The Secret Life of an Old Shed

Almost every old property out here has an old shed or barn on it.   They are filled with the detritus of decades of rural frugality. 

We live by these words:  Use it up; wear it out; make it do or do without. 

So many of the folks out here knew poverty.   They saved everything.   Just in case.

You can find just about everything in old barns and sheds.

An old cloth water cooler hanging on the wall where it has probably been hanging for a good 40 years.  'Cools by Evaporation' it says. 

A crate full of old clay pigeons.    Several sections of old ceramic drainage tile.   Old broken sleds.   Old broken furniture.   Old broken wood burning stoves.

Stacks and stacks of lumber.   Old tools.  Ladders.

Old car parts.   Old cars.  Old tractor parts.   Old tractors.   Old trailers.  Old tires.   Old license plates. 

Old bottles.   Old marbles.   

Old cats.   New cats.   [There are at least three in these pics.  Can you find them?]

Ginormous racoons.   Even bigger possums. 

These structures are monuments to the hard work and foresight of my grandfather's generation.    The shed in these pics was built decades ago from the wood salvaged from an old house that had been on the property when the owner moved there.   

This is recycling at its finest.