When we moved to this house two years ago, one thing I really liked was the big back patio. Over time however, it has become the outside version of a junk drawer. Broken flower pots, a dog crate, the canvas awning for a patio swing and one big-ass BBQ pit (AKA: BAP) along with a lot of assorted smaller clutter-half used bags of mulch, etc, all happily coexist there. Since it has been a usual SE Texas summer, I haven’t been outside that much. I thought I’d be outside harvesting vegetables all summer. Nate and Amanda almost finished installing 4 big (6′x16′) vegetable beds in March.
However, they decided to move to their own house shortly after the project was begun. So the garden is just sitting there now. All dug up with nowhere to go. ( The best laid plans you know.) I could have gone and finished the garden myself I suppose. However, if I’m going to sweat that much I’ll be at the gym or playing raquetball, not baking in the Texas sun.
Anyway, back to the patio. After seeing the BAP on my patio for 15 years and having used it only 6 times I decided to sell it. When Doug bought this pit in 1994 he thought he was going to be selling steak-on-a stick at festivals. It sold well at the Texas Renaissance Festival- so why not? I suggested before we bought it that we rent a pit for the weekend and see how it went at that first event. I was ignored. Doug wrote a check for $1200.00 and we left with the 700 lb. BAP. The story of what happened at that first festival is a lulu. However, it will have to wait for another time. The second time the BAP was used was on Labor Day in ’94. We were having people over that afternoon so I had decided to BBQ.
The lid of the pit was so heavy that by the time I had lifted it numerous times that afternoon, I had fractured my arm. (It was a stress fracture which happened slowly over that afternoon.) I told Doug that night my arm was really hurting. It wasn’t better by morning so we went to ER and came back with my right arm in a cast. That brisket cost us over $325.00. (I never used the pit again.)
Doug used the pit a few times, but basically it just sat and rusted. When we moving to this house I hired professional movers to move the pit. They got to the house and told me they wouldn’t touch it- too heavy. The BAP traveled across town on a Landoll flatbed wrecker. Let me tell you, it drew a lot of curious looks going down I-10.
Last weekend I was struck by a spring summer cleaning attack. I went outside and the first thing I saw was the BAP. I took a quick photo with my phone and listed the BAP on Craigslist- $900.00. (I said in the ad that we would sand and paint it before it would be picked up.) I really didn’t know what to expect with the economy being what it is now. Within an hour I had three emails. By the next day I had 8. Guys were clamoring for that pit. It was crazy. A guy came that first night and gave us $400 cash to hold it for 48 hrs. He picked it up on Monday for $800.00-as is-rusty and in need of paint.
I answered all the emails I received while waiting for the rest of the money. Out of curiosity, in the emails I asked all the potential buyers if they were buying it for their business. Everyone said no, it was for their personal use. This BAP had a vertical smoker that could smoke 5 turkeys at once!( not to mention a huge grill.) Most of these guys even said they already had one of these pits, just not as big as ours. The BAP left here 2 days ago. I don’t miss it and am still getting emails about it. Economic downturn? Not that I can see. At least not where a man and his meat are concerned.
