Let me start this post off by saying that I love, love, love things that are well built and hold up to the test of time when they are taken care of properly. I had a washer that lasted over 30 years and bought one exactly like it to replace it when it died and it lasted a month over the warranty...shameful. I have jackets and sweaters that are almost 30 years old, but because I have taken care of them and they were of great quality when they were bought, they are still in great shape and I am able to wear them. My husband owns a Filson Vest that is about 30 years old and he can still wear it. My parents have a refrigerator that is over 50 years old. Now that in itself is pretty amazing but that small refrigerator was bought in Oklahoma and moved to Texas...in Texas it moved twice and then it was moved again when it was packed up and moved to Okinawa where it also was moved twice. Then it was boxed up again and moved to California, then Nevada (moved twice in NV.), boxed up and moved again over the ocean...this time the Atlantic to England and finally to Texas again where it has been since 1974. It's still working, has had no repairs done to it except for the little knob on the freezer.....it was replaced in the 70's sometime by my dad and that repair is still holding up just fine. There should be an award for appliances that stand the test of time....Maybe we should contact GE to let them know about this amazing little refrigerator, but that's not what this post is about.
Our Wheelbarrow was bought about 3 days after we got married. It has hauled probably in the neighborhood of several tons of rocks, brush, gravel, granite, dirt, compost ,leaves, yard debris and trash. It has mixed probably thousands (yes, thousands) of gallons of cement and mortar. It has even provided me with a bed (I curled up into a ball and slept in it) on a day that started some where around 4 a.m. with a 6:30 a.m. concrete pour that didn't get finished until around 2 a.m. for all kinds of reasons. It has been a workhorse for us and a constant companion. But she is old, tired and no longer repairable. It is time to replace her and it makes me just a little sad.
We took very good care of her, washing her out every single time we had to mix concrete or mortar in her. She was always on her end so that her bucket didn't catch and hold the rain and her handles were oiled to keep them supple and free from splinters.
But as all equipment eventually does....she developed tiny little cracks and holes in her bucket. We've replaced the front wheel several times. We've replaced just about everything but the bucket. But after 30 years we've done everything we could possibly do to take good care of her but the time has come to start fresh. We took care of her for 30 years and she gave her all but it's time for her to go to the big wheelbarrow heaven....or maybe I'll just re purpose her and plant flowers in her. That way I can still look at her and remember how she served us so well.
