Scavenging

After I woke up this morning, I began to plan all the lovely things I would do: buy groceries, make a nice dinner, possibly even dessert!  I hurried out the door to do my shopping.  As I approached my car, I patted my pocket, looking for my keys.  They weren’t there.  And, because I am a responsible adult, I made sure to lock both front and back doors before I left.  I was locked out.  I texted my roommate to see if she would be back soon, but knew I would be out there awhile.

I suppose I’ve never told you, but I live next door to a house that burned down.  The house is completely gone, except for a pile of burnt wood and the stairs that lead to the front door.  It is somehow quite charming.  Ominous, yes, but charming nonetheless.

Well, anyway, while I was outside some men came over with a tractor and a trailer and starting hauling off the rubble.   When my roommate Carolynn arrived to rescue me, she was as horrified as I was to see those men disturbing the remains.  She insisted we go over and ask them what they were doing.

Luckily for us, the men were very nice.  They asked us if we would like to help.  We moped for a few minutes, then decided we might as well.  We started out being somewhat helpful, but eventually we began scavenging.

I know it might sound a bit crazy, but we could not help it.  Yes, everything was burnt and had been sitting outside for years, but isn’t there something slightly romantic about that?  So, because we are both ridiculously sentimental, Carolynn and I collected a box full of treasures.

Believe it or not, in the middle of this wreckage, a tree was growing.  Somehow in the midst of the mess, new life had begun.  We could not bear the thought of this poor tree being bulldozed, so we asked if we could have it.  I cannot begin to tell you how nice these men were.  They were very patient with two very crazy girls; they even dug up the tree for us!!  (We planted it in our backyard!)

This was my first experience as an archeologist.  It probably will not be the last.  I cannot tell you how fun it was to dig through a big pile of dirt and pull out a little tea set one piece at a time.

Here are the yellow pages, still yellow!

I promise I will give you a more in-depth look at the treasures, but for now this will have to do!  I’m not sure what we are going to do with all this stuff, but I’m sure it will be amazing!

I had planned a nice, simple day for myself, but what I got was better than I could have imagined!

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