Lodge Decor

   These two old drive sprockets from a 1950's bulldozer sat for years out under the hydro line. They weigh between two and three hundred pounds a piece. I went out one day years ago to bring them back here for interesting yard kitsch, and just about wrecked myself getting just one out to the road and into the back of my truck. I kind of lost interest in going through the whole process all over again, and managed to get by with just the one around here for a few seasons. One day my nearest neighbor out here ran across the other sprocket while hunting deer. He recalled the one set by my steps and decided to bring the other as a present, just so I could have a matching pair. He arrived here with his gift, he was sweating and his eyes were bulged out, "Seemed like a good idea at the time!" he quipped. Due to their weight and ungainly design they never got moved around very often. We flipped them out of the way when the addition was put on the main cabin back in 2001, then stood them back up against some skirting over on the orchard side of the place. There they sat all these years, I often thought about moving them to some better location, but I always managed to come up with some other, less strenuous project to do. Eventually, I put them to good use due to their proximity to the fruit trees, as a spot to keep bear stones. 

   Bear stones are handy to have around here in the Fall. I like to keep a selection of sizes there, so depending on the size of the bear, whether it was just there 10 minutes ago and got hit in the head with a smaller variety, or your level of frustration at that point, I always had something suitable at hand.

   The sun came out a few days ago and I started looking around for some quick jobs to do outside. I pondered moving those sprockets over to the steps I re-did last season. It began to sound like a lot of work and my back began to hurt just thinking about it. I decided to just go have a tea on the front deck instead. Heading towards the steps I couldn't help but notice those poor old cat wheels leaning there and not living up to their full potential as yard kitsch.

Being considerably brighter than I was the last time I attempted to move them, I got my much abused little wagon over and stood it up against the sprockets and attached a strap.

Laying the wagon back on its wheels it was a piece of cake to maneuver these works of art around into just the right spot.

There, I can scratch that project off the list, and they never need refinishing.