For the Birds

Galvanized

For me the best part about junk hunting is finding something I’ve never seen before. That’s what happened a couple weeks ago when we dropped in on a tile/granite/building materials yard in nearby Rubidoux. I wasn’t in the market for any of the items advertised on their striking homemade signage but I had seen some intriguing items cast off to the side … I immediately homed in on a cool rusted bumper from an antique car, an awesome rusted pole with a nice hoop at the end of it and some other rusty machinery I could work with. It was then I noticed the owner running over to tell me none of the items in the pile were for sale … drat, I hate that! I tried to appeal to her good nature, then her business sense but she would not budge. Unwilling to leave yet, Paul and I wandered around the rest of the property, going all the way back into a weedy area behind the gravel piles … I found a great concrete pylon, and the unknown: a T-shaped galvanized steel thing with circular holes at opposite ends. I really wanted it, whatever it was, and then noticed a man running toward us, looking a bit concerned … what exactly were we looking for? he asked. I told him I liked buying junk and wanted the pylon and this galvanized thing … and by the way, what is it and how much do you want for it?

Metal urge

He explained that he used to raise birds and that it was a birdhouse; that the dual openings were where the birds entered the house to build their nests … and, that I could give him $3 for it! I insisted he take $5, so he threw in the pylon for free …  junk hunter nirvana! Back home, I didn’t have time to think about what I could use the birdhouse for, so I set it off to the side. Fast forward: while reworking the kitchen deck’s seating area as part of my last-minute garden tour prep I came up with a use for the birdhouse. Using two galvanized boxes from my back shed, I suspended the birdhouse T to create a block-y buffet of sorts. Loving the effect of the two dark circles a either end, I placed a brick square (with a same-sized circle opening) in the central recess at the bottom to reinforce the circular graphic punctuation. Adding more metal, and more circle shapes, I bring in an orange-and-black metal folding chair, and a red metal shop stool; a chair made of an old painted metal tractor seat faces them. Two schlumpy pieces of coiled pottery, a senecio starburst, some smooth pebbles and an enameled charger, soften the scene and add visual variety. I love this new tidy area at the end of the deck; it’s colorful and unexpected. And, if some fine feathered tenants show up to check out the real estate I won’t be too surprised!