And today's tour - a rust graveyard! Grab the kids, let's go!

Every time my son and I drive past a certain sign, he pipes up and says, "Look mom! It says 1-800-Got-Junk? You should call them!" And it makes me laugh every single time. :)

While I do indeed have junk, it sure is inspiring to drag something new home rather than the same 'ol. And today was my lucky day!

I was lettering up a couple trucks at a welder's place outdoors today and came upon this box of whatevers. I was VERY pleased with myself, turning it down, for it wasn't 'good enough.' Didn't think I had it in me didja?

I then walked past a gated area. My peripheral vision was apparently on high alert, causing me to walk backwards to pay better attention to what I THOUGHT I just saw.

 Hubba hubba. :) A real honest to goodness rust graveyard! (no wonder I'm still single...) Would you like to take a walk with me down the meandering weed path, through the ditch and beyond the rolling piles of rocks? Let's go!

Now, I'm going to number each exhibit so feel free to 'name that junk artifact' if you know what they are.

#1. First up, we have your regular variety of railroad something or others. I should have taken a closeup because the patinas on the right side were AMAZING. No two were alike. I wanted to wallpaper a wall with them. *sob*

2. Oh I've ALWAYS loved these. And I'm gonna make me one someday and hang it on my big 'ol empty staircase wall. So I got a few closeups so I can make it look good and authentic. It's a giant spool in case you weren't sure.

3. I have NO idea what this contraption is but who cares! It was cool and made me go ACK!!

4. I want the wheel I want the wheel I want the wheel! Did you know all this stuff weighs about 500lbs each? Crazy heavy duty stuff.

5. LOL yeah I know.  But it reminded me of these robotic arms my artist bud Dan makes. He has this uncanny way of joining fake nuts and bolts and pipes and knobs and rusting it all up that looks similar to this. Very steam punkish. Who knew the underside of some vehicle would be so appealing?!? :) This is abit sick isn't it?

 6. What in tarnation are these?!? They looked like rusty metal elve's chair backings. Heck... I'd make a chair set for kids outta these. (with a tetanus shot package to go with it)

Admit it. You've NEVER been on a tour quite like this before, have you? Wouldn't it be cool hanging out with me for a day? Oh, you have to go? Ah. Ok, well...

7. Too bad cuz then you'd miss these really cool cut up truck bumpers! I want one of each to hang verticle on a wall from floor to ceiling. I really REALLY loved them! But again, that 500 lb thing, not to mention they actually belonged to someone for a reason I suppose.

8. Now these were crazy! I LOVED the hinge bar things connected to these piles. Oh how I wish I was sitting next to someone that could tell me what each thing was so I could sound super smart for this post.  They would have made really cool outdoor railings or.. staircase railings... yeahhh!

9. Apparently this was a shipping carton of some kind. Would have been a cool laundry hamper (after replacing the wood) IF it didn't weigh.. you know..

10. Ha! Did you even KNOW these COULD rust up? I sure didn't.

 11. Nor these paint cans! Holey moley folks... see what else we can now do with all our metal garbage? No??? Yes, I'm feeling ok! Why do you ask?

12. Poor things. I felt sorry for them. But at least they're friends that get to hang together with a common interest.

Are you still here? We're nearly done. And I promise, it gets BETTER.

13. Why? Because I hit THIS motherload of gear and cog goodness!

Right about here I went ballistic. I glanced at the time and I had about 30 minutes to just play with them. Kinda like playing marbles. You just have to.

And after I did this, that was it. I was fried with grief stricken envy that someone had these and I didn't. So I marched right up to the owner and demanded an explanation as to why good living room decor was left unattended in the graveyard!

Not really. I asked him if he'd look at the pile I had aside and  wanted to know how much he wanted for it. He told me he needed some vehicle lettering  so we could partly trade if I desired, but if I didn't do the lettering to take it anyway. He refused cold hard cash. Whaaa.... (this man will be rewarded greatly for his kindness and for not laughing at me) (edited to add: YES I took the gears home!!!!!! eeeeee)

14. I also took this pinwheel fan thing home.  If you flip it upside down it could be one of those cake holders you gals are making out of dishes. Hmmm.. what else can we make here. Book stand? Self protective lamp base? Who cares. It's in my truck and that's all that matters.

15. And I took this. They were very unusual metal house numbers. I want a number wall.

16. And I took these what I think are hook type things. I'd like to use them for hook type things. Somewhere.

Making rust safe 

So how does one prepare such delicious rust to be safe indoors? Miss Mustard Seed once upon a time did a tute on clearing it with a clear spray which I did on my mattress spring bulletin board. It worked fabulous and removed the orange tone from the rust, deepening the hue even more. So I'll be getting out my BBQ wire brush to knock off the loose stuff, then clearing it.

Hey, thanks for tagging along! 

Anything in this bunch you would have taken home with you? 

Or have I finally taken you to the murky depths of "gone too far this time?"

p.s. my son didn't mention the Got Junk sign when he saw the pile in the truck beside him.  But he did say, "EWWW, RUST in here! Ppphhhh. What does he know.