Dreaming of things that never were

Pool Anyone?

My Grandpa use to have a saying “free is too expensive for the likes of us.” Sometimes I need to remind myself of this. A very good friend called me Friday September 22nd afternoon and said “hey would you like a pool table for free?” Being that I love pool I said “Absolutely.” Mean while my Grandpa rolled is eyes in the heavens.

So then came the details. She and her boy friend had just bought a new smaller house and there would be no room. They were renting their current house out. Oh and the new tenants were taking possession next Friday. So I had to go pick it up that weekend. Also I figured it would be in fairly good shape. Later I found out it was a spider’s nest and had been in the garage for a very, very long time. In fact it had a huge stack of old mattresses and other odds and ends on it. So it was more then a little dirty. It had been heavily abused by the teenage sons as they grew up and was in need of some help. But still it was free!

I figured “How much can a rental truck cost?” Well the $ 19.95 prices are not exactly what you end up paying. I managed to talk my friend into coming and helping. I called up made reservations for a truck. We had to stand in line for the better part of an hour with no air flow in the little rental room. A quick run to my friend’s home was then in order.

Then I got to see it. Yes, it was a full sized table with a very GOOD slate top. But, it is seriously 1960s art deco style. It was a darn good table then and could be again. So now I need to repair it and get it a complete refelting (which is looking like it will run in the $500 range). Then I still need to get a few large chunks of wood and do some carpentry to replace the abused wood paneling on it. Then it will be very nice.

Well three guys plus my daughter on the side to load it into the truck. Only two of us to unload it. I rented a solid enough furniture dolly. But, in the end we still banged it up more then I wanted adding to the damage needing to be repaired.

Got the rental truck back on time. Grand total with dolly, blankets, mileage and gas was near to $125.

In the end my free pool table will run me about $1000. Which is still pretty cheap for a pool table of this size and caliber. But, this is way more money then I really have to dump into what amounts to a luxury item. Guess this will be one of the winter projects…

When it is done I figure I'll be able to coax friends over more often! Which is always nice.

posted by Leeland @ 6:50 PM