It\u2019s spring clean-up week in my town, which is when everyone puts all their unwanted household things at the curb to be collected by the trash collectors\u2014or scavenged by dumpster divers like me who can always find a use for something its owner doesn\u2019t want. We\u2019re not pack rats, by any means, but we have collected a few practical things over the years. But, we\u2019re also always \u201credding out,\u201d as my Pennsylvania grandparents used to call it. I\u2019m both amazed and dismayed at the things people throw away: perfectly usable or fixable furniture, electronics (which may or may not work), garden hoses, patio furniture, Christmas decorations, vacuum cleaners (lots and lots of vacuum cleaners), appliances, barbecue grills, and lawn mowers. And then there are all the miscellany that truly is junk. In years past, Hubby and I have driven around town scouting for usable \u201cjunk.\u201d We\u2019ve scored a brand new hand axe, bird baths, wood scraps (used in the garden), aforementioned patio furniture, planting pots, carpet remnants, which we use to pimp out the garage, and I\u2019m sure many other finds. Today I scored a broken table lamp that is easily fixable (for our basement when it\u2019s finished) and aforementioned garage carpeting (ours has reached that yuck stage). I saw many other things I would have rescued if I had a storage barn and the time to refurbish the salvageable items\u2014or the money to pay someone else to do it\u2014and then donate those items to my local furniture bank. There are folks who drive around with pickups and trailers, hauling away treasures. I wish more would do that. This year, Hubby didn\u2019t want to drive around, choosing to water his garden, which was probably the better choice.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"