Thanks Joe, but for now, I'll probably have to make do with a very small woodstove I have already.
Pete -- some very good suggestions there. Especially to get rid of things which haven't been used for 2 years. I'll try to be ruthless, might not make it though. Keep telling me this kind of stuff, it really helps!
Andrew, sounds like you have a GREAT setup! I will be happy once this is over with, but it's hard right now.
Chipenter, yes mate, it's a struggle short handed. All that mass you appreciate in a machine when using it, doesn't want to move elsewhere than where it's planted!
Today I fought with the mill. Lifted it from the stand slung from an overhead beam with a come-along to gradually convince it onto a dolly, which bent visibly under the weight. And then using a pry bar, inched it towards the doorway. What do these things weigh altogether 600 lbs maybe?
Anyway, got it to the edge where it could be reached by a boom on the tractor. Unfortunately a 1951 John Deere Model M only has 18 horsepower, though they are honest horses. But the state of hydraulics back then on a small tractor aren't what they are today, and it couldn't lift the mill drill. So I pulled the 4 bolts that held the ways to the pillar, guess I'll be shimming and tramming.
I had the head and pillar up in the air ready to move on over to the other shed and the slides and base on the dolly when the tractor engine suddenly stopped. I was just over the door threshold. Couldn't restart and the boom started to come down -- old hydraulics don't hold forever. I decided to lower it myself rather than wait (a mistake) and it came down too fast with the pillar tilted enough to start keeling over. I caught it with the control before it dropped, but it gradually lowered itself on its side -- half on the concrete pad and half in the dirt outside the shop.
Luckily it was on the left side, and nothing contacted that could get bent or broken, but still I was acursin'!
Turned out the tractor battery was dead -- the generator wasn't charging. It was nearly evening, so I moved sensitive stuff indoors, covered over others, including the mill head and ways, and put the tractor on a charger. I couldn't close the shed door because the mill head was half in and half out.
Oh well, we'll sort it in the morning. That mill WILL arrive in its new quarters before rainfall (100 % chance of heavy rain) Saturday evening, even if I have to take it and the tractor to bits!
Don, grateful for a lack of photographic equipment today. It would only have been thrown at a tree!

I promise to take photos when and if there is something civilized to shoot!
