Free, Or Not?

3/13 Wednesday
I went trash heap diving today.  I've been contemplating it for the last two months.  A brilliant idea sparked by Mel from Square Foot Gardening.  In order to build my 4 x 4 garden boxes this spring I need lumber.  Conveniently for me there is a new house construction site three blocks from  my home.  I pass it each day on my walk.  For the last two months I've been salivating over the lovely pieces of discarded lumber.  Why pay, as Mel points out, for lumber when it is available for the taking.

So, today on my walk, courage in hand, I approached one of the construction workers and asked if I could take lumber from the their discard pile.  He said sure.  That was too easy.  Why had I dreaded asking?  The temperature today was in the high 20's with snow flurries.  This is important to note because in my cleverness I knew the ground needed to be frozen, as I astutely observed on previous walks the ground surrounding the sites was suitably awash in red muck.  I remember thinking that could be a definite deterrent to a successful retrieval of scrap lumber.

Scrap lumber pile.

I hopped in my car after my walk, by myself I might add, when J's enthusiasm wasn't as over the top as mine was, and drove the short distance to the site.  Parking on the side of the street I was excited to see several promising scraps of 2 x 8's.  Since Mel's boxes call for at least
 2 x 6's, I felt I had hit the mother lode.  

I approached the lumber pile with glee and felt one foot promptly sink up to the top of my Nike walker.  Cold wet enveloped my foot.  I had stepped into a rut covered by snow and a thin sheet of ice.  Not to be deterred I carried on and scored four pieces of 2 x 8's about 3 to 4 feet long.  I'm heading to the car when suddenly my left foot is footloose and  fancy free and the top of my shoe is barely visible six inches deep, embedded in red muck.   I furtively take a quick glance around to see who might be witness to my embarrassment.  Fortunately I'm blocked by the the house and am witness free.  I delicately balance my shoe less foot on one of my new acquisitions as I dig, tug and wrench my shoe from the muck.  Since I am a good 30 feet from my car I have no choice but to slip my foot back into my now gooey red shoe.  My feet have now morphed into over sized red clay clodhoppers.  My gloves and the bottom of pants are also clinging stubbornly to the red clay, reluctant to part with it.

The offending muck, though it appears more brown than red.  Offensive  none the less.

I want to note that I would have worn a pair of boots, if I owned such a thing.  Being short, I have a correspondingly small body and small feet.  Size 5 shoes, boots or any type of footwear is a hard to find commodity.  I would give my first born for a pair of size 5 wellies!  What I will do on an alpaca farm without this critical necessity remains to be seen.

Beating a more cautious retreat to my car, I'm able to secure my treasures.  Once home I have to throw my sneakers into the laundry tub and let them soak.  I have to throw my winter coat, my alpaca gloves, my socks, my pants and my sweatshirt in the washing machine.

There still remains three 8 foot long 2 x 8's back on the lumber pile.  I was afraid they would be too heavy for me to lift and too long to fit into my PT Cruiser.  The allure of free, however, may outweigh the wisdom of discretion.  I may have to still retrieve them!  Perhaps tomorrow the temperatures will be colder and gooey red muck will be frozen to solid red chunks.

3/15/2013
Postscript

This morning J and I retrieved those three lovely 2 x 8's, which actually ended up measuring about 10 feet in length.  The ground was suitably frozen to avoid a repeat of the other day's performance.  Well worth it!

Look at my lovely treasures!