Nella Vita di Farm Boys

So one weekend some of Shane's cousins from the north (some would call them yankees, I prefer to think of them as a breath of civility) came down for a quick visit. For a brief few hours that weekend, Shane was miraculously off from work. Seeing how he works so much, I always hate asking him to do things around the house when he is home. Sadly though there are just some things that I either don't have the muscle or the slightest idea how to do. Other times, I just won't waste my own precious free time dealing with someone else's messes. Two office desks encapsulate both issues. Purchased for about $2 each at an auction, each desk could have sold for well over $30 or even $50. When buying the desks Shane (and admittedly myself by allowing the purchase) forget one crucial fact...we don't have time to be second hand furniture sellers! Through one misstep after another, including totaling the car that would be able to haul the desks to potential buyers since we live to far in the country to insist on pick up (yet another benefit to city living!)the desks remained where the were the night they came home...sitting on our front lawn.

Oh how it upset me to come home from work and see them there...I'm not a trashy person and to have my home suggest that I am was quite intolerable. Soon it became clear that we would not be able to sell the desks (not to mention they got water damaged even if we wanted to). So I started debating about the best way to dispose of them. I didn't like the idea of taking them to the dump and just sitting there taking up space, but I was concerned about what toxins may possibly be released if I burned them. In the end I decided fire was the best way to go because it would free up space in the landfill and if it ended releasing pollutants into the air and thus the water, well it would have eventually happened as they decomposed in the dump. If anyone has some better ideas, while too late for these desks, I'd love to know what the best thing for the environment would be.

So the decision was made to burn baby burn. The next question was how. The desks were extremely heavy and next to the house. In order to be safe, there would have to be burned in the backyard. We decided the best way to do so was to use Shane's father's tractor to move them. Even still it would be a tedious and time consuming task that I hated to make Shane do during his precious free time.

But then the answer came in the form of his visiting family, or more particularly his twelve year old cousin. Very few little boys would not relish the opportunity to destroy things, especially when heavy machinery and fire are involved. And Shane was happy to have some time to spend with his family doing a 'quality' bonding activity. So at the end of the day, the farm boys prevailed, the desks were gone, my yard looked good, and Shane got to enjoy his time away from work while helping me too!



Dylan carrying the desk to the burn site.



Getting them in place.



Goodbye and good riddance!!