long time no post

I have learned over the past year, if you wait until you have time to do something that it will never get done.

I have moved and since gone through a great garbage purge. Fortunately I have found people to take most of the material that I have saved from the landfill. Since I have moved I have found many useful things but I will just cover the highlights. A tractor lawnmower with a broken starter. Cost $181 for repairs and maintenance. This I gifted to my aunt in law who was gracious enough to let us crash at her pad for low rent.
A kayak that is really old but it holds water(and fun), two wooden chairs painted purple A table with matching purple legs.

Here are the toys I found: A metal Tonka truck that was all bent up but was nothing a hammer could not fix. A fisher price little people elevator. (The blue deck that the cars drive up was cracked so I just took the deck off) The funny part about this is that I saw it at a garage sale a day earlier for 50 cents and I thought about buying it, but it was broken and I was not going to pay for something that was broken.
I found a toddler kitchen set that goes great in Finn's room. A tool work bench. I found an elmo work bench. a semi truck,

I went downtown Madison on the 16th and unfortunately for me most of the material was already gone, it seemed like they had garbage trucks on patrol and there was more pickers then droppers at that point. Despite all this I still had quite a haul. A metal shelf, 4 wooden chairs with leather seats, a papasan chair(will be made into a solar cooker), a computer that did not work(but I got a working hard drive and some disk drives),a brand new looking bike(missing a seat). (I found a bike earlier that was in pretty rough shape so I took the wheels off because they were exactly the same size as the new looking bike and I just put the poor thing in the recycle bin. I hope they can recycle it because it is mostly steel.), a bunch of other junk that I thought might sell for quarters at a garage sale. I found an awesome antique desk with a bunch of drawers, but I when I came back with the van(parked down the street) it was gone :(

I know it is not the same as pulling it from the garbage but we got a dresser given to us, a hide a bed couch, an electric cooler that was burned up but it had a lot of aluminum in it.(another useful solar component) Some kitchen stuff, some glass decor, A gas grill, big rubber wader boots and a whole bunch of stuff that I can't use but I think may sale well.(my poor garage has to hold it all)

1/5/09

I found an Aiwa stereo yesterday, the CD player part does not work but the radio part works just fine. I am donating it to a workplace where a radio is needed. I also found a small bookshelf. It is a weird green with hearts on the sides but it can be painted.

Update:
I messed around with the stereo and I got the CD player to work. one side of the tape player does not work(I think that it just needs to be cleaned) I gave the heart shelf to my mom.

exercise equipment

I found a floor stair step exerciser. I was riding home from school and I spotted it from several hundred feet away. I was really excited because I have not seen much lately. I blame the economy for people not throwing perfectly good things away. I also found a mirror by the recycle bin. I will use it in my prototype of a recycled component solar oven.

CD storage solution

I found a rack this morning that folds into itself to save space or it can extend to accommodate a very large amount. This thing is perfect because our music CDs are sitting in a box right now.

The grill is back in the garbage. It had a good run, but the tank is empty. I saved the tank because I think that I may be able to get a discount on another 20# tank that can be used on our camp grill and stove.

There are other ways that I conserve to try to reduce my own pollution. For example, I really like the idea of bringing your own grocery bags to the grocery store. You can hold more in backpacks or canvas bags. By not using additional material then that is less material in the land fill or that has to be processed using even more energy.

Jack Benny DVD

That's it for today.

A pretty good week

Wednesday morning I found a wicker desk organizer thing with a drawer in it that goes perfectly with the found desk that I am using. I also found an airbed and an electric air pump to fill it. Unfortunately the air bed had a hole in it so I was not able to keep it. Tonight I found a coat rack and a flashy light up little kids keyboard. It folds in half for easy transport. I put new batteries in it and it works fine. I am going to give it to my cousin that plays keyboards. Tonight there was a seemingly perfectly good stroller that I had to leave because we already have one.

Free bag.

Yesterday, I was walking by the trash and I caught a bag out of the corner of my eye. It was kind of purple. I thought "great just what I need is another bag", but upon closer inspection this bag was brand new. It still had the tags on it. I walked up and grabbed it but soon discovered that it was full of something. I peeked inside and found a bowling ball.

Honorable mentions

The dumpster business has been pretty dry lately. It usually picks up on Sundays, but lately I guess people have not been throwing perfectly good things away. The end of the month is a good time too, I think because people are moving in and out.

I decided to list a few things that we are using that I have not already mentioned:

My dog has a bad habit of tearing up blankets when we are gone, so I keep my eye out for good dog blankets.
I found a monopoly and a Risk game. I basically doubled my risk army's reserves. This is good news because it always seems like you need more when you are playing.

I found a gas grill that has the old type of tank on it but it is 80% full so we are using it until it runs out.

The 2 computer chairs that we are using were salvaged. Two large computer monitors.(I ended up giving away 4 CRT monitors because I already had a spare so I figured that I did not need 5 spare computer monitors) We also got two desks. The computer entertainment stand in the living room was also found.

I found enough christmas lights to wrap around the apartment a couple of times. I found a cool green cooler with bottle openers on the sides from the 70s. The other day my dad found a nice red igloo cooler.

2 coffee tables. Living room lamp with five movable light sockets. The lamp in our living room is made from a recycled glass water bottle. I stuffed christmas lights in the inside so it emits a little color. The guts I used from a discarded ceramic lamp. The only part that is not recycled is the CFL bulb. 2 bedroom lamps, they both look Asian; one is ceramic and the other is translucent paper.

I found several containers to keep my massive cd archives in. The living room chair, a "van gough" chair. A wicker sorter that we keep in the bathroom. A sony clock radio that we use as the bathroom radio. Many wicker baskets. Various picture frames. A couple of stools that are square on top.

In the kitchen, we have a microwave, a toaster oven, 3 garbage cans(2 for recycling), assorted cups, glasses, cutlery, utensils, glass lids for pans. A glass cake cover, a portable pantry that has glass panels with potatoes onions and bread painted on them.

Outside we have 2 lawn chairs, and A radio flyer wagon.
We had a garage sale this summer, selling almost exclusively found material we made $69.

I feel bad when I have to purge some things. But I just have to keep in mind that since I found it in the garbage I am not putting something in there that was not there before.

Update: I put a lampshade on my recycled water bottle lamp. It actually makes it look a lot nicer.

More books

It occurred to me that when starting this log that I may not have quite been clear about my intentions for this project.
My hobby is walking the dog. Every so often I would see something that I thought that I could use outside of the garbage can and take it home. Over time I thought to myself, "well it can't hurt to look". It sort of reminds me of a video game like legends of zelda I go up to a box and it maybe gives me something.
My theory is that I can offset the amount of material that I am adding to the landfill by removing material and use it in a different way.

I have three rules for myself.

1. Don't dig, unless you see something fantastic underneath.

2. No matter how tempting, don't take food.

3. don't climb inside the trash receptacle.(I broke this one to get the dvd player)

New book list:
Kalki, Gore Vidal :Donated
I, Claudius, Robert Graves :Donated
Claudius the God, Robert Graves :Donated
The Greatest Generation, Tom Brokaw
Children of Dune, Frank Herbert :Donated
Dune Messiah, Frank Herbert :Donated
The Covenant, James A. Michener
The Plains of Passage, Jean M. Auel :Donated
Basic wiring, time life books
WWII:
Unrestricted Warfare, James F. DeRose
Blood, Tears, and Folly, Len Deighton
Miracle at Midway, Gordon W. Prange :Donated
Shindler's Legacy, Elinor Brecher
Pearl Harbor photo book
Pearl Harbor life magazine collection
World War 2 wall chart :Donated

Golf time

I found a nice black duffel bag. I was expecting it to have a broken zipper or something, but it was in perfect condition. Yesterday I also found a golf bag cart. This thing is also in perfect shape. It came with a golf ball collector. I think that I may donate it to the lake cottage.

Raccoons oh my!

On Wednesday morning I found a bicycle. I subsequently listed it on crags list. In the mean time I have been riding it. I found a straw hat with a stuffed bird on it. I can't think of anything to do with it so I think that is going to end up going right back where I found it. Last night I found a 1# propane tank almost completely filled. I also found two black dining room chairs. Angie says Bauhaus take on diner style. They are in perfect condition and now we don't have to use lawn chairs in the dining room anymore. Right when we found the chairs I heard Angie scream. She had spotted a raccoon staring at her from inside the dumpster. I see them so much that it does not even phase me anymore. On Wednesday morning I heard rustling inside one dumpster and when I looked inside there were six beady eyed little critters having a picnic looking back at me.

Thank you for being my bridesmaid

I found 12 pairs of cotton shorts of various colors, but they were all brand new in the packages.
I also found an unburned candle with the following inscription on the side: Your friendship lights my memories and warms my heart. Thank you for being my Bridesmaid.

I love books!

I found another 3 ring binder today. It is a nice one and it has a plastic folder and separators inside. This is something that I am sure that I will be able to use. I found four books also:
A separate peace, John knowles
Death of a salesman, Arthur miller: Donated
Sense and Sensibility, Jane Austen: Donated
Siddhartha, Hermann Hesse

I love finding books in the trash because they are useful things that I can read or sell and share with people that are interested. I still can't understand why people throw books away. I was taught to always respect books no matter what it is. They can be donated to a library, or some place where people are learning to read.

nothing new

Well, I didn't find anything yesterday so I will just mention a few things that I have found that I am using. A few weeks ago I found a t-shirt that says "bring our troops home safely" and has a big American flag on the front. I wear it proudly because I want to show everyone that I wear recycled clothing.
I found a huge tv, it must be at least 36" the remote was flaky but I just used my universal remote and now it works fine.
I found a cd player that we connected to the computer for some extra sound. The only thing wrong with it was that the cd changer part was all jammed up. I spent about 20 minutes on taking it apart and pulling the cds that were jamming up the servos and now it works just great.

Affirmation in the garbage?

Today I found an Affirmation ball that is still in the package just like this one:
http://www.mcphee.com/items/10519.html


I also found a dolphin cell phone holder that has tiny dolphins swimming in liquid inside. Similar to this:
http://www.accessorygeeks.com/dolphin-cell-phone-holder.html

update: I gave the cell phone holder to a friend of mine that likes dolphins, she was super excited about it.

Shower rack

I found a wooden shower rack that fits nicely in our bathroom. We both think that it looks like it is from ikea.

dvd player

The day before yesterday, I found a DVD player that just happened to be a dvd burner too. I was so excited that I could not wait until I got it home to try it out. Of course it didn't work, but I took it apart to see if I could fix it. It turned out that the thing was completely dead but inside there was an IDE DVD burner. I took it out and I am quite sure that it will work if I plug it into a computer. I also found 60 coke points.

Yesterday,
I found a giant wicker basket, a three ring binder, and a box of hankies.

intro

I find things almost every day in the dumpsters. Many people have told me that I need to keep track of the items that I find and if I sell them or give them away, This is my log of these discarded items that I have found in the trash.

Yesterday I found a Louisville slugger baseball bat, 12 cents, a Canadian penny, and a peso.