Friday was an incredibly balmy day here. Temps into the 50ºs.
The snow was retreating from the backyard and deck.
It was warm enough in the sun to take our lunch outside to eat.
Dan spent a good part of the morning and early afternoon removing a wire fencing in the backyard. I worked in the afternoon to remove snow from the deck and cleared quite a bit.
Today though we woke to snow - a dusting - and bitter cold temperatures. As I write this Dan says it's 10º outside. Don't know what the wind chill is.
As to that wire fencing and the metal stakes, Dan rolled it up and placed it on the side of the road in front of the house. As he was doing this two women walked by and one stopped to ask if we were giving that away. The answer was yes. In NH that's what you do with free items - put them out on the side of the road. It's probably a little early in the season to do this but as it happened the woman wanted it. When she returned from her walk she got her car and Dan helped her load what she could into the car. She took our phone number to let us know if she would be back for the rest. She did call then to say she'd have a truck on Sunday and would take it then.
Sunday Dan worked on setting up his workspace in the cellar where the new concrete floor makes a great space. There was a long cabinet once in the kitchen that he set up as his work bench and an existing peg board over it provided a wonderful spot to organize his tools that had been in small boxes in the utility closet upstairs. Older cabinets that he'd had to move in order for the concrete to be poured, he moved to the edge of the road - free for the taking.
By 3:00 Sunday the woman had not returned nor called again and a young couple stopped by and asked if we were giving away the fencing. Answer was yes and that though someone had spoken for it she hadn't shown up yet so they were welcome to it.
Well, an hour later the woman called to say they were coming and I had the heartless task to tell her that someone else had taken what was left. Did I do the wrong thing? Is there some etiquette to roadside free stuff?
As the afternoon and evening progressed we wondered if anyone would want the wooden cabinets made of knotty pine. We figured we'd be hauling it to the recycle center on Saturday.
This morning Dan left early for blood work and when I glanced out to see where the newspaper had landed, I realized the pile of giveaway cabinets was gone! No tire marks or footprints. Had someone come by in the night? We were both amazed.
One person's junk is another person's treasure.
