Junk Eccentricity or Junk Insanity?

It was another intriguing Thursday morning trash day in our little waterside town. The battle of Me vs Me started before dawn while I still lie in bed thinking those interruptive thoughts that snatch my sleep because the subject matter is soooo weighty. 

Would I go hunting for junk that morning or not? That was the important question that separated me from my slumber in the dark. 

"There's no room for more stuff!", Rational-Practical-Would-Love-to-Sleep-Past-5:30-Me told Maniacal-Junk-Greedy Me. No need to go hunting. Settled. I turned over and nestled my head soundly back into my pillow, happy that another daily dilemma was wiped off the "worry chart" and I could sleep on until the next worry butt in to wake me. It was simple really. I couldn't go, for I am in danger of being run out of my own home by my kids who think a safe walking path and room to breath is of some import. Case closed.

Maniacal Junk-Greedy Me is persistent though, and drives a hard bargain. "We'll just drive a few streets and look! What if there's something out there?!" I lured myself with the promise of a possible discovery. By "SOMETHING", Junk-Greedy-Me means something that would be a heart breaker to see lost forever, whether we want it, need it, have room for it - or not. It's the principal of the thing, and for all of Junk-Greedy-Me's gimme-gimme, grabby hands, that Me's attitude is rooted in the past and aggravated by the present. My love for the past longs to fight a valiant battle to beat back the present's evil desire to suck all the treasured wood and metal relics down into the ashes of the earth and make a sort of historical compost out of them. Uh, uh!

The battle lines are drawn and so are our junk warrior weapons!

Shut off the alarm, fire up the coffee, rev up the engine, and we're off. 

Yes, Practical-Rational-Me is a pushover.

Plus my sleep was already ruined. Once I'm awake, I might as well get up and drive. I know I'll never fall back to sleep.

So the fun began. When this baby was first spotted, it reminded me of a little three drawer box thingy I found one day a couple years ago on the way home from work. I put wheels on that and it's come in real handy.

But this was different. It was bigger and had large drop leaves with gate legs, and it already had casters. Kinda cool ones with patina that looked like it might be brass (still haven't looked closely to figure that out. They could be cheapy things). If nothing else, these casters would be good for the chair I found in the trash last week. The wheels on that chair had to be discarded due to poor working condition.

 One end of this has a drawer and one end has a roll top opening. How cool is that!

Now, it wasn't comely in shape or form, but it did appear to be a practical little gem. I wasn't gonna just leave it there because it didn't have curvy legs and a pretty face. Practical hulking workhorses are valuable too. However, it was heavy as it could be and wouldn't quite fit into the back seat. So I tried to lean it over a bit to see if the wheels would come off easily. I gouged my thumb trying to pry one off, but got it. Anything for the cause, but while trying to get another wheel that was really stuck in there, the weight of the whole lumbering thing started to tip it over.

I didn't want any watchers to see me flailing around with their junk or letting it crash onto the pavement (I am junk-conscious, you know.) So without thinking, I used my left knee to stop the fall. Not so smart. The thing weighed a ton and my old flabby legs, while seemingly cushy and perfect for softening such a blow, actually took it pretty hard. The weight of the beast left a corner-shaped indented scrape, bruise and cut in my leg. Pretty impressive. (Sorry I didn't take a picture because I didn't want to gross out the squeamish among us.) My thumb was dripping blood and I was struggling to get the piece back up right while shoving the one caster back in as best I could so it would stay up. I didn't want to be hunted down by the police with accusations that I'm some sort of vandal who comes by tearing up people's trash, flipping things over and then running off.

I got it set right and drove on to decide who would be the lucky recipient of my call for help to drag this baby home. I had to have the casters if nothing else, but since it had drawn blood and left a mark, I was not going to go home without it. I am stubborn, if nothing else.

My friend, Kathryn, who is also my employer, was the lucky recipient of my early morning call. The good news is she was able to come and help me get it. Thanks, Kathryn! Just look at that wing span, my friends! What a work table this unassuming little beaut could be! The top is made of particle board covered by laminate, which is peeling off the edges. I hadn't noticed that at first glance. I just saw everything else. I may have to replace the skinny little piece of the top in the middle or cover it because the corners are fraying. I checked out sheet metal prices yesterday and woo, were they high, and Lowes didn't have any pieces big enough for the drop leaves, which was disappointing. It would cost a fortune to cover it with that anyway, but would it ever be cool! This lovely being is now sitting inside my front door even more obvious and annoying than the console. I had to bring it in because we were expecting thunder storms and I didn't want the particle board further damaged while I try to decide what I'm going to do with it. It rained for two days after that and may yet again today. It needs another place to stay now, and soon because it's time for the afternoon showers to go into full effect here in South Florida.

I waited for Kathryn in a parking lot nearby where the gateleg table was and hoped we'd beat the trash truck. When she finally arrived, we zipped in just ahead of the truck. He was one pile of stuff behind us. Yes! A close call, but a victory none the less.

There was also an arbor lying in front of someone's yard so we went and got it too. I checked these out on ebay and this very one is on sale by some company for $150.00.

I don't have a picture of them yet, but there was a trash pile with four white dining room chairs in front of someone's house. I directed "my delivery lady" to that heap of stuff and we snagged 'em. Woo hoo! They could use a good cleaning and the seats will need to be recovered, but they are heavy and nice and sturdy with no breaks or problems other than the dingy cushion fabric. Kathryn drove those home to put in her garage. Hallelujah!

I also scored some crummy metal number plates off a plastic mailbox. They aren't impressive, but may come in handy for something someday. I can always repaint the faded ones.

There you have it. Junk-Greedy-Me was right again about going on the hunt and Practical-Rational-Me was happy because everything we got was good for something. Win/Win. Except now I have to go around looking like a bruiser with my knee wound because it's too hot out for long pants. Ah, well, the battlescars are the price I had to pay this week. For the cost of a knee and a thumb, I got some good stuff.

Here's where the insanity comes in...

However, that little batch of stuff, it turns out, was just a drop in the bucket compared to what came my way via my friend Lynette on Sunday after church. There was a business that needed to be cleaned out and it was ours for the pickin'. Suffice it to say that we are both now getting a little worried about the thin line between junk eccentricity and junk insanity

Does anyone see anything that looks familiar (like something I already have) in this shot? I couldn't believe I found the companion to the one I brought home some time ago and repainted aqua!

We found ourselves up to our eyeballs in psycho junkin' with more crazy stuff than we necessarily want to discuss with the rational among us. However, we were equal to the task. So far anyway. The test will be what we manage to do with everything we procured during our 4 hours picking our way through the madness and the three trips to drop everything off at Lynette's junk corral.



This is just a drop in the bucket of what we unearthed and believe me, we dug through reams and rooms of literal trash. This came home with me in my car. I don't know what came over me, but I forgot my camera (and my phone) when I left to run over and meet her at the shop we were clearing out. The place was a disaster. I did take some photos with Lynette's camera though, so hopefully I'll get some of the "before" shots from her. We still have to photograph what we took over to her junk lair. That'll take a while.

Meanwhile I'll be trying to stay junk sane because everyone in my house is getting a little crazy over all the stuff (who can blame them), but some of it really is pretty darn cool!

I hope you'll stop over and visit these great parties this week: