Making "Magnetic" Memories

One of the most important lessons I have learned about undertaking a project on this level is the value of time.  My husband and I still have our "day" jobs so the work we do on the house is usually on the weekends.  When we have a long weekend or time off we try to squeeze in as many things on our to-do list as we can.  

In between fighting the weather, the wind, sub-contractors, short supply of building materials, and constant delays, every second lost or gained is very important to getting to the finish line.  This long weekend was no different. We had planned to work on Saturday but a cold front came in dropping temperatures in the 20's/30's and bringing with it wind gusts of up to 50 miles per hour.  Trust me when I say it was soooo cold.  We decided to go later in the morning thinking we could clean out what is left in the house and move to the garage (after cleaning it out) and we lasted about an hour.  My husband was almost knocked down by a runaway tumbleweed the size of a small car and at one point I saw my hair literally standing on its end.  We wrapped up shop and made plans to return the next day.

Our first task the next day was to clean out the garage so we could move the little bit of furniture from the house into the garage.  But as we looked closer we made a very disgusting discovery that I don't think either of us was prepared for.  When looking at cleaning out the garage and removing the random items left in there we quickly figured out there was concrete under that "dirt" floor.  What we didn't plan on was half of the garage was covered in about 1-2 inches (in places) of rat poo.  No rats were found but they left behind a huge mess! (Sorry I couldn't take a picture to share because I was so grossed out.)

We got everything cleaned out in a pretty short time and moved the furniture out of the house as we had planned---right on schedule!  Our trailer was loaded down with some very random items---iron post footboard, heavy metal cot, the steel bumper from some kind of old car, metal cabinets, and other things like wood and rolls of old flooring.

Here is where the making magnetic memories comes in.  I really do hate to waste things or throw things away that could be recycled or repurposed.  So, I told my husband that we should take some of the metal items to the local salvage yard---even if it was to keep it out of the landfill.  He was not on board with it and he was not going to have time to take the trailer full of items to several different places---he just needed to get it unloaded.  I offered to do it for him while he was busy and of course, he hesitantly said that it was up to me.

So who did I call to help me? My dad---he is 82 (almost 83) and I don't know a time in my life that he has not been more than willing to help his kids with anything......and I do mean anything.  When it comes to his philosophy in life "where there is a will there is a way" he lives it every day!  I asked him if he would just ride with me to the salvage yard since I wasn't so sure what to do but felt like I could figure it out---he enthusiastically said "I'll be right over."

We loaded up and headed north of town to the salvage yard.  My dad began to tell me what to expect---I said I wasn't going to ask him to lift anything (because he is almost 83) and he said no problem they will have a big magnet that will lift everything out of the trailer.  Who would have thought!  He was right---we drove through an area with a scale and they weighed the truck, trailer, and all.  Then we went to the back of the yard where a crane operator was swinging a huge magnet over several items that he picked up and dropped in a pile.  He swung that magnet over our trailer and low and behold he got every metal item that was on that trailer.  I was amazed!  Then we drove back to the giant drive on scale to be weighed after everything was removed and then went to get our cash.  I really didn't care about getting anything in return for recycling but when my dad came out of the office he had $36 in his hand.  He was impressed---and quite frankly so was I!  Who knew they'd pay you $0.075 cents per pound for our little trailer with its 400 pounds of metal!  Hilarious.

This is the magnet lifting an old hot water heater out of the trailer.  I was definitely going to need help lifting this out of the trailer so the magnet came to the rescue.

So why did I title this blog "making magnetic memories"?  On our way home my dad thanked me for asking him to go.  He said, "we never get to talk that much without others around and I really enjoyed going with you today."  Who would have known that my little trip to the salvage yard would mean so much to him (and me)!  It made for a wonderful memory and a great outing for both of us!  My philosophy in life has always been "you never get time back" so I'm glad that we had this time today----even if it was a trip to the salvage yard!  

The Martin House has brought many surprises and I'm sure there are more to come.....