Alrighty Then... and Merry Christmas to whoever might be at work and have nothing of importance to do... talk about PAYDIRT... geez... ya'll have found some really cool stuff. Nothing I like better than to find a discarded window box... mine is not to wonder why..I just snag and go...LOLOL.. I was having coffee with my neighbor 2 days ago and her hubby was hanging a ceiling fan in the bedroom. He comes out and says... 'Do you want these? I hate to toss em out. They are dated back to the very early 1920's'... so I slowly looked up and...'OMG... he had two glass shades that hang from chains that attach to a ceiling fixture. They are etched and frosted and gorgeous... I jumped out of my chair and said 'Thank you very much and you can't have them back'... he laughed... so, this morning they got wrapped as gifts for my S/O and will be happily turned into gorgeous bird feeders come the spring... but that's not the best part of it all.. My boss walks in yesterday morning and in her hand is a picture of a 1920 Jacob Doll Upright piano that she has been trying to sell... I looked once...then looked again because the price had changed to 'FREE TO LOVING HOME'.. LOLOLOLOL... Merry Christmas to Me!!!! It's being moved next week. How 'bout that? Merry Christmas...Jim

Thanks everyone! When we were packing the table and benches the owners of the house came home and after they parked they started walking toward us. Good thing it was a long driveway cuz by the time they were by the curb we were ready to take off. Which DH did pretty quickly. HA! I love curb shopping but get kinda embarrassed when the owners catch me at it. Do others feel the same way or have you gotten over it already? Cait

Great story on getting a flower bed for your gardens. That breaksfast sounds yummy too, nice and healthy.

I recently read the following, posted on another website: "Out here we have a pack of sub-humans that drive around the night before garbage day and pick through your stuff. Anytime you drag anything out to the curb it will be gone before the trash truck gets here." I can't for the life of me understand why some people get uptight about dumpster diving or scavenging trash off the kerb, as long as the scavengers don't leave a mess behind. Recycling trash will make the landfill last longer and might even keep taxes a little lower. At our local landfill, some jerk went to all the trouble to locate the boss and file a complaint because the guy who works there was observed pulling discarded lawnmowers out of the dumpsters after closing hours (and on his own time), taking them home, fixing them up and selling them. One of the latest arguments against rubbish picking is identity theft. I don't have much sympathy for folks who have allowed their personal data to get stolen by throwing it into the rubbish intact. To me, that's about as smart as giving confidential information over wireless phones,or sending financial data over the internet using non-secure websites. I think that's a bogus argument against allowing people to pick through discarded trash. Paper shredders are very cheap security, plus they generate good packing material. At our landfill, it's supposed to be forbidden to pick stuff out of the dumpsters, but I do it anyway if I see something that looks of value to me. I think they are afraid someone might cut themselves or otherwise get an injury and then sue the county for damages. Only once, did the elderly guy who works there ever yell at me. I reminded him that we are all charged a $5.00 monthly fee, added to our electric bill, to finance the eventual replacement of the landfill when it gets full. I told him that as long as I have to pay that fee, I'll pull anything out of the dumpster that I want, and that if he doesn't like it, he was welcome to call the sheriff and file a theft complaint against me (I'm totally positive the 911 dispatcher would send out a squad of deputies right away to investigate). I also reminded him that many times I have picked trash up off the ground that other people have left behind, and tossed it in the dumpster while I was throwing my own stuff away. He just mumbled something and walked away. We don't have trash pickup in this county unless you wish to hire a private trash collector to do the job. I just haul my own stuff to the dump. But it wouldn't bother me the least to see the rubbish man pulling out some of my stuff before putting the rest in the truck, as long as he didn't leave a mess behind. I doubt that would ever happen. I suppose my parents and grandparents who lived through the great depression had too much influence on me. By the time I toss something in the trash, it IS pure rubbish, and very unlikely that anyone else would have any conceivable use for it. One exception might be a few old magazines. I would recommend if you see something of value discarded on trash pickup day, grab it, but don't leave a mess behind. If it happens to be one of those places where, for some perverted reason it is "illegal," just do it carefully. There is too much bona fide theft going on for the cops to be putting a lot of effort into harassing dumpster divers.