Monday, April 5, 2010

So Much to Love About Long Weekends

We love long weekends around here.  We love them even more when they involve a road trip.  Road trips are a regular part of our life and we consider them a good opportunity to sort of blow the cobwebs out - change things up, explore something new and just have fun.  Our dog loves them too.
There were properties to look at and, when you're looking at acreages for sale then you're bound to pass some good garage sales too.  I found some metal chairs (4 for $5) that need a bit of fixing to be just what I've been looking for.  W was given a bike frame to work on (just what  he'd been looking for) and S got a box full of old glass insulators (probably 30 of them) for $5!!

There were eggs to be dyed.
There was chocolate to be found.
There were good meals with family and lots of visiting.  And...there was a new-to-us free re-use "store".  Do I even need to tell you how much I love this idea?  I think I'll show you instead.

Free.
Free!
Free!!
Free!!!
Plus some other outside things as well. Why doesn't every landfill/transfer station have a free store?   Hope you had a lovely long weekend too.

3 comments:

Sue said...

Hi Heather,
We have talked much about needing our landfills to recycle! It seems small towns often "get" the idea of having free stuff instead of throwing it in a landfill. We were amazed at all the perfectly good stuff(nice bikes!) thrown in the dump. I was wondering who one might talk to to change this???

Heather said...

Yes, tons of good stuff in the landfills. The "dump" we were at was actually a "transfer station" so they would have to pay to send their stuff to a landfill - I think that alone helps them want to re-use as much as they can.

We loved being on the Gulf Islands this summer and seeing their "free stores" at the dumps where people are encouraged to take anything they want, they have it all put in sheds and are happy to have people make use of it.
Where I grew up they now have a recycle place at the transfer station where you can go and buy all sorts of stuff that people have dumped off for very cheap. It keeps it out of the landfill and makes someone very happy to get it for such a deal. My dad used to get all sorts of scrap metal there for super cheap and made wonderful things with his welder out of it - a beautiful metal headboard, a gate, trellises, a custom go-cart for my boys, garden ornaments and much more.

I think with the Westside landfill closing our city council will (hopefully) be getting more receptive to all ideas on how they can cut the amount of stuff going into landfills. I really do believe that one man's trash is another man's treasure and it seems a shame to me to throw so many "treasures" away.

daisy g said...

I wish we had a free store. Looks like you've found some wonderful treasures!
Love your blog! We are kindred spirits.