A View From the Top

For some reason I seem to be unusually long winded this month. This is the eighth post for March. I've never written so much in one month on a blog. I'm not real sure what I'm writing about now. I was up at the dump the other day getting rid of some of the bits of rotten wood and other debris from the boat and happened to have my camera with me. When I first moved to Hoonah the dump was located just a few blocks from town. It was actually a popular place to check out for folks from the farm. I found several really good items that had relatively little wrong with them- a recliner with a rip in the fabric, an expensive wool  jacket with a  broken zipper and a vacuum cleaner whose only discrepancy was a clogged hose. Now the dump is located several miles up the mountain overlooking the Spasski Valley. The view is much nicer, but there is less good stuff to get anymore.  They burn most of trash and the area is caged in-supposedly to keep bears out of the garbage, but it also serves to keep pickers like myself from rummaging. I do still occasionally find something of value there in the section where metals are dumped for later salvage. I've pulled old copper pipe and aluminum roofing from the scrap pile. Why let someone else sell it when I can make the money myself? Before anyone looks too far down their nose at me, keep in mind that there is a popular television show on the History channel called American Pickers, which documents two fellows running all over the country searching though old buildings for all manner of things that most of us would consider junk. They buy it cheap and sell it for a handsome profit. When I was working at the L. Kane Store, I actually purchased aluminum from various people around town and resold it down south for a profit. On the one hand it was kind of gross- some of the cans that came in had been sitting alongside the road in water-filled drainages and smelled pretty bad. With seven kids to feed and keep entertained though, we did what we had to do. One year we went out and collected Spruce cones for a company that was sending them overseas- I think to Norway. They provided the burlap bags and we filled them for $10.00 a bag. It was actually a lot of fun. I've always liked finding things. Jan is constantly losing her keys or glasses. Perhaps I could charge her $10.00 every time I found something she's lost. I should run it by her. Then, later, I could start work on my new book, Things you should never suggest to your spouse. Obviously, not all my ideas are profitable.