First you must clean out...

This is the story of the shed...the awful, eye-sore of a shed that once held residence in our backyard.

We weren't real excited about the shed when we moved in, but we never really got around to doing anything about it. It appeared to be in decent shape (although ugly) when we bought the house 4 years ago, but after a hard rain we deduced it was most likely rotting from the inside out. I am not sure how long ago we discovered the hole in the roof...the hole that just kept getting bigger and bigger thanks to a myriad of rodents we discovered were making it their permanent residence. Many a squirrel and cat used it as a bridge between trees as well as a playground.




We finally decided that the shed must go...even if it meant some animals went homeless. The first step was to acquire a permit from this grand city of ours. A permit? You might ask... yes, a permit is required to tear down a shed on our property... gotta love the gov'ment! Our fear was that the penalty on the backside would be greater than the cost of the permit... and the shed is on our survey... so I decided we needed to play by the rules (as we should do always anyway!). So Wednesday, the boy and I headed downtown to city hall. Two hours later we were finally on our way home permit in hand and $81 lighter. We left with the knowledge that an inspector would visit us the next day and give us an orange card so we could begin work. Apparently work cannot begin in this city without the precious orange card. Thursday came and went... no inspector. Clay "canceled" all the help and we began to re-plan our Friday. Friday morning I called the city's Development Department early to see what was up and had to leave a message with the head of something. I kept calling just on the chance... and finally I got someone else who proceeded to tell me that an orange card was NOT necessary for demolition - only for building. She told us to tear it on down and then call an inspector to make sure all was cleaned up properly. YEAH! But at the same time we were very frustrated because it was already 10:00 a.m. and the forecast was warm (surprise, surprise). Clay called in the troops who said they could be here after lunch... so he decided to start cleaning out the shed while he waited for reinforcements. Apparently all the guys were very excited about demolishing a building!


He began making a pile of the trash found in the shed - most of it left by the previous owners: a dresser, chairs, insulation, empty boxes, cement mix, a tub of toys, old duffle bags, small grill, shovel, garden hose, fertilizer, mulch, propane tank, lamp oil, a melted Citranella candle, half an orange cone, bed frame, broom and dustpan, boxes of screws, and more.


I think the best "find" was the origin of the fragrance that greeted you when you opened the door... two dead animals. One was a rat and we think the other was a squirrel. "We think?", you might ask. It can be hard to tell when the creature is bald and half missing! Throughout the demolition process, the guys discovered a possum had created a home for her two children. I have never seen such large guys jump back so fast! Only the mother and one baby made it out alive... the larger child apparently met bad fate with a crossbeam from the floor and he didn't make it. It was quite humorous to watch these manly men try to decide if this possum was really dead or simply playing possum... finally they moved it with a long board so it was far from any one of them. These fallen creatures were collected and removed from the premises... and I hope the possum family has found a nice, new home.

I planned to take pictures of the demolition process along the way just sure it would provide a good story... but before I knew it, one side of the roof was already gone! The boys were having too much fun - and you can see it all over their faces.



The rest of the demolition pictures are below in the following entry... too many for one blog alone. We are so thankful for friends who are willing to help work - although most of Friday's work was fun! I was amazed they both showed back up today to finish hauling off debris. We are also thankful for friends with trucks and a trailer. Our backyard has been transformed... and we think it looks great!