Full Moon Rising

Fooled you...you thought I was going to be talking about the moon! Our projects are on hold for a couple of days due to some family concerns, so I figured I would talk a little about how we find a lot of our materials.

In the interior of Alaska we have a bit of a unique refuse setup that the rest of the world is probably not familiar with. Down in the lower 48...that's what we call the rest of the country way down there, you put your trash in a can, set it on the curb before going to work, and it magically disappears before you get home. No muss, no fuss, never to be thought about again. Up here in the Great White North (Take Off with Geddy Lee if you remember that song!) we don't have that,er, how you say...luxury. We have transfer stations.

What is a transfer station you ask? Why, sit back, take a load off and let me tell you! A transfer station (pronounced d u m p) is a centralized fenced off location with lots of dumpsters lined up in a row! Everyone from the area loads their trash into their car, truck, four wheeler, even bicycles and drives into the d u m p to drop their trash. Then, when the dumpsters fill up, all of the trash magically disappears when the trash trucks haul it off. Actually, not a bad system and it's cheaper than setting it on your curb every week.

Because of this system, Alaskans engage in a unique and sometimes extreme sport called Dumpster Diving. Any time of the day or night you can see someone walking the line, pulling things out, and more often than not, jumping in to see what that little shiny thing on the very bottom of the pile is. For the uninitiated this can be a gruesome site.

I was uninitiated to this wild world of sport when I met my wife. The first time she convinced me to go, I thought she was crazy. I mumbled. I grumbled. I hung my head so nobody would see me. I got a brand new pair of Carhartts just my size. Still had the tag on em.

Kitty does have a unique view of the world. She does see beauty in others trash. Most of everything we make has come out of these dumpsters. A couple of years ago, we heated our home strictly with wood from the dumpsters. While everyone else around paid between 10-15 thousand bucks to stay warm for the winter, we spent nothing. Zero. Zilch! Most of my project wood comes from these very same dumpsters. By the way, you should see the trunk I just finished. Okay, I'll show you in a couple days.

A couple of years ago, while standing around watching my wife go through the daily piles, a lady in a very nice Mercedes or Rolls or some fancy car like that stopped in to drop off a couple of bags for people to go through. Of course, being the opportunist she is, Kitty went straight for her bags to check before anyone else got to them. Black Friday at Wally World has nothing on a good dumpster day as far as the crowd, competition and rioting by the way! Anyway, the lady that set the bags down looked at my wife and said “Honey, you don't want those. Those are last years fashions.” All we could respond was Duh. Brand new designer clothes just her size! Stylin and profilin that day.

 

Our stereo and surround sound were FREE! Didn't have to pay the man! Blue jeans, winter coats, summer coats, tee shirts, shoes, socks, thongs. Hey, get your mind out of the gutter...the kind that go on your feet. Geesh! It is completely amazing to me just how much we throw away now just because we are tired of it. In this very expensive throw away society we live in now, everything is made to break. Particle board, cheap plastic, electronics made by the lowest bidder, you name it. Use it a year or two then get rid of it and spend more money. Believe it or not, this is a very large reason for our countries problems now. Junk. And nobody sees it happening because it magically disappears from the curb before you get home.

 

 

I hope this doesn't sound too much like a rant. It started off to be a fun piece with a bit of comedy but as usual, I got sidetracked! Anyway, enjoy the full moon. Not the beautiful little ball that came from the dump but the big full moon of Kitty getting her inspiration to create another wonder!

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Recycle, Repurpose, Reuse