The Old Wood

Every now and then we all run across something for sale that makes us feel we have found the buy of the century. That's how Keith and I felt a couple of weeks ago. We were in one of our favorite antiquing shops and found "the wood"! Now if you're not in love with old things you're probably not going to appreciate this. ~~~There on the floor, between an old saddle and old cupboard was a pile of old wood that was in perfect shape. (Ok, as good as shape as any old barn wood can be in!) The lady that runs the shop called the owner of the wood, Charles, and he came in and told us the story behind it.
In 1986 Charles father tore down a barn that had been built in the 1800's. Thinking to use the wood himself, he stored it his barn. For nineteen years the wood had been sitting out of the elements just waiting for someone to come along and put it to use. Charles knowing he would never do it, decided to sell it in his booth at the flea market. Luck us!!!!
Looking at this wonderful pile of wood our mind raced. What to make first? Our old shop just calls for a "fireplace" so we decided that would be our first project. After about ten minutes of discussing how it should be built, Keith was off to his work shop.
Twenty-four hours later our old farm has another "fireplace". While not the wood burning one in our home, it's primitive charm is just perfect in our little shop. And the best part is~~No ashes to clean up!!!! Now the only problem is, what to do with the rest of that pile of wonderful old barn wood!