Busy Holiday

With Carrie at work and Shane at school, I went to work...

...on the garage. 

No sense to waste a day! Lisa let me borrow the truck. Thanks, Lisa!

Construction materials, debris, and general clutter took over our garage and multiplied. Most of it was very easy to chuck in the truck. The only item I paused on was the old IKEA table Carrie glued some of Shane's first puzzles on to. I stood in the rain and looked at it for a full second or three. Then I snapped a picture and started throwing on lumber and drywall. It was a good table and served it's purpose, but it was just a thing. I still have the memories and (more importantly) my family.

With winter on the way, I wanted to be able to park both cars out of the elements. If I have to be out of the house by 6:30 AM each morning, I don't want to be running late, shivering, and scraping off my windshields, so that I won't die on the way in.

If you haven't been to your county dump, it is an experience. First you have to get weighed in.

Then you get to dump your stuff. There are different stations for different types of refuse. There's no map. The attendant just says a few quick directions and then you're on your way.

Yield right of way to any heavy equipment you come across. They're heavy.

Once you've deposited all of your materials, you're weighed again. I dropped off over 300 lbs of trash for $10.

For Round 2, I went home, reloaded, and went to the scrapyard. It's a simple enough operation once you know what to do, but unless you ask someone you won't know. I clocked in at 4170 lbs with the old hot water heater in tow.

The hot water heater weighed a 110 lbs and netted me $5.50. That's 5 cents per pound. I would have gotten more money if I'd cannibalized it and ripped out any copper sheeting and sawed off the remainder of the pipes on top. Thankfully, the copper pipes I had brought were worth a bit more. I made off with $30. With more time and knowledge I could have made more. The scrapyard takes brass and I threw away a ceiling fan motor and casing that may have been worth a couple of dollars. I'm happy to be paid a small amount to get rid of what I consider trash, though. May their business continue!

On the way home, I gassed up Lisa's truck. If you borrow a vehicle for more than a sprint, you bring it home with more gas. It cost me $24 to fill up.

$10 spent at the landfill, $30 gained at the scrapyard, and $24 to gas up. It cost me a total of $4 to haul away two truck loads, thank my neighbor, and clean out my garage. No window scraping for me! I got to spend a day doing something new, get some exercise, and take care of some business.

Mission accomplished. Though, the side of the house looks lonely like something is missing now!