Storytime with Beth: Taking the Wheelbarrow For a Walk

Story #1

Matt goes for a nice long walk most mornings before he heads off to work.  The other day he came upon a pallet stacked with bricks next to FREE sign on his walk.  When he got back to the house he hopped in the car and went back for a load of bricks.  He only had time for one trip though.  It was an auspicious find since we've been building more solid (and less muddy) garden paths this year.  We didn't really want to invest money in the paths though and had been acquiring fairly flat natural rocks at a slow-and-steady pace when we happened upon them.  We also commandeered some faux wood that the neighbors had put out with the bins on trash day.  So, the paths are coming along, but this mountain of bricks would really speed things up, not to mention look real sharp.

The paths from left to right:  Dirt path, dirt path, faux wood, (old) red brick, real wood, (new) tan bricks.  

I typically rouse myself shortly before Matt leaves for work so I can chat with him for a few or at least share a "good morning" and a kiss goodbye.  On this particular day he told me about the bricks and said he'd go back for the rest after work, but that if I had time to get a load that'd be cool...just in case someone else might swoop them before he had a chance to go back.  I had time and was absolutely on board to snag them pronto.

Matt takes the car to work though so that left me to haul them in our big honkin' wheelbarrow.  I walked it up the street and around the corner a ways to the brick pile  I filled the wheelbarrow about half full, reckoning that if I filled it any fuller the thing would drag me down the hill behind it.  I walked my wheelbarrow full of bricks home and added them to Matt's stacks on the porch.  I took a second trip back to the brick pile.  

On my second return trip the crossing guard for the nearby elementary school hopped out of his truck with a smile, "Now that's something you don't see every day!" he says, nodding at me walking with my wheelbarrow.  "And what ARE you up to?"  So I told him about the free bricks, only having one car, the garden paths, and the organic way I was getting my strength training done for the day.  Oh, how he laughed as he got back in his truck and I continued on my way.  It was a delightful exchange.

We ended up with about 75 bricks for just a tiny bit of effort.  They look perfect out in the garden.

Our "new" brick path in the garden.

This wheelbarrow brick story leads me to a second story.

Story #2

We found the wheelbarrow while we were out on a bicycle ride one day some years back.  It was perched, upside-down, on top of mound of black garbage bags.  Matt stopped hi bike to inspect it and was wondering aloud why someone would just throw it away since it seemed so sturdy.  One of the neighbors was out in her yard and said basically the same thing.  "I don't know why they're just throwing that out..."  

So we decided to adopt it.

...but we were on our bikes and more than a mile from the house.  What to do, what to do?

Matt's solution was to just walk them both home.  He picked up his bike and laid it across the bucket of the wheelbarrow and then off we went, him walking as I pushed my bike alongside.  We could hear the neighbor laughing in high amusement as we headed for home.  It is a really great wheelbarrow.  Deep and heavy-duty.  We have another that we use regularly, but this curbside trash wheelbarrow is the primary go-to.

I like to think that not only did we salvage some useful items from an early demise, but we brought a little joy to the people who saw us out and about on our wheelbarrow walks.  :)