An Antique Marble Fireplace from Caracas Italy...

BARN FIND!!!

And she has all her pieces~ yay...
Who would ever have known that there was an antique, carrara marble fireplace surround hiding in a barn in Central Utah???

 

 I wouldn't have guessed it~!

The people that purchased the contents of the barn had no idea either, until they stumbled upon some old crates from Caracas Italy and opened them up to spy this beauty...

 

She was just never installed in whatever home she was shipped here for, I guess...

Instead, she remained tucked away in an old barn with her crates rotting away and waiting to be discovered.

And, what a discovery~!

 All of the pieces are there, but her dark mantle piece was shipped cracked in half and packed separately in the crates.

We'll figure that repair out soon. 

She's not a tiny creature - she's over 6' wide and over 5' high.

And very HEAVY!!!

 I know she's heavy because I brought her home safely tucked into the back of my Durango and it is bottomed out and feels like it's towing the 'Mother Load'...

Which it is~!

Doesn't every blonde drive nearly 2 hours to tuck an antique carrara marble  fireplac safely in a retired cop car?

 

See, even the Durango has it's own story...

A couple months ago a gentleman came by inquiring about an old piece of construction equipment. Truthfully, it hadn't been used in over 17 years. It was kind of one of those 'bone pile' pieces of equipment that maybe someone would need a part off of. Well, seems this guy did...

Him and the 'Man-Child' discussed the terms of the trade and it was supposed to be a 1999 Dodge pickup truck with an automatic transmission and a Cummins diesel engine. I just get sick of shifting down a 6 speed transmission, but I love the fuel mileage of a diesel. Who screwed up 4th gear in a Dodge, right - Every time I shift down with a heavy load on, I miss 4th gear. My mantra for a while is that "I want an automatic."  I want the transmission to find 4th gear on it's own - AUTOMATICALLY - when I'm slowing down. This is the 21st century and frankly, I'm sick of 4th gear evading me.

So, on the date the guy was coming to get the equipment and bring the pickup, I was quite excited...

I was looking out the window and seen this go by on the back of an equipment trailer...

 I'm like, "Honey - that's not a Dodge Pickup." 

"That thing on that equipment trailer has 4 doors and no pickup bed. And, unless someone else in this area is expecting a vehicle delivery today by a logging company on a large equipment trailer, I think there's a problem..."

I was really bummed...

Where was my automatic transmission on my new/old pickup truck with a diesel engine...

=(

My phone rang - 

It was the guy here for the equipment and that 4 door SUV on the equipment trailer was a loaner for me, or I could keep it until the pickup got out of the shop because the pickup truck blew up ~ 

Holy Hannah!

I'm glad it blew up on him...

So, here's this 2009, retired deputy vehicle with a souped up Hemi engine - yes, AN AUTOMATIC and she goes about zero to 693 miles an hour in 3 seconds...

She's ugly, but she gets right up and gets going!

We call her "The Short Bus" because she has 3 sets of seats, kind of like a jacked up mini-van that used to have bars... 

And, I've fallen in love with her and I'm keeping her, even though I still think she's ugly. And, my mechanic says there's not a damn thing wrong with it except it goes too fast...

(=

And, my grandson like's my new car and that's all that matters to me.

*Wink*

So, I had to keep my foot off the gas as I was bringing my beautiful antique marble fireplace home, all tucked in snugly in the hatch back with all the 'short bus' seats bent down.

We figure she weighs about 1200+ pounds.

My poor Durango is dragging ass, literally, but she carried the precious cargo home safely.

 

And, we're almost ready to start the garage / office addition to the home. We even had the roofing material delivered last week. So, sometime in the near future (I hope) she'll look something like this in our soon to be created, 'Office/Den'...

 

You really just never know what you'll find in a barn~!