i don't know where i'm going, but i'm on my way

Any number of good, productive scrounging rides lately--but Saturday was something else again. Among the items gathered from various dumpsters: two vintage Ash Flash flashlights, vintage binoculars, a vintage Elgin 17 jewel watch, a 1958 Quik-Chek Trouble Finder (a set of rotating cardboard discs for determining the cause of problems with one's television set), a three piece set of vintage Halliburton aluminum luggage, two Irish-made pocket knives, vintage cufflinks, tools--and a 1983 datebook with a boy and his dog on the cover, and the caption, 'I don't know where I'm going, but I'm on my way.'

But Sunday might have been even better. Looking through a dumpster behind a pawn shop, I'm aware of a car rolling into the gravel parking lot next door, a car horn honking, and someone calling out to me, it seems. I look up to see a young woman in a modest, older car gesturing for me to come over. Pulling up near her on my bicycle, she asks me, 'Hey, could you use twenty bucks?', while fishing a twenty out of her wallet.
'No thanks, I'm good,' I tell her. 'I'm just looking for scrap metal and that sort of stuff.'
'You sure?' she asks.
'Yeah, really, but thanks, that's very kind of you.'
'No problem,' she says. And then with a kind half-smile, 'Hey, I've been there myself.'

Moments like that I may not know where I'm going, but I'm pretty sure I'm on my way.

that's $4.68 and counting

From one dumpster today: tote bags, decorative plant pots, notebooks, pens, and other items apparently cleaned out from a business office--and $2.68 in change in the bottom of one of the garbage bags. From a second dumpster: two glass vases and a new collapsible pet crate. And later, from a parking lot: two dollar bills.

scrappers

OK, check this out:
http://www.scrappersmovie.com/

raised on scrounging

Built a raised garden bed out of scrounged 2x12s and 2x6s and scrounged deck screws. Filled it up with soil from my two-stage compost enclosure, itself built from scrounged fencing and scrounged window frames. Then sat down in the scrounged hair stylist's chair in front of my shed and admired my second-handy work.

aluminum rule

Useful range of finds today--useful for different purposes, that is.

For the local homeless shelter: a large backpack, a zip-up fleece jacket, and two thick cotton hooded sweatshirts.

For my local charity shop: two sweater dresses.

For who knows who at this point: two digital cameras with accessories.

For my scrap metal pile: a brass hookah and many feet of copper wire.

And for me: a vintage aluminum folding rule with brass fittings.

a toast to the 99%

Over the past couple of months a dumpster that I hit regularly--one located on the edge of an old-money, well-to-do neighborhood--has been particularly productive. It appears that someone from that neighborhood has been doing some serious, ongoing mid-winter house cleaning, and then discarding the results in the dumpster. Today I hit the dumpster again--and, aha, there was the next housecleaning deposit.

Here's an abbreviated list of what I hauled home, most all of which is headed to our local homeless shelter or other charities serving the poor: Fifteen drinking glasses, minus two that were broken and one that featured a Coors Light Beer insignia (sorry, I don't pass on watery right wing beer advertisements). Two bowls. One plate. Two silverplated serving pieces. One Pyrex casserole dish with lid. Two home childproofing kits. One Garmin navigator set. One Nalgene water bottle (new in the wrapper, $18.50). Three cotton throws. Numerous children's books. Four pair of girls' shoes. Numerous items of girls' clothing, including a Hello Kitty tutu skirt. Countless girls' hair bows. One Okiedog child's scooter/cycle. Children's water floatie. Ski goggles. Patagonia belt. Silver belt buckle. A shopping bag full of fancy women's bras and undergarments.

And a bottle of 2003 Bell'Agio Chianti. Very nice--having a glass now, as I write.

So a toast: to putting the waste of the 1% in the hands of the 99%....

More post-Christmas-present finds:
Enough bars of engraved soap (really? engraved soap?) to last me well into 2012.
Forty-eight assorted 'Twelve Days of Christmas' tea bags.
And a dumpster full of boxed invitation/thank you card sets.
So, well....thank you!