Cleaning Up on Curbside Goodies

One Saturday a year, the Farmington city garbage department picks up items that won't fit in the garbage can. I've been waiting all winter for curbside clean-up day, and it has finally arrived. Tomorrow is the big day.

My phone rang at 7:30 this morning. I thought, is that someone from work calling? Are all the clocks in my house off and I'm really late? Nope. It was one of my pals calling to let me know people were already cruising around Farmington, checking out the curbside goodies and picking stuff up. Yes, Farmington residents pick up each other's old stuff from the curb. I'll admit to doing it myself. I almost got into an altercation a few years ago over a picnic table with a wobbly leg.

So, I finished up my breakfast of leftover artichoke spinach dip and garlic toast, and I hopped in the Echo. I spotted piles of items already at the curb - including a cool orange and yellow flowered couch, a bunch of shelves, and a plastic sandbox shaped like a turtle. (I used to have one of those as a kid! That was the best birthday gift ever.)

Then I saw it. A console TV! It was so cool that I was already envisioning it spray-painted black to match my furniture. It had a little shelf on top. I really wanted to pull over. But I would have been late to the park and ride, and missed my bus. Then somebody from work really would have been calling me. Also, I know from experience, that I can't lift a console TV by myself. I just hope it's still there when I get home. I have a pal coming over tonight to help me get my old junk out to the curb, so I can probably pick up the TV with a little help.

If anyone is cruising the curbs in Farmington tonight, there will be a few items in front of my house, including, but not limited to:

• A slightly malfunctioning HP laser printer

• Some half-used cans of maroon spray-paint (leftover from when I gave my '88 Dodge Grand Caravan a make-over)

• A computer monitor that I won in the work computer lottery last year (I've since acquired a flat screen monitor for free)

I can't wait to get home tonight and start cruising the curbs! Stay tuned for the down-low on the junk I find.