the right side on top of the old garage foundation,
and the blue storage bin at the back on the right. Lumber is stored
under the blue tarp next to the travel trailer. |
-sigh- lots of stuff to sift through, move
around, and get rid of. |
Bill begins the process of moving the metal
storage shed, which we will use until the garage is done. It is somewhat
tricky to move it intact without destroying it, and it cannot be taken
apart and reassembled. |
Bill gets help from Oscar Diaz, a work
mate, and several wheeled devices to move the storage shed to the
back fence. |
The travel trailer begins its journey to
the metal shed's old home.
|
A bit of a tricky turn to get the trailer
in where it needs to go. |
Scott's Scout helps move the emptied blue
bin into position so that the rental company can pick it up easily.
We decided to purchase a bin rather than continue to pay the rental
fees. 
|
The bin gets dragged foot by foot. |
Almost there! |
