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01/26/2009: "The Mystery Box"

Well, it finally arrived, nearly 10 weeks after I wired a large sum of money to Italy. They subsequently crated it up, and shipped it out of the port of La Spezia, the largest port in Italy that no American has ever heard of. By December 23rd it had been carried across the ocean and was in New York; it sat several more weeks waiting for a West Coast-bound truck, but finally last week I got word that it was finally in Portland at Customs. Luckily, there is no import duty on agricultural equipment shipped from the EU (thank you, Farm Lobby!).

It weighs 310kg (683 pounds!). I had to buy a set of pallet forks for the tractor bucket to be able to unload it from the truck, and I was really quite concerned about whether the front end loader would be up to the task... but no problems. We eased it off the truck, got it low to the ground, and walked it back to the shop. I did a little rearranging (hmm, might need the mower before the tiller, hmm), and then eased it into place under cover.

It will have to wait for a less hectic trip before I start prying the plywood panels off it. All will be revealed, in good time!