Tuesday, August 17, 2010

One man's trash ...


The other day Rick and I stopped at the dumpsite. We don't pay for trash service at our home, but take ours to a site which is then taken to the dump. It's free and there's no limit, so we like it. I've blogged about people digging in the dumpsters before. It's a daily occurrence and some people really get into it. The other day we drove up and I saw this pet carrier. Of course, I had to get out and look because it was sitting on the ground next to a bin, not inside it. I was worried someone might have dumped off a pet inside it. I couldn't not look. The guilt would have killed me. It was empty, thank goodness. Upon looking at the carrier closer, I realized it was brand new. It was a little dirty, but for the most part, there wasn't one scratch on it. These things are expensive, so like the white trash I am (snort), I put it in the van and brought it home. Why? I don't know! We already have two large pet carriers and only one cat. But since it was in perfect condition, I decided to snag it. Who knows when some small animal might come into my life. Right? Right? Or maybe I could take it to a pawn shop and get a few bucks. Who knows ... so I took it home and Rick cleaned it up.

Well, Neil flipped out over it. He has a collection of stuffed cats that he's had his entire life and this little carrier was just the perfect size for some of them. He's been carrying this carrier around for days. He even has some of those Fur-Real cats that meow, so it's funny to hear them in the carrier meowing. The other day he took a bunch of his cats up to town with us. Of course, I made him leave them in the car and I was hoping no one would call the cops on us. I could hear it already ... "Some idiot in a big white van has cats in a carrier with the windows rolled up!" Fortunately, our van is high and has dark windows, so we didn't get cited for any stuffed animal abuses.

I had to laugh at myself because I'm not someone who goes digging around in the trash dumpsters. However, this is the second thing I've brought home from that particular site. Last Christmas I found a planter in the shape of a sleigh. It was sitting on the edge of the dumpster, not inside it. Someone put it there hoping someone else would want it. Well, I have these little stuffed reindeers that I got from Burger King way back in the 80s. They needed a sleigh to pull Santa around, so ... I took it. Am I just turning into such a scuz that I take things from trash bins? Or are our stuffed animals playing mind games with us? It makes me wonder ...

11 comments:

  1. It drives me nuts when people throw useful things away just because they don't want it anymore. With the internet, it would be so easy to sell it or give it away to a good home. In fact, just last week, we had a kitchen table sitting in the garage waiting to be taken to a donation center or coordinate a pickup. A friend of mine on FB posted that they were looking for a table. Voila!

    Jenny Rose Creatively Loving Kids

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  2. We have a spot at the Household Waste/Recycling Site where people leave things they are happy for others to take.

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  3. My dad loves to take the trash just to see what people have left beside the dumpster (he's not the diving kind...grin). He found two rose bushes a few years ago that were almost dead...he brought them home and gave them some TLC and they are beautiful now...it is amazing what some people will toss out...so congrats on the great find!

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  4. Thank goodness no on from PETA was around to attack you on cruelty to stuff animals

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  5. Poor little stuffed animals!

    The only thing I ever brought home from the dump was a penny that I found...made the year I was born. But people do seem to dump some really good things and it does make you wonder what their values are.

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  6. Dumpster diving: a popular sport in the Virgin Islands.

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  7. It is amazing what some people throw away. A few years back a neighbor of mine put boxes and boxes of stuff out for the garbage man. I couldn't believe she was throwing away all this stuff instead of donating it to a thrift store. Of course I picked out a few things for myself. I also jumped down into a newspaper recycling dumpster one time, someone had thrown away all kinds of old books, many of them children's books. I couldn't believe it, I stood in there and handed them all out to my husband.

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  8. Janet -- Children's books??? Really??? Well, for those, I'd get in the bin too. I don't think I'd do that for anything else, but books are different. Someone once left a whole box of books at another dumpsite. (I forgot about those when I posted this). I grabbed a few of them. I have a hard time getting rid of books. I still have board books from when my kids were little.

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  9. You are not a scuz. The pet carrier found a great home and now Neil has a new toy!

    BTW, you might want to think about making money off this stuff. My friend goes to garage sales, find toys that are in really good shape for $1 and then sells them on ebay for $10. You never know...

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  10. Awwww...little Neil...so cute and adorable!! :)

    I also chuckled at your "snort" comment. hahaha You always keep me laughing and smiling. Love ya!

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  11. sounds like a practical way to recycle to me. Better to reuse than to let much up our landfills!

    Besides, look how happy that stuffed kitty is! :0)

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