Introducing: The M Rose Boat Project

When we bought our home (a year ago this month! I can't even believe it!), the previous owner left many belongings behind. We've found old court papers hiding in our kitchen cabinets, other people's family photographs in our closets, bags and bags of clothes hidden under insulation in the attic, and even several copies of a self-published autobiography written by her, the last owner. She even left her cat behind, which meant that for the first month of us living in this home, she would stop several times a week, asking if we had seen her cat. He never listened to us so eventually she asked if she could set up animal traps in our yard. We said sure, hoping it would mean she would just leave us alone already. Instead it meant this:

It has been a very interesting transition, to say the least. One other, much larger, item that was left behind when we moved in, was... a boat.

As in, a real-life power boat sitting in our backyard. Most of the time when we tell people this they say, "Awesome! Are you going to use it?" to which we reply, "Well, we wish we could but the bags of trash covering every square inch is kind of blocking our way. Oh, and the fact that they drilled a hole in the bottom of the boat to drain the rain water. That puts a damper on things, too."

We asked Her (the previous owner) how long the boat had been sitting in the yard. She said, "Oh it's been there as long as I have! The last fifteen years!"

When she saw my jaw drop in shock, she laughed and clucked her tongue. "Oh honey, don't worry. In the summer the vines grow right over it and you can't even see it!"

This is what it looked like in the spring time, before the leaves and vines had grown over it:

This is a zoomed-in shot. Do you see the blue thing in the boat?

Do you know what that is?




I'll give you a hint:



Yes, that little blue car was found in the back of the boat. Not only was that little blue car found in the boat, but so was another children's vehicle. A toy jeep the same size as that one. Those two massive toys are just the beginning of the strange things we have found in that boat so far.

About a month ago, we had the first nice day that we had had in a long time. I was itching to go outside and do something physical with my body. I wanted to de-stress. I wanted to work. I wanted....a project.

And thus began the M Rose Boat Project.