Sunday, October 02, 2005

Good week for trashpicking

I'm a trashpicker. From time to time people toss out things that they believe has no value. Sometime the stuff has no cash value and it's just cool. I don't just indiscriminately rummage through garbage cans looking for stuff, but if I see something I can use or sell or it's just cool I'll snag it. For instance, a few weeks ago when I picked up the 550 parts bike, one of my neighbors tossed out one of those hard plastic bins with the lid with interlocking fingers. I snagged the box from the trash, hosed it out and bingo, a box for 550 parts. Teusday is trash 'nite in a nearby community, that is, the Sanitation folks pick up the stinky goodies on Wednesday. So, I'm driving home Teusday night and I spot a bicycle behind a couple of cans up against the bushes. I have a soft spot for bicycles. It breaks my heart to see a perfectly good bicycle get tossed in a landfill. I spun around and tossed them in the truck. Bonus! there was a second bike under the first. The one on top was your standard ladies 3-speed. In my experience, this has been the most common throw-away bike. Aside from thier looks, these are actually very good bikes and I can't figure out why people dont ride them. This is about the 4th one I've owned. It needs tires and a bath and you could ride it to work for $0.00 per gallon. I digress. The other bike is a bit anomalous. It looks like a bizzare hybrid (ok not that bizzare) of your standard department store 10-speed and your standard department store 3-speed. This bike has potential. I'm thinking chopper, but we were talking trashpicking here right? The next find needs a little backstory. I purchased a 4x5 view camera at a garage sale about two years ago. Yesterday I went to Michigan for a workshop on how to use the view camera to it's fullest. Today I'm on my way home from a morning of trap shooting (yeah, big weekend) and I spot a 4x5 enlarger sitting by the curb. This is the same house that had the garage sale where I bought the camera. Spooky. Yep, tossed it in the truck. So now I have 3 enlargers and 7 bicycles. I think the enlarger will go to the old man and the ladies 3-speed is free to a good home. Except the headlight-I'm keeping that. I've got some ideas for the other bike. Hmmmmm.........
(I have pictures but the blogger photo thing did'nt take) I think there is a problem with my home 'puter. I'll get the pics up later.

1 comment:

Grumpyunk said...

"I'm a trashpicker" - One more reason to love your pointy little head.