Trash to Treasure

We're in the process of having our house re-sided, and today the workers began tearing off the old cedar planks. After a full day of pounding and pulling, they accumulated a rather nice- sized pile of the stuff on our driveway.

I can't help but think there's got to be something we can do with that wood, other than trash the whole mess. Much of the wood is worn out, dried, and decayed. But there are sections that are in relatively decent shape--at least those from the front of the house. (The rear of the house is in pitiful condition. Nothing to salvage there!)

Even my 11-year-old daughter took one look at the pile when she came home from school and said, "Maybe you could make something for me with that." Hmmm. I'm already planning to make a wooden address plaque for my mother. Maybe I could use a scrap from the siding as the base? Or maybe we could recycle some of the planks as siding for the deteriorating doghouse? There've got to be some other ideas out there! (Like I need another project . . .)

Yikes! I'm turning into my mother, the hoarding queen of the country.