So much depends upon a red wheelbarrow

I use my wheelbarrow all the time. But because it's so large it has to stay outside in the weather. The other day one of the handles had taken such a beating that was fully rotten and broke in half. What to do? Buyng another one was out of the question, I'm broke. After I took a long look at it I thought "I can fix this."
I bought a long piece of wood in the same shape and cut it to size. I struggled with getting the bolts and nuts off the old piece of wood, it took me quite a while to figure out how to cut them out. A lot of sweat later I finally got the wood in place and the new bolts in. It looks pretty good.

BEFORE: the broken handle

AFTER: the new handle

Then it took me a couple of days to paint the whole thing. I found an almost full can of the red "County Redwood" paint for the trough so I stayed with that color. Who doesn't love a red wheelbarrow? Reminds me of one of my favorite poems by William Carlos Williams. 

"The Red Wheelbarrow"

so much depends

upon

a red wheel

barrow

glazed with rain

water

beside the white

chickens

I found a nice taupe can of paint for the legs and braces underneath. It's like the color of my morning coffee with cream.

All in all, I'm very proud of how the whole project turned out...and it only cost me about $8.00!