I was there that day to lend a hand in helping my Grandpa pack and move. Land in Moab is hard to come by and has a high price tag these days. The old man finally sold his vineyard out.
I knew then as I know now how much I’d miss that place. The days patrolling the vineyard and garden with my 35# fiber glass bow and a quiver full of Dad’s bent and broken arrows for unwanted rodents and birds will remain with me and I’ll reflect upon them in my rocking chair years….
As I followed Grumps down the tractor path to the old cinder block shed, he flung a phrase over his shoulder, “I think we better tackle this danged thing today.”
I was dreading this building. I always called this building the “torture shed”. This is where my five year older brother would throw me in and lock me. He thought it funny, my screams and all, as I dodged the inevitable black widows and numerous other spiders in the cool, damp, chocking air. To this day a spider web to my face is more then I can stand thanks to him.
Grandpa carried a plastic bag with him. As he opened the heavy sheet metal door to the building, we both stood there in awe at the task at hand.
“Sixty years of collecting and acquiring stuff will make this a long day I’m afraid.” He said as he reached in the bag and pulled out a can of insecticide.
After he fogged the shed, he closed the door to let the poisonous gas do its good deed. He quit using this building as storage for anything he used on a regular basis because of the aforementioned black widows. It’s a wonder my brother didn’t kill me in his exploits, I kid you not…
As we moved the wine bottles, tractor parts, old shop tools, and a lifetime supply of an old concrete workers tools, it was time to conquer the rafters. Me being the agile younger fellow got elected to climb up there and start handing stuff down.
After a serious amount of sweat had poured from my body we were just about done. One more corner of the ceiling rafters to go, and what a sweet corner it was. Amid all the other junk and treasures I grabbed an old recurve by the lower limb and handed it down. That old bow was more then I could take as I knew nothing of its history or purpose in this old rifle hunter’s possession.
I knew by the expression of his face that gem was long forgotten about. I had to climb down and learn about it….
Todd