Show us your Thrift and/or yard sale finds

[jamespowers]

Reminds me of a story I read in the paper many years ago about a trashman who found a vintage movie projector and some films in a trash can while on his rounds. The films were someone's home movies of Babe Ruth from the 1920s.

Imagine if those had been lost.:eeek::eusa_doh:

 

[Giftmacher]

Imagine what treasures have been lost..

 

[jamespowers]

Imagine what treasures have been lost..

Yes, that is what bothers me most.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

What kind of moron throws stuff like this away?!

Recently, the owner of a condominium unit near my home evicted an elderly man and his son. While the two men were out, the owner/landlord dumped all of their (meager) furniture, clothing, and boxes full of documents into and next to the condo's dumpsters.


I passed by the dumpsters, noticed a photo album lying on the ground, and brought it to the condo's doorman. Luckily, he agreed to hold onto the album in case the two men came back for it. Luckily, they did, and got the album (and furniture) back ... but by then, the garbage truck had already taken everything else.

 

[tonyb]

Yes, that is what bothers me most.

Heck, I try not to dwell on the things I've tossed out myself over the years, the cars I've sent to the scrap man, et cetera. It could make a person nauseous.

 

[jamespowers]

Heck, I try not to dwell on the things I've tossed out myself over the years, the cars I've sent to the scrap man, et cetera. It could make a person nauseous.

I have dumped out very little over the years. I have file cabinets full of stuff that I probably could get rid of. I still have every car I have ever owned. Once I own it, It never gets far away from me.

 

[jamespowers]

Recently, the owner of a condominium unit near my home evicted an elderly man and his son. While the two men were out, the owner/landlord dumped all of their (meager) furniture, clothing, and boxes full of documents into and next to the condo's dumpsters.


I passed by the dumpsters, noticed a photo album lying on the ground, and brought it to the condo's doorman. Luckily, he agreed to hold onto the album in case the two men came back for it. Luckily, they did, and got the album (and furniture) back ... but by then, the garbage truck had already taken everything else.

Geez, they could have at least stored it for a time to give the guy a chance to get the belongings.:eusa_doh:

 

[tonyb]

I have dumped out very little over the years. I have file cabinets full of stuff that I probably could get rid of. I still have every car I have ever owned. Once I own it, It never gets far away from me.

If I had every car I've ever owned I'd need a half acre or so just to park them, allowing enough room to move 'em one at a time. Seriously, when I was a teenager I'd routinely buy cars for just a few bucks -- fewer than a hundred bucks, often. Drive 'em for a few months until something major broke and then decide if they were worth fixing (with a junkyard engine, say, or a transmission) or to just call the guy with the roll truck.

 

[jamespowers]

If I had every car I've ever owned I'd need a half acre or so just to park them, allowing enough room to move 'em one at a time. Seriously, when I was a teenager I'd routinely buy cars for just a few bucks -- fewer than a hundred bucks, often. Drive 'em for a few months until something major broke and then decide if they were worth fixing (with a junkyard engine, say, or a transmission) or to just call the guy with the roll truck.

Well, I don't have eight cars for nothing.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Imagine if those had been lost.:eeek::eusa_doh:

Something like that would be lost today because trash pickup where I am is automated -- a side-mounted forklift lifts and empties the bins into the top of the truck -- and the trashmen don't get out of the vehicle.

 

[jamespowers]

Something like that would be lost today because trash pickup where I am is automated -- a side-mounted forklift lifts the bins into the truck -- and the trashmen don't get out of the vehicle.

They don't here either. It would have been compacted.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Another thing that always puzzles me is how throughout someone's life there will be an accumulation of family photos and other mementos only to be thrown away (usually by the widow) when that person passes on because "it's too much of a painful reminder." If that's the way they feel why even have these mementos in the first place??? :doh:

 

[jamespowers]

Another thing that always puzzles me is how throughout someone's life there will be an accumulation of family photos and other mementos only to be thrown away (usually by the widow) when that person passes on because "it's too much of a painful reminder." If that's the way they feel why even have these mementos in the first place??? :doh:

Or pass them on to your children for goodness sake.
Then gain, they migh tthrow them away too. :doh:

 

[tonyb]

I can just imagine the digital images that will vanish forever because no one ever bothered printing them on paper. Fifty years from now, when SD cards and the like are long obsolete, grandchildren and great-grandchildren might stumble across such media and have no idea what it is, let alone any way of reading it, even if they did know. I really want to be wrong about this -- I want to think that readers of archaic digital media will be readily available, but I have my doubts.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

I can just imagine the digital images that will vanish forever because no one ever bothered printing them on paper. Fifty years from now, when SD cards and the like are long obsolete, grandchildren and great-grandchildren might stumble across such media and have no idea what it is, let alone any way of reading it, even if they did know. I really want to be wrong about this -- I want to think that readers of archaic digital media will be readily available, but I have my doubts.

Geez, don't remind me! I have hundreds of images that I really need to start having prints made of.

 

[tonyb]

Geez, don't remind me! I have hundreds of images that I really need to start having prints made of.

Yeah, I know whatcha mean. Remind me to go out and buy one of those home-duty photo printers.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Another thing I need to do is pull the diskette drive out of my old computer so I can transfer the images that are on diskette (which is the vast majority of them).

 

[jamespowers]

Another thing I need to do is pull the diskette drive out of my old computer so I can transfer the images that are on diskette (which is the vast majority of them).

If the computer has a USB port then this is the way to go:

16GB of data that can fit easily in your hand. I used this to get data and pictures off an old computer of mine. I had to rebuild a website that had gone the way of most free websites nowadays and the old computer had my files for it. No problems at all. Uploaded the files via a new computer and back online.
It would easily work for many, many pictures.

 

[Dixie_Amazon]

Something like that would be lost today because trash pickup where I am is automated -- a side-mounted forklift lifts and empties the bins into the top of the truck -- and the trashmen don't get out of the vehicle.

This has really cut into my trash picking tendencies. I have picked up some amazing things people have put on the curb, but not too much now with the big bins.

 

[RBH]

I ran across this 1963 Wheel Horse at a yard sale a few weeks ago for $50.
I plan on picking it up this weekend.
I hope to 'fix' it up.