Listen Up! I have a shovel!

We often have funny memories from growing up at Snowfire Gardens and all of us trying to work together planting, weeding, caring for, and harvesting there.  A lot of mine are memories of the queen bee (my mother) trying to get us to get the work done through various type of cajoling, threatening, and bribing depending upon the circumstances.

One of my favorites is a time when I was about 14 and my brother was 11 and we were all out working out in the garden - my dad included.  No one would listen to what my mother wanted us to do and we were all talking over each other - in good nature - but incessantly talking and arguing about what should happen that day.  My mother had finally had it and she shouted (which she does not do often so the frustration level must have been high)! "Listen up!  I HAVE a Shovel!"  All the talking and arguing stopped and we all started laughing - because if you know my mother you know that her having a shovel is not really a threat but it broke the tension so to speak and we got the project underway with a good memory point thrown in!

The welding class at the school is my sons favorite class and the instructor (Mr Parker at Houston High School) is a ball of fire with a creative metal imagination who can upcycle just about anything at all!  What does this have to do with a shovel you ask?  They had heard about my heinous moose problem and made me a creative upcycle to "solve" my problem!

It is a wonderful upcycled shovel in which the wooden handle had broken and they replaced it with  a metal one for a stand!  It says "stay out" and has a flower torched out.  It adds a little whimsy to the garden and makes me smile when I see it.  I have a shovel!!

The base is a section of casing that the kids welded into a planter and welded their names onto it as well.  In the above photo the side facing the camera says "To Mrs Humphreys".  The two pieces are stand alone so I can use them together or separate them.  A square planter will fit into the base section perfectly and it is heavy so the snow plow driver doesn't put a hurt on it either!  The "stay out" helps too!

You can see some of the writing on the side in the above photo - its just a wonderful reminder of those students and that shovel memory from the garden of long ago!

I love that the welding class and instructor are using left over materials and broken items and making them new and wonderful!  Keep up the good work Guys and Gals!  Thank you for the memories!