Craigslist Fire Hydrant

A fun search tool I’ve been using for a while is to use the Google search engine to scour Craigslist for treasures. Type Craigslist into the Google window and then put into parenthesis the article you are looking for. Google will check all the Craigslist listings for your query. I use my “oddball” searches for this method. Thursday afternoon I was playing around in this fashion using “fire hydrant” as my search. Mother of Pearl!!! I turned up a listing for this Ludlow Hydrant in Buffalo, NY!!

Doing a check of the phone number on the ad I was able to ascertain this was located not far from where Gary lives. I called him right away and talked him into picking up and paying it for me if it was still available. I called the ad and spoke with the owner. Yes, it was still available. I explained how I was in Tuscaloosa, AL, but my friend Gary would be picking up and paying for the hydrant. I told her I would let Gary contact her in the matter, as there was little I could do 1000 miles distant.

Gary called me Saturday in the late afternoon to relate the adventure in picking up this hydrant. I was laughing so hard. Gary was on his way to tune a piano when he stopped to get this hydrant. It was located in the back corner of a terraced back yard filled with stuff. Fortunately the owner had a hand truck to move the thing up to the driveway and assisted Gary in lifting it into the van.

This man asked how it was going to be shipped to Alabama. “That will be real expensive to freight” he said. Gary replied that I was going to plan a road trip to get the thing…The man got mad then saying to his wife they sold it too cheap!

Gary’s next stop was to tune a piano for Mike and Holly. I’ve not seen Mike in 15 years or so. Gary explained how he had a fire hydrant in his van for me. I can just see the bewildered look Mike gave to Gary that was further intensified when told this hydrant number three for my collection!

Poor Gary was waiting for Sean to return home so he could unload it from the van when he called me. Believe me I know how heavy those damn things are! Now my mind is working overtime planning the next road trip that could be as early as Monday back to the hometown…….

Speaking of heavy… my poor truck was groaning under the crushed limestone I picked up from Scotty’s. It was a good thing I did not have to travel too far. That truck was really groaning. I don’t think I have ever overloaded so.

With the crushed limestone foundation pounded into place I was able to start laying bricks. This is the most time consuming aspect. Because I’m using different bricks, each brick has to be set and leveled. Also, because I’m laying these bricks with the names showing also raises problems. It is so good to finally see progress on this project.

I’ve been chuckling to myself for the past few days on how crazy my life of the past few days must look to those on the outside. What Cornelius said comparing my life to the “two Edies” from GrayGardens was so true!!!

Laying out the bricks. Those gel kneepads are a Godsend!!!

The finished section: The odd sized bricks are from last brick swap I attended in Wellston, Ohio.