Yard and Garden Junk

When The Breadman was on vacation a few weeks ago, I planned  a super fun stay at home WORK DAY.  He was less than pleased, but I stuck to my guns!  I have a good amount of what I refer to as "junk" in my yard.  For years I have been picking up beat up enamelware, old kettles, rusty wheelbarrows, etc.  And I really do mean "picking up".  I found our big old huge wheelbarrow siting curbside on Spring Clean Up Day.  I happened upon an old dump site on a remote dirt road one day and picked myself up a slew of old buckets, enamel cookery, enamel washtubs and other goodies.  (That was a fun day!)

 My yard isn't fancy - we have done it all ourselves and it may look that way, but I like it.  It's me.  But, we did it all on the cheap or mostly free.

We have bricks all the way around the house as a border.  When they built the house behind us, they left a pile of bricks on the property line that sat for nearly a year after they were done.  So, I put them in our red wagon and hauled them home in a few trips.  Free.  All the "junk" was free, found or found at yard sales.

 If it can hold dirt, I have planted flowers in it - old buckets, pans, washtubs - nothing is safe.  It will all look better when the flowers have grown up a bit.

I've straightened up the bricks since I took this photo.  They were "good enough" according to TBM.  I disagreed.  That iron wheel is h-e-a-v-y.  When I spotted it at a sale,le, they quoted me a price of one dollar - "IF you can pick it up."  Well, ha ha on them, I picked it up and carried it to the car all by myself.  I have JUNKING skills - I can pick up heavier stuff than I can normally.  I don't mind rat droppings or snake skins or spider webs when I am junking,  I am a super-junker!

Our house is white with blue trim, but after some home repairs a few years ago, we had the blue trim replaced with white.  But, then I kind of missed the blue, so I have pops of blue throughout the yard.  

I found this wagon in my Grandmother's shed on about the last visit to her house before it sold.  The frog is really a torch, but we've never used it that way.  The frog came from my Stepfather's Mom's house after she died.

 On the porch, I have a plethera of good junk.  I'll save most of that for another day.  I do have my toolbox full of garden clippers.  I think I found the red pair first, then I started finding pairs with different colored handles.  And, so another collection was born.  There are a lot of dangerous and sharp tools in that box.  The Bean says I am making it easy for murderers that knock on our door.

A few old garden sprinklers I have picked up.  Love the one with the paper label and the red flower decoration.  The one in the front is PINK, even though I know it looks red.

 More junk shots.  When I bought that windmill last summer I intended to find just the right spot for it.  Until I did that, I sat it where you see it.  I got used to looking out the kitchen window and seeing it spin and knowing if it was windy or not.  I guess where I put it was just the right spot after  all.

The very old, very beat up and much loved concrete rabbit.  He went on an adventure once.  In 2006, we came home c\from vacation and someone has stolen him!  I was so sad to lose him not to mention MAD that someone had the NERVE to take him!  I put a sign on our mailbox that said, "STOLEN!  White concrete bunny!  Return him, PLEASE!"  TBM laughed at me, but tow days later the bunny magically appeared on our doorstep.  Either a guilty conscience or a Mom/Dad made them return him.  

 Wherever we go, we bring home a rock as a souvenir.  We have amassed quite a collection of rocks.  We try to find unique rocks or ones with character.  Many have names - you'll see why.

This is the "PT Cruiser" rock.  It really does look like a car, doesn't it?  I schleped that thing on a freaking walking trial up and down a mountain.  The things we do......

This pretty polished red rock stuck out like a sore thumb in a creek.  When it is wet, it is really red.  

A perfectly round white rock from the lake at Grove, OK.

We keep this one partially hidden for our safety.  It's a GUN!

This is a piece of rock that my Mom plucked from the ocean in Aruba.  

A huge piece of Petrified Wood  that was at my Grandmother's in KS, moved to AR with her and now is at my house.  

 More rocks of all kinds.  That hollowed out Native Stone is natural.  I don't know how they get hollowed out like that though.

This rock weighs about 18 pounds.  We found it halfway around a lake and had to carry it along the shore all the way around to get it to the car.  We all took turns carrying it because how often do you find a rock in the shape of your state?  It's a perfect Arkansas shaped rock.

Well, do you think I have a rock in my head?  We like our junk and our rocks, so that's all that matters.  I see people waling up the sidewalk stop to look at our things.  I wonder if they are thinking, "Hey!  That's cool!" or "What's with all the junk?  Call Hoarders!".  :D