Piano Man

We stopped at an old schoolhouse Saturday. This building was solid, made from poured cement. Interior looked pretty sad, but the exterior, other than broken windows, was still in good shape. Jacqui crawled halfway into a basement window to see what was down there. I nearly had heart failure. What if she fell in? Then what would we do? Cell service was poor to nonexistent.

“I see a piano,” she said.

A piano?

“Yes, a broken piano.”

That was interesting.

I have safety rules for junking. Rule No. 1: DO NOT walk down stairs. Who knows what might be in the basement/cellar/crawl space. I might find some dead creature or live ones that I’d prefer not to encounter. And who knows what condition those steps are in? I have no desire to take a bad fall.

But our nightly lows have fallen well below freezing. Snakes and skunks should be hibernating. She shined the flashlight around the room and saw nothing other than broken chairs and plaster. And the rest of building was in amazingly-good condition. Perhaps steps would be safe?

Staircase was partially covered by a wooden door, which looked intact. Steps were covered with fallen plaster, but maybe they were passable. When I pushed up the door, I saw a dead creature on top of it, mostly noticing a set of bared teeth. Jacqui followed me. I told her to push the door tightly against the rail unless she wanted to see the set of teeth.

Piano was in horrible condition. Keyboard was entirely gone. Hammers were broken. Front of piano had disappeared. But it still maintained a certain dignity. Someone had pride in its construction, even the places that would normally be invisible.

Apparently, the local people had used this basement for entertainment. Piano sat on a little platform. Remnants of theater seating were scattered around the rest of room.

I started singing, “…Son, can you play me a memory; I’m not really sure how it goes. But it’s sad and it’s sweet and I knew it complete when I wore a younger man’s clothes … Sing us a song; you’re the Piano Man. Sing us a song tonight! ‘Cause we’re all in the mood for a melody and you’ve got us feeling all right.…”

Singing in that forlorn basement was bittersweet. Acoustics were great, but seeing the remnants of what had been a vibrant community was very sad.

Explorers

Jacqui (left), Marilyn and I went exploring in the country Saturday. I did not find a broken-down organ, but we did find a broken-down piano. One place we stopped had been a wealthy operation, but now all that wealth has become a pile of old boards and other construction material. Sad to see how transient all our earthly activities are. These falling-down buildings are a visible reminder that we should “store up … treasures in heaven,” where they are safe from all danger.

I snapped this picture because I liked how the sun lit their hair. They told me to stay away from the barn because they had smelled “a dead animal in there.” I didn’t want to smell any dead animals, so I stayed away.

Original salvaging trip

We’re going on a junking trip Saturday. I have heard of a possible broken-down organ in an old building south of here. I’d love to use that wood as a picture frame.

While I have one definite destination in mind, junking’s best part is grabbing whatever items opportunity presents. Once we visit the organ’s abandoned building, we’ll look for whatever else looks interesting.

The Game Warden, a/k/a Hubby, tries to limit my acquisitions to items that I see an immediate use for. But Hubby is not going Saturday. This is a girls’ day out. Hee, hee, hee!

I started salvaging by accident many years ago.

At the end of the 1986-87 school year, I saw an operative coffee pot that had been abandoned in an adjoining room. Irene and George came to see me about that time. I showed them what I’d found and we decided to see what else we might find. We went through all the rooms on my floor and picked up other interesting items. After that, we went through every room on every floor in every dorm on campus. We hauled off some very nice acquisitions. We found small appliances, furniture and clothes.

My mother was horrified at the waste. “You don’t leave things like that, do you?”

“Oh, no. Not this girl! You didn’t raise me like that.”

We made salvaging the dorms an annual tradition until we all moved away.

I still have a hospital nightstand from that very productive day so long ago. It’s now our coffee stand.

Off my rocker

In junking, sometimes just being in the right place at the right time results in a great find. Friday’s trash-to-treasure find was one of those cases.

Of course, it always pays to pay attention to possibilities.

When I went to work, I saw a rocking chair standing outside the door, in the area where items destined for the landfill are placed. I asked if this chair was intended for the dump.

Yes, it was. “And if someone wants to remove that chair at the end of the hall, take it away. I think the chair still has life.”

I don’t need to be told twice to take away something useful, since useful items do not go to the landfill when this girl is present.

One chair has some cracked slats. I will study how to mend them. The other one has no problems so far as I can tell. It had just been replaced by a new chair and was no longer wanted.

These chairs are destined for our front porch.

A few days ago, I went to work and saw another rocking chair by the Dumpsters. This chair (not pictured because it is now in storage) was very pretty with beautiful spindles for the back. Unfortunately, one of the rocker runners had broken off just behind one of the legs, rendering the chair dangerous to use. Still, those beautiful spindles called to me. I put it into the back of my pickup.

If I couldn’t use the chair as a rocker, perhaps I could use it or its parts for something else. I didn’t know what else, but generally items that call to me are just waiting to tell me what to do with them.

“By the pricking of my thumbs, something useful this way comes!”

Before I could get it out of the truck, Hubby asked, “What are you doing with (X’s) chair?”

I didn’t know that had been his chair, but, sure enough, his name was engraved on the back.

This man had recently died. Our friend Tonya was quite close to him. I will try to get replacement rocker runners for the chair and we will give it to her in his memory.

Just another brick on the ground

If you’ve read this blog for very long, you know that I love bricks. Red and yellow bricks are all over our yard as edging and pavers.

Monday I did a project I’ve wanted to do for some time. Apparently, our back door (just visible at upper left) was originally south of its current location. The sidewalk is just south of where the door currently opens, which means we must stand on the lawn to enter the door. Therefore, that patch is chronically bare. I hated the way it looked. I hated the mud and dust we tracked in because we had to stand on bare ground.

I took a stack of spare bricks and laid them out in that ugly place. As I anticipated, I didn't have enough spares. So I pulled the nails out of the fence posts I had rescued from the landfill. I removed the bricks I was using for edging the flower garden next to the back door and replaced them with the fence posts, now landscape timbers (shown at top in above picture). Those repurposed bricks weren’t enough, so I removed bricks from a straightway in other garden, replacing them with another fence post turned landscape timber.

The bricks sit up a bit too high. I am running a sprinkler on the newly-laid bricks. I hope I can saturate the ground enough that walking on them will push them into the ground. If that doesn’t work, I’ll dig out some of the dirt so they will sit more level with the ground.

I don’t like the pattern yet, so will tinker with it later.

Sunday, I added more bricks to the sidewalk running from the street to the back door. I didn’t like the pattern I’d originally used. I changed it and added more bricks. I’d like to add more bricks, but I’ve run out.

Unfortunately, I never run out of ways to use bricks. No stockpile is ever enough for all I have in mind. I’ll just have to keep my eyes open for more of them.

Rub-a-dub-dub, a fountain in the tub

This clawfoot bathtub is an outstanding example of junking. Somebody turned trash into a true treasure with a pump and some pipe. The stream comes out of copper tubing. I wish I would have taken better pictures.

If I can figure out how to do this and can find a suitable junk bathtub, I want to have a fountain like this by next spring.

Marilyn already has a bathtub, which she is currently using as a container garden. She is interested in turning her bathtub into a fountain as well. She’s a step ahead of me since she already has the tub.

I think I’ve seen one near an abandoned building I photographed and I actually remember where that building was. That building isn’t all that far away, either. I’m anxious to see if the tub I think I remember is a suitable one.

I love the fish in the tub as well, but what would I do with them over winter? I’m not sure I want to have a goldfish bowl in the house. Mr. Kitty would probably go fishing, but then he’d likely go fishing in the summer, too.

I found these fountain instructions at wikiHow. Hope they work.

If anyone has ideas how to do this, I’d love to hear them.

Opportunity knocks

Junking, seeking items to turn from trash into treasure, can be intentional or opportunistic. I’ve found wonderful items when I was actually Dumpster diving and I’ve found equally wonderful items when I was doing something else.

For some time, I have desired to put pavers underneath our turkey fryer, which we use as an all-purpose outdoor cooking device. But I didn’t really want to buy the pavers. That’s no fun.

Last week, my boss tore out a bricked, fenced patio. When I saw the contents of the trailer he’d used for demolition, my eyes lit up. He had thrown several old fence posts into trailer, which I immediately saw as landscape timbers. I asked him for those. He said that I could take away any item that was in that trailer.

When I looked at it more closely sometime later, I noticed bricks in there. Nice big, thick, coated bricks. Perfect for getting the fryer’s legs off the ground. I brought both fence posts and bricks home.

Saturday morning I laid those bricks where I had envisioned them and put the fryer on top. I had just enough to do the job.

I put the cover back on and was very pleased with my work.

Hubby also grabbed opportunity recently when he took out some trash. A nice plastic tub was in the Dumpster with the price sticker still attached. He fished it out and covered the tiller’s engine with it. We have no place to store the tiller, so the tub will protect the engine from rain and dirt.

Keep your eyes peeled!

Recycling all over again

The Frugal Gardener is always looking for something to rescue from the landfill. Our landfill doesn't allow recycling, so the Frugal Gardener has to grab items before they ever get there. Previously, this garden's boundaries were marked with red bricks taken from an abandoned school building that had been knocked down. The red bricks kept falling into the street. The Frugal Gardener got tired of picking them up.

Last year, Hubby and I were visiting his aunt and uncle when their neighbor began carting off wood. The Frugal Gardener was appalled at this potential waste. We rescued the wood for our purposes, some for firewood and some for landscaping. Most of the rescued landscape timbers had already been put to use. Our stockpile did not have enough landscape timbers to completely frame this flower garden. But we had salvaged fence posts from other places.



Weeds had taken over this garden. I dug the worst so Hubby can till in here. Our tulips have about died down and the hibiscus has yet to leaf out, so it looks pretty bad. Once he tills, we'll plant more flowers in here.

After digging, I picked up all the bricks and placed the boards where I wanted them. Unfortunately, they are just a bit short, so I had to leave a few of them in place. But I'll keep looking for more boards. Buying some just seems like cheating! Turning other people's trash into our treasures is much more rewarding than buying something.



Previous owners planted cedars rather too close to the sidewalk, forcing us to walk on the grass. Not much grows here because we continually walk on it and several trees take up most of the water this patch receives. So instead of patchy grass, I took the replaced bricks and began a red brick walk. We'll truly be Walking the Red Brick Road once it's finished.