Antique Archaeology

In the spirit of Mike and Frank, my favorite two guys in a van, I've been doing a bit of American picking right here in my own backyard. My partner-in-crime (aka “the guy who drives all the shop orders to the post office”) and I just purchased a little hobbit hole on four acres of rolling field and thicket, and it's ripe with treasure.

Apparently, one of the previous owners opted out of weekly trash service in favor of tossing unwanted items in the field so, despite the dropping temperatures, we're in the process of a big clean-up before the garden goes in next spring. Among the offerings, several rusted car chasis, enough old tires to build our own military-style obstacle course and a dozen or so old Coke and Pepsi bottles.

I'm not certain on the age, but the Coca-Cola bottles list sugar as an ingredient, so they've definitely been out in the field awhile. I also found a porcelain door knob, some delightfully rusted bottlecaps and one naked baby doll complete with a road Warrior-style dirt mohawk. Even now that she's been cleaned up and given a haircut, she's quite creepy and begging for a Junkmill-style makeover.