One Farmington Resident's Junk is Another's Treasure

Well, my trusty pals, Perro the pooch and Joey, rode around my neighborhood with me Friday night, looking for good finds. Joey suggested bringing his car to cruise the neighborhood. You can tell this is his first experience with curbside clean-up day. Hauling home the amount of stuff I usually pick up requires the use of my 3/4 ton van. Mainly this is why I own the van. I use it to pick up large items I find along the side of the road with free signs on them, and I drop off my old items at the Goodwill. I also sleep in the van when I'm camping. (As my co-workers have pointed out, in reference to a Chris Farley Saturday Night Live sketch, sometimes I sleep in a van down by the river.)
Unfortunately, the console TV I spotted on my morning drive was not functioning. I found its former owner in the driveway, washing his car, and asked him. Another guy actually came out of his house to tell me that the air hockey table on his driveway worked great and that he had the little paddles for it. Unfortunately, it was too large even for my monster van.

I ended up scoring the following items:

• Two color TV/VCR combos, One 19-inch, one 15 inch
• A Large Weber grill
• Two hose carts (I have a hose in the front yard and one in the back.)
• Small black-and-white TV
• Power washer

I've wanted a power washer for cleaning my deck for a few years now. Every time I see them in the Northern Tool ad I drool. So the washer is pretty exciting. One of the TV/VCR combos was broken, so I put it back out on the curb, and the other one works, but needs a new cord.

By far, my favorite treasure is the black-and-white TV. It's a Sears model, circa 1983, yet it appears to be about 10 years older than that. It has a super-cool retro silver and white case. I love the folding UHF antenna and the handy dial for changing stations. The TV/Radio combo unit I used to have in my kitchen has a sliding thing that tunes in stations like an old fashioned radio, not a cool dial. I won this goofy TV/Radio in 7th grade for writing an essay about why good nutrition is important. Take it from me, good nutrition makes you a winner!
Joey was wary and somewhat repulsed when I picked up the Sears TV from a pile of miscellaneous rubbish. It was covered with a sticky brown grime and cobwebs were tangled in its antenna. I could see the retro potential, however, and carefully loaded it into the van, under Perro's watchful eye.