To Junk or Not to Junk...

Have you ever been on the verge of picking up some primo cast-off by the curb, only to discover it's being tossed out for a good reason?

With our garbage collection back in action, I was hoping that there would be some suave old items left by the curb. Alas, I have not been so lucky.

Last week I saw this old snowman that lights up sitting beside a sad old golf club bag. Neither quite did it for me, even though the snowman had a whiff of Tim Burton suburban nuttiness.
Beside the snowman house, I saw what appeared to be a chimney prop from a play. Hmm, maybe there's a Christmas theme going on here.

The hideous brick thing-a-ma-bob turned out to be sitting in an ancient produce box. I became excited and got off my bike in preparation to score. Sadly, the box was falling apart so badly that it looked like it would crumble if I sneezed. I'm sure a crafty person could have turned it into something beautiful and useful all at once. Regretfully, I decided it was just too junky for my trunky.

Yesterday, an elderly gentleman on my block placed these two old wooden ladders near the curb. I've always wanted a distressed ladder to artfully lean against the wooden fence in my backyard.

Yes, the ladder knew how to work the camera, but trust me, it was decaying before my eyes. I was worried that I could even bring termites to our 85-year-old home.

So long, rotting ladder. It could have been a great thing.