Monday 30 January o7
Today I drove 44 miles round trip to the nearest RX to get my medicines . On the way I pondered , what a great old truck I had and what it took to get it . Just a few hours , four days a week .
The truck is a little 92 Toyota four cylinder , five speed , half ton pickup . It's hauled tons of scrap metal , antiques , furniture , flea market merchindise , and moved many freinds and family . The truck worked hard and gave me little trouble . The first clutch wasn't replaced till 135,000 miles . The engine was replaced when a broken timing chain destroyed the engine . The truck is still performing well on these mountain roads with 158,000 miles on it and no rust . The gas milage is good too .
My monthly payments for four years was less than $200 . I only had to make $50 a week selling scrap metal and selling at the flea market . I had a regular job that paid the insurance and other bills and mortgage payments ( $200 a month ) , Then I was disabled and the insurance paid the rest of the truck payments . I could no longer trash pick without a helper .
There was a local homeless Veit Vet that helped me for many years both night picking , loading , and unloading at the scrap yard and the fleamarket . In return we found him tents , sleeping bags , food , and warm clothes . He had no need for air conditioners , TV's , refrigerators , or lamps , so we sold them . He also got a little cash each day he worked ( three or four hours ) . Amoungst the homeless folk I was named " Toyota Man " .
So that's the story of the truck that trashpicking bought .
Timothy T
Monday, January 29, 2007
Sunday, January 28, 2007
Getting by on Trash
Sun. 28 January 07
It has been a cold and snowy day . Loaded another lode of firewood on the porch . Although my firewood is not free ( $10 a truckload ) it is recycled waste from a nearby lumber mill . When they cut the sides of a log off , the waste is called a Slab . The hardwood slabs are then cut into 26 inch peices and split to fit into my stove .
I use a large two wheeled cart which I bought slightly used at 1/3 it's cost , to get the wood ( weighing about 300 lbs . ) from the woodshed to the porch . Once the wood is stored on the porch another small steel two wheeled cart is used to bring the wood into the house . That cart I bought a few years back for $2 at a yard sale.
I know I spend money ocasionaly on things needed but I try to recycle whenever possible . There are also ( irregular ) thick and thin oak boards that I buy for $50 . Those are usually a half truck full and 8 ft to 16 ft in length . The thick and thins were used to build a large woodshed , an emergency generator shed , and to rebuild my work shop / storage shed .
We now have a new chicken coop built from palletts , thick and thin boards , and a used fiberglass truck cap with screens and windows .
When living on a fixed income you save where and when you can . What I spend each year on firewood is less than what it would cost to heat this house with gas for a month . I compost everything in an area fenced in with oak palletts . The soil I use in the garden and around the yard .
Timothy T
It has been a cold and snowy day . Loaded another lode of firewood on the porch . Although my firewood is not free ( $10 a truckload ) it is recycled waste from a nearby lumber mill . When they cut the sides of a log off , the waste is called a Slab . The hardwood slabs are then cut into 26 inch peices and split to fit into my stove .
I use a large two wheeled cart which I bought slightly used at 1/3 it's cost , to get the wood ( weighing about 300 lbs . ) from the woodshed to the porch . Once the wood is stored on the porch another small steel two wheeled cart is used to bring the wood into the house . That cart I bought a few years back for $2 at a yard sale.
I know I spend money ocasionaly on things needed but I try to recycle whenever possible . There are also ( irregular ) thick and thin oak boards that I buy for $50 . Those are usually a half truck full and 8 ft to 16 ft in length . The thick and thins were used to build a large woodshed , an emergency generator shed , and to rebuild my work shop / storage shed .
We now have a new chicken coop built from palletts , thick and thin boards , and a used fiberglass truck cap with screens and windows .
When living on a fixed income you save where and when you can . What I spend each year on firewood is less than what it would cost to heat this house with gas for a month . I compost everything in an area fenced in with oak palletts . The soil I use in the garden and around the yard .
Timothy T
Saturday, January 27, 2007
introduction
Sat : 26 Jan 07
I'm a nearly 60 year old retired / disabled , Vet , moved from the city rat race to the mountains of West Virginia . It took 6 months of trashpicking in the suburbs to complete preperation of all I would need in my new ( 1906 ) home in the mountains .
Everything In this house was found on the curbs on trash day . All tools and hardware I needed for maintenance of this house and truck were found ; as well as a chainsaw , two weed wackers ,grinder , axes and maul , Most of the kitchenware ( high end SS pans and knifes , bread machine , and a food processer ) were from a lady who was cleaning out her Uncles house ( on trash night ) .
I've been recycling discards since a child when I rebuilt a found bike and a Radio Flyer red wagon .
Our country discards over 9,000,000 tons of solid waste each year . A verry great amount of that trash can ( and often is ) be Recycled , Reused , Sold , or Traded to help a person get by . Resourcefullness is all it takes to find and use some of this resourse often in your own neighborhood . More later . Timothy T
I'm a nearly 60 year old retired / disabled , Vet , moved from the city rat race to the mountains of West Virginia . It took 6 months of trashpicking in the suburbs to complete preperation of all I would need in my new ( 1906 ) home in the mountains .
Everything In this house was found on the curbs on trash day . All tools and hardware I needed for maintenance of this house and truck were found ; as well as a chainsaw , two weed wackers ,grinder , axes and maul , Most of the kitchenware ( high end SS pans and knifes , bread machine , and a food processer ) were from a lady who was cleaning out her Uncles house ( on trash night ) .
I've been recycling discards since a child when I rebuilt a found bike and a Radio Flyer red wagon .
Our country discards over 9,000,000 tons of solid waste each year . A verry great amount of that trash can ( and often is ) be Recycled , Reused , Sold , or Traded to help a person get by . Resourcefullness is all it takes to find and use some of this resourse often in your own neighborhood . More later . Timothy T
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