Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Wyandotte County Pickers

Jared and I have recently been introduced to American Pickers on the History channel.

I absolutely love this show. The travel around the back roads of America and search through peoples "junk" to find amazing treasures.

I have been inspired :) I love to restore and re-purpose things. It's not so much about the environment for me but more about being a good steward with what God has granted. I want to spend our money wisely and make it stretch so second hand is a must for us.

Today when heading out for my run my neighbors sat a smoker out for the trash. Jared and I have talked a lot about purchasing a smoker "someday." Our neighbors to the East are professional BBQ-ers and due to my love of cooking and creating I have thought, "Hey, I'd like to try that!"

I pulled out my phone and called the Hubs who seemed mortified by the prospect of salvaging from our neighbors trash. Poor guy didn't know what he was getting into by coaxing me to watch the History channel. He suggested we wait and ask their permission when they arrived home this evening. That's perfectly rational but I'm not one for waiting :)

After my run and a quick shower I noticed family of our neighbors out and about and decided to ask them what they thought of my dragging the big ol' smoker into my garage. They looked at me like I was perfectly sane. They called the owner to insure that it was for the trash and she said, "Take it."

Consider this the "before" picture:
I googled it and this is a Brinkmann Smoke N' Pit Master Deluxe. New it is $379 before shipping. This one is rusted and needs a couple parts replaced but I'm sure after a wire brush, special paint and some serious elbow grease it will be up and running in no time.

Yay! I'm now a smoker...oh...wait...you know what I mean :)

4 comments:

Cindy Coker said...

You are hilarious and very thrifty! I am so impressed with you!

Jenny Surey said...

Lol!! I want to do this all the time! Especially now that we are living in Florida, you wouldn't believe the free things people put out or just give away. I am trying to do research on how I can refurbish or re-do old dressers, shelves, and such. I am needing to get more furniture and I see nothing wrong with second hand and fixer up-ers. My husband on the other hand is mortified with me doing this as well. Silly men!!

Alisa said...

have you seen the pickers with Ronald and his underground maze thingy?....strange to say the least. We love that show!

Unknown said...

Yes Alisa, we just watched that one the other night. I told Jared that I love that we live in America! That eccentric old man can do whatever he wants to that property. It's odd but it's his! Something about that just made me "proud to be an American." It's also neat to see the odd birds and think about how Jesus loves them and how He must smile when they're doing what they love. Even if it's digging deep in the ground and painting weird rooms rainbow colors! HA!