Further adventures in junk

Ever since I found the box of cameras, I've been more conscious of finding stuff on Wednesday walks. And I haven't had any great finds since. I have noticed other people on the job though.

Reflections:

1) There are pros out here. Other people have been at it longer, are better at it, and plain care more than I do. I see beat-up trucks cruising the streets piled with scrap metal and random stuff in the back. I see beat-down looking older people with roly carts looking for cans and bottles to turn in. This is what these people DO. I'm amazed I find anything at all with them on the circuit.

2) One man's trash does not automatically make another man's treasure. Seeing value is a matter of experience and opportunity -- that goes for garbage or stocks. Today I found a bunch of ball Christmas ornaments someone was throwing out. That's not going to be very interesting to professional scrappers, but it's just the sort of thing I plan to glue eyes to and try to sell in a couple of weeks.

3) Stay easy. I've been looking for more big, sexy scores like the vintage Apple computers I found. If I had been focused on that, I'd have missed the fun I picked up today. Not every day will be great, but the wider your definition of "great" is, the more likely you are to have one.

Adventures in junking: Watch the birdie

My new favorite hobby is walking the dog on trash day. I always find something interesting in other people's garbage. Occasionally, it's interesting enough to bring home.

About a month ago someone left an Apple IIcPlus and a Macintosh SE on the sidewalk. I know! I sold them on Craigslist for $10 a piece, and found out later that I way undercharged for the IIcPlus.

A couple days ago, I was almost done with a walk and had found nothing worth bringing home. I was feeling a little sad about it when I wandered by a TV and a blender box. I wish I knew what to do with old TVs, because people junk them regularly in my neighborhood.

While Autumn nosed over that, I looked in the blender box, wondering if there was actually a blender in it. There wasn't.

It was incongruously full of mid-20th century cameras!



Here's a Brownie Hawkeye:



Here's an Argoflex Seventy-Five:


Here's a Kodak Duaflex III. (It has its original flash and instruction manual.):



Here's a bunch of plastic shoe inserts that were also in the box:



According to Internet, there's a community of photographers who use these to do Through the Viewfinder (TtV) photography, hooking up their digital cameras to take pictures through the viewfinders of these old cameras. I've clicked through a few galleries in Flickr, and I love that people are doing this! Hooray for people!

These cameras are not super-duper rare or expensive. But they might bring a few bucks. Plus, they're neat. If you know someone who might like to have one of these for a reasonable price, email me, k?

Haunted House

Two months ago I was killing time in a grocery store for some reason, looking through the magazine rack. One of the things I leafed through was a "Halloween crafts" special from some home decorating magazine.

Now I'm no mom or anything, but I saw a project inside that was cool, easy, and best of all, could be made from junk. It was like a snippet from Quickthinking Magazine.

Two nights ago, I finally got around to finishing. Here's the finished project in our front windows -- Ghosts! Super-cheap, fun ghosts!


They're made of milk jugs and white Christmas lights. Draw on faces with a Sharpie, and you're all done.

Happy Ghost close up: