Trimming Grass and Weeds Around Old New England Property (Antique) Granite Landscape Fixtures - Part Six - "The Puzzle of the Pieces"

Trimming Grass and Weeds Around

Old New England Property

(Antique) Granite Landscape Fixtures

Part Six

"The Puzzle of the Pieces"

             We are... now... (continuing from Part Five)... in the woods... of the old New England property... discovering it (the woods) to be full of (antique) granite landscape fixtures?

            “ROCKS ALL OVER THE PLACE (on the property)”.

            Literally.

            “OMG... and I THOUGHT

            YOU JUST GO TO THE STORE and BUY them.”

            Returning to the ‘turn your back on it and walk away’ ...release... of the weed whacker (Part One)... and my ‘old granite rummaging about the property from there on... we, of latest (Part Five), discerned the old granite fence post ...monuments... with noting in passing those to be very near the ...old New England property’s very own colonial era granite... quarry AND THAT also

            We mentioned the in near proximity too of a ...cellar... hole ...that is a hand dug; one man with hand shovel, hole in the ground with walls ‘lined’ with granite ‘field stone’ and topped (“capped”) with four to five foot  long hand cut granite ‘cap stones’... cut from the... granite quarry... that is two tenths of a mile away (in... once-cleared-field that is now... ‘the woods’) ‘over level ground’... AND... not forgetting our mention of

            The Spring

            That is... a four foot by two foot rectangle...by one and one-half foot deep... that “NEVER FREEZES” (with a water level that) “NEVER GOES DOWN” ( or has the water level lower or ‘dry up’)...; an old cut granite ‘lined’...

            Old New England property (antique) granite landscape fixture...

            Too.

            Breathless from the STRESS of these discernments... and my suggested ridicule of the “cast cement’ vision-of-version of old New England property (antique) granite landscape fixtures (Part Four)... let’s just “go back to the house” and... make this quandary worse?

            Why not for IF we find a quarry of granite ledge in the forest we, surely, cannot find ledge to be of itself... an  (“NO!”) old New England property (antique) granite landscape fixture... too?

            But... now we will ‘know’ (learn)

            Of the ‘calling’ (title)

            That is... not... well understood if heard.

            Now will be heard... AS IT BE;

            The puzzle of its piece.

            ‘Revered too’ (turn upon itself)... of being an anchor... of TRUE irrefutable foundation of (“NO!”) old New England property (antique) granite landscape fixtures.

            The title words are:  “Sits on ledge”

            “The house...”

            “Sits on ledge”

            To explain by reversal... “yours doesn’t”.

            Isn’t this a nasty passes-right-by the snotty-ish millstone ‘placed’ (Part Three)?

            Oh yes it does for to say the ‘be able to say’ that:

            One’s colonial old New England home is ‘so old’ that it “sits on ledge”...:  Viewing the horizon line will not bring this cantonment of civilization passages (literally) home.  Most choose to ignore the ‘ever hearing that’ AND the ‘hearing OF that’.

            What ‘sits on ledge’ means is the ‘some’; usually ‘a side’ or ‘a corner’ of the very old colonial settler’s homestead “sits on” the (and only on the) rock ground (‘ledge’) of the property.  That is...:  HOUSE.  ROCK... nothing else.

            So... rock gardeners like ledge in the ‘yard’ too.  And it goes from there:  That... ‘ledge’ is an... old New England property (antique) granite landscape fixture.  Keeps right on going all over the property including... the chicken house ‘hung on (sitting) on ledge’... the cranberry bog being ‘formed’ by dammed (damned?) ‘ledge’ back to ‘quarry’ ‘the ledge’ (an action) and finally back to the house again that has its ‘cellar hole’ ‘dug into’ ‘the ledge’.  This last is rephrased in ‘modern’ as ‘gonna TRY to fit’ the septic tank ‘into the ledge’ or ‘else we’ll have to blast’.

            While I am at composing (composting?) this vignette of chapters (blog posts), I ‘visited’ the quarry.  I’ll come right back to that.  I, also, visited... the northeast corner of the house that ‘sits on ledge’.  For perspective... of colonial era old New England homesteads on old New England properties... the... center of the house... fireplace kitchen...; the original ‘main room’ of the ‘home’... is a diagonal line to the ‘sits on ledge’ corner of about ...twelve feet (therefore “yes” a ‘small’ ‘house’).  THIS whole half of the house space would be divided by two thirds – one third.  The smaller third be... a ‘room’ at that ‘sits on ledge’ corner commonly call ‘the buttery’ but, more usefully being a room of passage from the ‘back door’ ‘into’ ‘the (fireplace) kitchen “room”.  AT the ‘sits on ledge’ corner... one looks out the window to see that the ‘sits on’ ledge rises very, very sharply to have (the rock ledge) ‘flush’ with the window’s ...sill.  UNDER the ‘floor’ of these rooms... is a... six inch space holding ... round six inch tapering diameter “TREES” (logs) that were cut down RIGHT THERE on the property to ‘make the floor’.  There is not... on this ‘sits on ledge’ side of the homestead, even a ‘crawl space’.  JUST... HOUSE sitting on... ROCK:  Nothing else.

            And “yours doesn’t”.

            In the 1740’s... in Coastal Maine New England’s ‘January and February’ THIS SPACE...

            WAS IT; called “HOME”.

            Discovering that... we have ‘followed back’ “enough” on the old New England property to find a true... in fact true... ‘ground zero’ (“sits on ledge”)... we NOW may reasonably study the puzzle and its pieces to fully, truly and ....passionately... understand... the why and the what... that makes the subject of this vignette; “Trimming Grass and Weeds Around An Old New England Property (Antique) Granite Landscape Fixtures”, a GENUINE... and a singular... and a ...truly beautiful ‘when studied’... old New England.

            Therefore... one may now GO BACK down the driveway and retrieve the GOD DAMN weed whacker and GO BACK to ‘trimming’ the GOD DAMN mold cast cement Italianate Winnie the Pooh ‘GARDEN FIXTURES’ (“features”?) (Parts One and Four).  “OH MIRROR BALL” this is TRUE for that et al may never be TRIMMED ENOUGH to:

            No... it cannot ever...

            “Sit on ledge”... as the pure strain... of the “Trimming Grass and Weeds Around An Old New England Property (antique) Granite Landscape Fixtures".

            I never need to trim out there; the ‘sits on ledge’ corner, anyway; it’s the ‘dark corner’ (northeast).  Very little grows there.  But I went out there... anyway... to ‘look at it’ to... like... see... if either the house or the ledge has moved... one... God... damn... inch.  Both are “STILL THERE” I report.  That’s a quarter of a millennium “there as that”.

            “OH BUT”... right there then ‘pretty cool’ for, well... I forgot about that but I... ah... had ah... “yeah” ah... “PUT” a... natural growth forest found Spruce ‘guttered’ ‘tree’ trunk THERE as a ‘natural wood drainage ‘gutter’...:  “See ah”... I found the tree in the forest on the property when I was ‘cutting’ and I ... noted its natural form value so ‘cut to fit’ it ‘out there’ and brought it back to ‘put there’ to ‘drain the rainwater from the down spout ‘AWAY” from the ...ledge (“sits on”).  The ‘they’ (original old settlers) did ‘en stuff’ like that in... the 1740’s... TOO.  Today... one has to do this “IT” that way TOO for the... “Building Supply Store” super box stores, et al, “we don’t have that I THINK I know what you mean”.

            Now we go back to the quarry.

            When I was out there... reviewing....:  I’ve been out there reviewing for DECADES... I was looking over the hand drilled cut holes... along the ledge... where they “CUT” the “STONE”.  I’ll get to THAT... in a future chapter (blog post).  I scrambled up on top of the ledge and was, like... “yeah” up there TOO ...BUT:

            I find right up on the top ‘ah growing’ “PERFECT” another LARGER AND LONGER Spruce ‘guttered’ ‘tree’ trunk THERE as a ‘natural wood drainage ‘gutter’...:

            I didn’t ‘cut it’ yet.  JUST FILE IT AWAY... and... perhaps... I... determine a spot... on the old New England property where I would (maybe.... maybe not) like to “PLACE” that; a natural wood landscape fixtures.  Maybe not?  MAYBE it’s doing JUST FINE as it is up on the top of the

            (Colonial) old New England property’s (antique) granite landscape fixture; the (a puzzle of a piece) “quarry”.

            All of these ...unique to colonial New England... pieces to the puzzle... that are actually more properly... a property’s puzzle of pieces... must... “are now”... being determined to be ‘of the bedrock’; THEY ALL ‘sit on ledge’...:  They all should  be tallied... properly trimmed... and hidden away.  I have learned.  And pass on.

            “Is there anything else?”

            Yes...:  Trees.  Not lumber.  Not building supplies.  TREES.  “There was there... (granite) ROCKS and... TREES.  “Trees” ...or the lack of them... is ALSO a landscape fixture on an old New England property.  And I mean... “(antique) trees”.

            And that is a... whole... other... subject... whose suggested role we have had occur TWICE in THIS chapter; the ‘under the floor’ trees and the ‘natural gutter’ trees.

            That is all I am going to say... about the “TREES”; ‘suggested role’.  I... have enough to sort out with the weed whacker, the cement garden fixtures... the... “The Corruption”... AND...

The cellar hole... is an old New England property granite landscape fixture?  Too.

             Or did a “YOU” “FILLED OURS IN”?

            “Oh...

            Another (old New England property [antique] granite landscape fixture) burial... you say?”

Trimming Grass and Weeds Around Old New England Property (Antique) Granite Landscape Fixtures - Part Five - "A Rube Upon a Property"

Trimming Grass and Weeds Around

An Old New England Property

(Antique) Granite Landscape Fixtures

Part Five

"A Rube Upon a Property"

            The... ah... ‘The Corruption’... wins... and I grow up from the pig pen (Part Four) to be but

            A rube**** upon

            An old New England property now remembering that

            The topic of ‘granite landscape fixtures’ on ‘old New England property’ has been

            Wordlessly assumed

            To mean

            Antique

            ‘granite landscape fixtures’

            Did I ‘forget’ to serve notice?

            OR DID I HIDE THAT AWAY TOO?

            If (your) cast cement is still a ‘my garden’ “THAT”

            I locate to be ‘hooked back’ to that the OTHER path

            Titled “NICE” (Part Four again) and

            I, too... am now hidden away from

            This dirty

            Dirty

            Dirty

            Path... of “The Corruption”

            So followed by “They”

            “Think”

            “It’s beautiful” (their landscape).

            And their “My Garden”.

            When I was thirty years ago... or a little longer (?)... I question marked one sweaty day... while carrying a chirping chain saw... over to a ‘next cut’ in the ‘woods’ on ‘property... a ‘WHAT IS, huh, THAT (“pile”) of ROCKS there, huh’... (a cone of two feet high with a two and one half foot base diameter with a four or five inch ‘hole’ at the center top that went down-in fist to elbow deep... wet... dark... moss growing THERE... “huh”.

            TWO months later ‘nearby’ I

            Spy

            Another ‘such’.  Too.

            And again ‘another such’ again... later ...too... so I;

            A rube with chirping chain saw that day too... stopped

            And ‘shut off the’

            And looked

            At all of them (these ‘piles of rocks’) and ‘any more?’

            So I figured it out by being a rube... in the woods... upon an old New England property.  The rock piles didn’t go ‘straight’ ...but they did... ‘follow the land’ “huh” from “THERE” to “....THERE” I sweaty SAID out loud to

            THEM and

            They just curved off around the BOTTOM of that ‘ledge’  WHERE, TOO. I

            SPY

            “More” “ROCK” “PILED “there”

            “By someone?”

            Too.

            “So those are... so... sort of... LIKE the “THOSE” that are

            “PILED” rocks

            ACRES away (“below”) on too; my Old New England... PROPERTY...:

            “THE (chain) SAW IS OFF SO LET US... walk down THERE.”

            “No.”

            “HERE... that natural notch.. THROUGH the LAND from the (OLD) down THERE (“below”)...

            SO HERE... comes up from DOWN THERE by

            Following that LAND back DOWN THERE (it is not straight and square... this land)

            “OH... YOU”;

            A RUBE upon the PROPERTY of an Old New England

            Property?

            The bugs were bad that day... too.

            BUT I (EYE)

            Figured it out.

            What I figured out was the pathway of pasture from the FAR PASTURE ‘originally’ “along the WATER” (salt water river ‘up from’ the Atlantic Ocean) and

            ACROSS THE POND (of fresh water) that...

            I could see NOW to FIGURE...

            Went around the steep ledge to “COME UP PAST”

            “The Spring” and then

            “CROSS” to this ...second... natural notch “THROUGH” the upper ledge crest

            To reach

            The then “NEW” pasture... in the sun... below the cranberry bog... WITH the old (small colonial farm) granite quarry... there TOO... ‘off to its (the notch’s) right... TOO... so

            These piles of rocks

            Held fence posts

            To do ‘this’ (cross the notch to the pastures) and

            “Were made” by... a man... of men...

            Two hundred and fifty years ago (1740-50) “about”.

            I understood there, then (back the thirty plus years) that I

            Already had an understanding that the colonial settlement of this (my)

            Old New England property... had (did have) THREE settlements by... English... men... after the Native American population... so I COULD already understand that the rock piles ‘below’ upon the ‘first pasture’ by “THE SEA” had been a ‘shelter there too’ ...but not a ‘cabin’... with that lasting until that was ‘burned out’ by the NA (Native Americans).  Then they (English men)

            Returned to be a ‘second’ after the first (1640-1676) of a be THEN a ‘second’ this time upon the ‘first’ (shelter site) to PROBABLY be this time a (dirt floor) “CABIN” ‘down there’ with a concise ‘up from the water’ AND a ‘field’ (probably NA made and kept [tended]) over to the pond-stream and “UP TO” the spring right ABOVE the (logical site of the) “CABIN” to

            Have this ‘abandoned’ at least and probably burned ‘again’ TOO (1700-1725) but... possibly... not... so... to still be the “THERE” with the rotting bark roof ‘fallen in’ but

            It does not matter (all that) for

            By 1725 the ‘coast was clear’ of NA so titled thereafter “SAFE FOR SETTLEMENT”.  Almost clear*****.

            From, then... the dirt floor cabin habitation BASE of SETTLEMENT... the EYE of settlement would look ‘across’ the field (old pasture) to the pond-stream to ‘come back to’ the SPRING on the ‘a break there’ ‘notch’ through the first ...granite ledge... so

            IF one were ‘up above’ the spring and “crested” onto this notch’s flat sun warmed top... even mid January the snow ‘melts clear’ there ALWAYS... and... the ground being littered with “everywhere” ‘clam shells’ right there too at this cresting of this notch above the spring where the ‘first barn’ was built FIRST “back” from the first HOUSE that was ‘built up further’ to catch even MORE sunlight.  All year ‘round’.

            That house was ‘started’ a ‘built’ at 1740-1750 but ‘traveled’ to completion for as long as 1790 “due to (‘building’) conditions” BUT

            Did have the four foot square chimney “built first” using the BRICKS made from the clay that was ‘across and over’ from ‘below’ the SECOND “new” pasture TOWARD the ...property ‘over there’ that (same date) IS made ALL of that same brick.

            “OK”.

            So the rock pile fence post holders went to the SUNRISE pasture that too... is ‘upper corner bare’ in January and ...across that was that brick house property and the

            ...Cellar hole... BELOW that pasture is of a “THAT” settlement property... there too:

            So I, a rube upon my old New England property had to

            Begin again to

            Study all of the rocks that are found to be (antique) granite landscape fixtures...

            On an old New England property

            Very carefully

            And not being a rube

            About this

            Lifetime long study... of rocks that are (antique granite)

            Landscape fixtures

            “PUT THERE” a quarter of a millennium ago.

            By someone

            “Who knew what they were doing”.

---

***** :  The last Englishman killed and scalped was three miles ‘up the river’ from I on July 24^th, 1751.  The last Native American killed and scalped was three TENTHS of a mile from I ‘before’ 1759 (circa, probably, 1751 too) .

---

**** An awkward, rustic, unsophisticated, uneducated, naïve and-or inexperienced person (usually) from the country.

Trimming Grass and Weeds Around Old New England Property Granite Landscape Fixtures - Part Four - "The Corruption"

Trimming Grass And Weeds Around

Old New England Property

Granite Landscape Fixtures

Part Four

"The Corruption"

            For I to continue to carry the opening of this vignette’s title; “Trimming Grass and Weeds Around”... I have to expand it by allusion... to include... the inclusion... that “Trimming” may mean “Trimming” the actual “Granite Landscape Fixture” itself; the actual ‘elimination of’ “Granite Landscape Fixtures” from... the whole body of “old New England property”... “granite landscape fixtures”... AND... that is TOO... to say that this whole body of (“old New England property granite landscape fixtures”)... is keeper of ‘grass and weeds’ that must be... MUST BE... ‘trimmed’.  Should a reader have been...disturbed... by the seeming snotty-ish of the millstone ‘placing’ (Part Three), et al; the exclusive ‘no wiggle room’... this ‘trimming’ in this chapter makes that ‘trimming’ seem a ‘swell guy’... “neat and tidy”...I (eye).

            I am at a fork of the paths of... old New England property granite landscape fixtures.  One fork follows “NICE”... the other fork follows... “The Corruption”.  I prefer “NICE” and... I WILL travel that forked path soon enough

            BUT

            Will first follow... the fork... of the path... of

            OUR (the reader and I)

            “Old New England property granite landscape fixture”...

Corruptions.

“Invasive you say?”

            Again the review... to assist with the “carry”.  I began with the weed whacker at the end of the driveway ‘get rid of it’ “FREE”.  Replaced with the grass clipper WE clipped two granite landscape fixtures only to ...discern... by observation of other ‘old New England property landscape fixtures that are NOT ‘granite’ (‘the compost’) that... “I am done” trimming for very... very... very little ‘grass and weeds’ are trimmed on ... old New England properties.  This I carried to the millstone where I trimmed ‘nothing’ for it (the millstone) ‘carries up’ its ‘harmonized’ ...within the old New England property by being ‘not trimmed’ and

            AND

            That the ‘placing’ of the... grass and weed mired (?) millstone on the old New England property... as a granite landscape fixture was ...further amplified by ...consciously...

            “Hide them (granite landscape fixtures on one’s old New England property) away.”  That is:  One properly displays one’s granite landscape fixtures ...on one’s old New England property... when they are placed... within their weeds and grass around issues TOO... so to be ‘not noticed’ it is ‘there’.

            Now then... WHAT could be a... “horrific” that surpass all “THAT”?

            Well... fraud... and the forms of this fraud... OF... old New England property... granite landscape fixtures.

            Frauds:  “fakes”, “imports”, “slight of stone”, “NEW”, “reproduction”, “just like” “look alikes”, “composites”, “phony forms”, “cement”, “cement again”, “faux style”, “European”, “French”, “FROM VERMONT I think”, “Canadian”, “Amish”, “looks old”, “cement again-again, “mold casts”... “not from the continent of North America”... and.... “the idiots” who “don’t know any better”.

            I stated above... and this (fraud) is, you and I see now... “horrific”.  Ignoring south of Boston ‘old New England’... a north of Boston coastal Route One road trip will “FIND” all of the frauds... ‘for sale... roadside... all... all... all ‘along that way’.  AND I bet one reading does not NEED to have an expostulation of-each-of-all of these ‘frauds’ to ... ‘better well’ get the general idea of “WHAT” “The Corruption” IS.  And... the... “its consequence” that “IS” should one... ‘turn up’ “WITH THAT” ... “in the yard” no matter HOW deep in the ‘grass and weeds’ YOU... ‘hide them away’.  No... mold cast cement faux Italianate influence ‘bird bath’ “I’m going to PAINT IT”

            “Horrific”.

            “Phony millstones you say?”

            “Troughs are a nightmare you say?”

The easy path to ‘safe’?  Make no ‘acquisition’ of ‘granite landscape fixtures’ for a “MY” old New England property without

            Professional

            “Help” and

            If a ‘store’ has more than one millstone for sale.... LEAVE.

            “Good” (millstones) are found ‘hunting on’... old... New England property... property.

            And expect... for the ‘a good one’, to spend the rest of one’s life ‘doing that’.  Do notice that the granite landscape fixture... properly well selected... (includes the word ‘expensive’)... for the ‘old New England property’ WILL ‘out live you’ so... are... a considerate ‘leave behind’ to ...self.  Yes... ‘good ones’ even look good AFTER ‘your dead’.  The history of their ownership (and placement) IS THAT ‘look good after your dead’  I... only ‘have’ ‘from dead people’.  I... “never” ‘from a store’.  Granite landscape fixtures on old New England properties are a... never... ‘taken to the dump’...too.

            They are handed (by hand) (‘on property’)

            Down.

            I feel that ...we... understand ‘the corruption’.  And that we understand the consequence of a self embracing any part of ‘the corruption’.  And that we have... in fact... all of us... ‘regularly see’ (particularly in the mold-cast-cement-faux-Italianate-bird-bath) “IT” ‘enough’ to “KNOW”

            Better?

            No... we (WE) cannot ‘go that far’.  There are ‘too many’ cement mold cast Winnie the Pooh pop up ‘chunks’ of “ISN’T HE adorable I JUST LOVE HIM” in the their “YOU CALL THAT a (your) GARDEN”.  “The corruption”... protected within the congestion of old New England... is “NEXT DOOR THEY HAVE ONE” ‘winning’.

            Just smile?

            And?

            It doesn’t work... but... that they DO NOT notice ‘our’ millstone

            DOES WORK

            “You’ve got to hide your (authentic)

            (old New England property granite landscape fixtures)

            Away”.

            A story of my first contact with an “old New England property granite landscape fixture” to ease the painful ‘horrific’ discernment of ‘the corruption’ from days long ago that IN FACT does STILL be able to HAPPEN TODAY... for the knowing

            I (eye)?

            I was... like ... eight or ten and Robbie (Robert; he lived across the street and we were ‘in school’ ‘together’) so “Larry”... who we called “Mr. Hunt” and the women of the village called “Mansfield”... but I figure NOW must have been ‘Mansfield Lawrence Hunt” (or Lawrence Mansfield Hunt?) who “CAPTAIN” had his ‘boots blown off’ when ‘Kraut’ ‘shells’ ‘hit his jeep’ and... this isn’t about World War II so:

            He “had” (drove) an “International Scout” that had “FOUR WHEEL DRIVE”.  And the date line on this is AFTER Sputnik and BEFORE John Glenn and... “WE” (Robbie and I) “LOVED” ‘going in that’ so when Mr. Hunt said he ...needed us... to go out to “BROOK’S” pig pen to “HELP HIM” that means WE go in “THE SCOUT” and we already always went to Brook’s pig pen anyway to scratch the pigs on their backs with sticks so... like... the PIGS already “KNOW US” but Mr. Hunt TODAY has old Randy Roberts ‘coming too’ in his “TRUCK” that  pulls the trailer with his “LITTLE JOHN” “bulldozer” on it but ...he didn’t have that on the trailer “TODAY”.

            So we all drive out there; to Brook’s pig pen.

            Arty Brooks is there at the pig pen.

            WE (Robbie and I) are up on the fenced side of the pig pen with our sticks scratching the pigs back while they ‘snout up’ at us until Mr. Brooks brings over ...more than usual... bushel baskets of cauliflowers, broccolis, carrot toppings and the rest of that vegetables (‘en stuff) and the BIG bucket of the muck mush with the SPOONS to “NOT TOO MUCH OF THAT AT ONCE BOYS” he always had too so WE were doing OUR job RIGHT while the men ‘seed too’ ...something in the pig pen pushed back under the pig muck against the BARN WALL.

            OH and I got to say that “Mr. Switchel” was there TOO.  Good old Mr. Switchel was ALWAYS around when WE “WENT TO” in “THE SCOUT” with Mr. Hunt.  Mr. Switchel was... ah... kept in the back of “The Scout” in this red and black plaid with light brown sides PLASTIC case that the zippers didn’t work anymore.  INSIDE the case had a matching plaid thermos and FOUR brown plastic cups that Mr. Hunt poured Mr. Switchel into IF YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN.  Everyone of the MEN were always asking Mr. Hunt where ever we went did “Mr. Switchel come along TODAY TOO?”.  So they had a “CHAT” with Mr. Switchel and PIPE SMOKED at the BACK corner by the BURIED ...pig pen... ‘thing’.  Until

            THEY (the men) said “DUMP THE REST IN FOR ‘EM (the pigs) and “COME HELP” so

            We did that and were then IN THE PIG PEN ‘back there’ holding “PIECE OF BOARD” “in there watch your fingers” while the MEN “pry bar” this ‘six foot long’... what we ALL know now was an “Old New England FARM hand ‘cut’ granite ‘quarried on the property’ trough” that the PIGS had long ago routed back against the barn “WALL” and “BURIED” that some how... Mr. Hunt had...

            Spied.

            Noted.

            Brought up.

            Dickered it.

            Got it

            Fixed

            Price

            CASH.

            And now... WE were... ‘picking it up’ after ‘digging it out’, ‘moving it out (of the pig pen), ‘moving it across (the farm yard) and ‘getting it on’ Mr. Robert’s trailer to ‘take’ to Mr. Hunt’s “HOUSE”.  Each stage of this “PROJECTED” was “HELP from MR. SWITCHEL” “TOO”.

            And Mr. Hunt being real, real, real careful about the “BOYS GET THAT BOARD IN THERE (behind the BAR) to “NOT SCRATCH IT”.  He kept saying THAT and WE

            Move this old granite farm pig pen trough onto a PLANK using “ROLLERS” (wooden dowels) and then, using larger “ROLLERS”, moved the trough on the plank onto the TRAILER without anyone “SCRATCHING IT” and ...even though it was ‘dirty’ it was actually pretty easy to MOVE and

            Mr. Switchel was there too along with the PIPE SMOKE and Robbie and I going back to scratching the pigs except that one of them was “SO FULL” it “LAID DOWN” and “WON’T MOVE” went to sleep.

            Then we took it (the granite tough) to Mr. Hunt’s “HOUSE” and “unloaded it”.  That was easy.  Mr. Switchel wasn’t there but... Mr. Hunt’s WIFE was.  SHE was just cooing ‘bout “IT” (the trough).  We put it on the edge of the “DRIVE WAY” toward where “YOU GO TO THE FRONT DOOR” but ...you’d “GO BY IT” without “noticing” “IT”.  It was there ‘like that’ for a quarter century.

            Mr. Hunt died.

            Mr. Switchel died too.

            MRS. Hunt ‘kept’ “IT” (the trough) “just the same” UNTIL

            SHE ‘had to be moved out’

            THEN

            The trough ‘disappeared’ ‘up to’ ‘one of the KID’S’ “DOWN IN FRONT OF

            THE BARN”

            Where I

            Have tried to buy it ‘off ‘em’ several times and

            IT

            IS STILL THERE RIGHT NOW TODAY.

            “You ain’t gonna get it.”

            “You say?”