Unexpected Adventures

It all started with a desperate need for a pressure washer.

This last year since we bought the house, we have plotted and planned to weatherize our wooden fence and deck out back.  We knew that in order to save money we would have to do it ourselves, but getting the equipment together was going to be a little pricey even if we rented it.  So all year, Ben and I have been looking for and waiting for sales on paint sprayers, weatherizing stain stuff, and pressure washers.  We found a really good deal on the paint sprayers, working on getting the stain stuff still… got the paper and tape to cover the house when we do the deck, we just couldn’t seem to get our hot little hands on a reasonably priced pressure washer.

Now, it couldn’t be just any pressure washer.  Ben said it HAD to be 3000 PSI — those babies are around $400-500.  He has standards you know…

And I have been pinching and saving the best I can, especially with the whole back to school thing going on.  (Y’all know how I feel about THAT.)  Anyway, I felt this strong urge that we really needed to get the fence done soon.  I have learned never to question my 6th sense… so I actually prayed about it.  Yes, I really did ask the Lord to help us find a pressure washer we could afford.  I told Him that if we REALLY needed to get the fence done, I really needed his help.

Seriously, only a few minutes later I felt like I needed to check Craig’s List.

Which I ignored at first.  Craig’s list creeps me out a little.  You know all the horror stories…. But after thinking for a minute that people usually aren’t targeted over things like pressure washers, I got on and took a look.

And there it was….

EXACTLY what we wanted and needed!!  A $400 pressure washer for $175.  In almost perfect condition.  Apparently, the carburetor needed to be replaced and the owner bought one but didn’t want to deal with putting it in.  He just wanted to buy a whole new one.  And since Ben is Mr. Fix-It it was a great deal for us.

But since I was too scared to call anyone on Craig’s List, I got Ben to call.  (Who was WAY more than willing to because he was so thrilled we found one we could afford, it was like Christmas).

After talking to him, Ben felt like it was legit, so this morning we headed out to meet the guy.  He lives south of Nashville so it was a little over an hour drive.  We put his address into the GPS, and off we went.  I told Ben if his house was in a shifty neighborhood and he was selling it out of the back of a condemned trailer, we were going to get out of Dodge quick!

But as we drove through Nashville and hit the other side, the area was lovely.  After we got off the freeway, the houses started to get bigger and bigger and BIGGER.  We weren’t quite sure we got the right place when we pulled up to a huge mansion.

Ben went up and knocked on the door and the guy was super friendly and had us drive around back to his garage(s).  When he opened them up, they we saw several classic cars in there… it was pretty cool.  He invited us in, and it was like he made up the whole basement and garage area into a museum that looked like an old English town.  It was SO cool.  And what impressed me the most was that the kids actually behaved very respectfully and didn’t touch anything.  He even let them hold and play with a few things and take some pictures.

He let the boys try out this boxing stuff in his gym:

 And he will forever be known as the guy with the sword… forget everything else…

 Nephi was more impressed with his collection of miniature cars and planes and WWII paraphernalia.

 Here the boys are in front of his award winning car: