a chain of love: a friend like that

You know those houses setting out in pastures fallen to bits? Do they make you want jump out of the pick up, do a belly crawl while trespassing and rummage through it to see what kind of cool treasures you can find? Well, I do! I do not trespass, but that's doesn't mean I don't want to! Not very many people are overly excited to rummage through old houses and barns that are knee deep in poo, dirt and brain eating birds for 100 year old goodies in 100 + degree weather. Well, I have a friend like THAT, My Running Buddy is just like that!! I'm blessed with a friend that lives right down the road and though we come from very different worlds, we have a crazy amount of things in common. It's a blessing and a BLAST!

The house above is a random picture I found, but we've been junk hunting in houses and barns in this condition for weeks now. We have tracked down people and begged them to let us pilfer in their old run down houses and barns, this is usually followed by a strange look. I think they join our kids in thinking we drink our bath water, but they have no idea the joy it brings to our hearts to find old crystal door knobs, tin gas cans, galvanized feed buckets and wash tubs, metal lawn chairs, rickety tables, rocking chairs held together with bailing wire, 40 year old coffee cans, family heirloom saddles that are falling to bits, rod iron head and foot boards, the list goes on and on! We are amazed at all the things people chalk up as trash and we gather in blood, sweat, and tears with HUGE smiles on our faces!

This is a display at My Running Buddy's house, after a hunt or two.

Then yesterday on a leisurely junk hunt scoping out houses we yearned to scavenge, we hit the mother load! Don't get me wrong we have drug home several pick up loads of adored treasure before yesterdays adventure, but we found diamonds in the rough. When I say rough... I mean ROUGH!

You see, as we were cruising back roads we came across a house we had our eye on for a while. So, after we finally got the go ahead and a "there's nothing in there", we found it! There in this house amongst large holes in the floor, the ceiling caving in on top of us, the plaster from the walls crumbling to the floor, there was two very well built room petitions with trim and molding, drawers and cubbies. They were beautiful, at least we knew they would be.

As we inched closer we were bombarded by two enormous brain eating buzzards!! They were HUGE AND ugly AND stinky AND scary. They hissed and flapped their wings at us, but we were more determined to gather our treasure than they could ever imagine! So, My Running Buddy threw paint cans at them as we screamed and yelped, she saved us from the brain eating, 3 feet - NO - maybe 10 feet tall buzzards!!!

We were so excited about our find we could hardly contain ourselves. We had to go home, put our babies down for naps, get our big kids from school and wait for the Dads to get home from work. After everyone was home, feed, and settled, off we went with our "Emergency Kits" in hand!

We pulled up to the scarier than usual old house in the light of the moon and tore out to collect our goods. With hammers, saws, and flash lights from our Kits we pounded through the house hoping not to come face to face with any more brain eating buzzards. Successful at being scarier than them, we were alone in the house with our treasures.

We worked and hammered AND sweat and worked AND sawed and sweat AND kicked and pushed AND pulled and FINALLY we got one out. Then the other took the same punishment. I must say, things are not made the way they use to be! We got them loaded and set off to gather the other stock piles we had. By the end of the night we were loaded down with a rocking chair on top, which gave me the urge to bust into song and holler "Y'all come back now ya hear!?".