Discards of the Rich


So here we all are in Phoenix, the land of the sun. And in case you've never been here, the land of the rich and the botoxed. The only reason we "naturals" are allowed in is to that the beautiful people can look even more beautiful by comparison. OK so I am kidding around here...


But one thing that really strikes me is the excess here. In every aspect of life. The huge amounts of water used to simply irrigate someone's front lawn and rose bush. A plant that should not be growing normally in this desert environment. The water that spills down the road from a broken lawn irrigation system, owners oblivious to the huge waste. Green grass lawns..??.... they look so out of place here. Homes are on the huge side and too large for a typical family size. And it seems the contents of homes are too much as well.


So far at the curbside trash I've picked up great lumber (including redwood planks), a fancy bicycle trailer for towing children (or maybe dogs who are quite aged), a saxophone (web research reveals worth to be anywhere from 350 to 2000 buckeroos -- but hey! Why not donate to a school music program??) and a guitar, that looks like it was never played. Of course there is tons more , a lot of it in very good shape.


I've seen a few other smart people doing what I am doing. Cruising around and keeping an eye open for the goodies. I'm glad for us scavengers. Salvagers. It only makes sense. Reuse and recycle. Most things will only need the weather brushed off and they are good for another round of life!

Comments

  1. Earth LoverFebruary 21, 2011 at 11:56 AM

    Our whole society and OCED countries have been on an orgy of waste--not just the airheaded rich. We have all been airheaded, but speaking for myself, I didn't have the money to be so airheaded as you describe. It is now known that all the Arizona real estate will be worth absolutely zero because the aquifer that enabled the profligate waste is nearing full depletion. Wish I had been there though to collect those things you describe and recovered to reuse.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Medico Loom by Leclerc

Image
Here's the newest addition to my Painted Floor Studio. This is a Medico table loom, manufactured by Leclerc, a Canadian company. Research suggests this loom was manufactured for WWII veterans to use. As such it utilizes hand levers for changing the shed. But as you can clearly see in this picture, I have the floor stand which includes six treadles, essentially making it a floor loom.  The maximum weaving width is 22 inches. When I bought this loom last week it came with the blue and white warp on there already. I decided to just play with it, getting the hang of the levers and treadles. I figured out how the previous owner had the tie-ups done, and then "went with it."  Altogether I wound up with a piece of fabric about ten feet long. I will either cut it into bits and sew small bags out of it, or maybe use most of it for a scarf. In this photo you can see the four hand levers (silver) in the top right corner of the loom. In the top centre area of the loom
Read more

What's old is new again

Image
Recently the talk of the Fiber Prep group on Ravelry is about "blending boards". It's like a drum carder, but without the drum. A flat surface covered in carding cloth. During the same week this was impressing many on Ravelry, hubby and I were in a thrift store where he spotted this! Naturally it had to come with me. (This model is not the same as what the current buzz is about.) So it is a heavy wooden box construction, with a separate handle that also has carding cloth on it. The manufacturer is Louet, a good name in spinning circles. A little vacuuming to clean out the remains from the previous owner and I was ready to roll. Here is the end on view, so you can see how the two sets of tines are proximal to one another. The batts in the back ground came off of an Ashford drum carder. And here is a view of the pegs on the handle which help to guide you in a straight path and you sweep away from yourself. In this image you can just see two wool locks
Read more

Ulla Cyrus Loom

Image
Get a look at what followed me home recently! I have gleefully adopted " Courage "  - my new addition to the family. WELCOME. The original owner of this loom was William Dyer, a famous weaver who lived in California and Washington State. He made very fine damasks with this loom.   A very large loom manufactured by Oxaback in Sweden. The model is called "Ulla Cyrus". It is a vertical countermarch with 16 shafts and 18 treadles. Plus it has the additional, optional unit draw and pattern shaft draw. Two different drawloom attachments. The weaving width is 63 inches.  I picked up this beauty in the north part of Texas, and the loom was already disassembled. This photo shows just a fraction of the gear. It was great fun to meet the current owner. Here we have returned home and both the box of the truck and the 5 x 12  landscape trailer are entirely filled with loom pieces. Completely. It is a lot of gear. And this is a glimpse at a small porti
Read more