this vision of loveliness is the yard of my new ReStore.... 2nd hand, really.... the store, and the stuff. the site was subcontracted out by the local landfill operator to a private business, for the purpose of diverting materials from the landfill for the purposes of recycling and minimizing all that un-green waste. so what we have is a secondary landfill, now... only all above ground. we had 67 hours of volunteer labor last saturday, working very hard, and filled 2 monstrous rollaway disposal bins... the 20 or 25 foot long ones that take a big semi to load up and carry. and you can hardly tell....once we get rid of the stuff that's undeniably trash, i'll have a huge truckload sale. all you can cart off for $100. we have hundreds of old windows, even more doors, dozens of lights, from chandeliers to swedish balls (remember the swedish ball?) bathroom fixtures, bricks, boards, yadayadayada. then we'll cull one more time, and start the store in earnest.
my first meeting with the Home Depot folks is tomorrow. they're huge supporters of Habitat for Humanity, and the manager made a strong point of telling me he really dislikes trashing things when they have to come off the floor. that's the policy. we're 6 hours from the next nearest city, half a continent from the manufacturer. the stuff can't be returned if it doesn't sell.
still looking for a cube van.
funny thing happened on Sunday morning. after wading through this stuff for 12 hours on Sat, i cleaned up real pretty Sunday morning, then went to do some admin work at the store before the long trip to the granny shack for violin lessons later that day. as i was standing by the chain link gate, locking up before leaving, a truck with a couple of fellows came cruising slowly by. we get a lot of that. people are antsy to see the place reopen. so the driver of the truck pulls up beside me, looks me up and down in that arrogant 'what have we have here?.... if i had a moustache, i'd twirl the ends' way some men have. and he says, clearly thinking he's making a very clever joke, "so are you running it now?" i smiled demurely, handed him my business card, and said, "sure am. Come back on the 6th of June and you can fill that big shiny truck of yours up for a hundred bucks."
9 comments:
I hate it when men are so ridiculously chauvinistic!! I would imagine you have a lot of that up there but I could be wrong as I have never been there!I am wondering if you have finally got some decently warm weather?
this is a tremendous undertaking but I applaud your ability to do it; I think it looks like an amazing amount of work and I hope you get rid of the rest with the truck sale...that's cool, $100 for a truckload seems insanely cheap for all those building materials...so I hope you make money...
bravo!
linda - i grew up then only girl among 4 boys in a very red necked family. i hate the chauvinism too... but i've learned to give as good as i get ;0) ...yes, a big job, but i'm finding a lot of support. i believe whole heartedly in what i'm doing, so am an utterly shameless campaigner. i think i found us a used cube van today. the dealer is giving me $10K off the list price for the privilege of having his company name on it. now i just have to sell the idea to my board of directors.
This is all so exciting and I'm amazed at your energy and determination. I'm also a bit jealous of all the fun you're having that will just get better as time passes.
I know you can handle the turkeys just fine :-)
su -exciting indeed.... and exhausting. another 14 hour day today, and about 2 weeks more of them looking me square in the eye, if the volunteers keep coming. spent the afternoon calling every church in town to do a call for volunteers through their bulletins. remains to be seen how many of them come through... we haven't had good luck with them in the past.
turkeys.... with crow to compare them to, they just don't cut it ;0)
I hope you've had good luck getting your volunteers. Sometimes people say they will but don't.
Crow says wild turkeys can be pretty cool to know :-)
haha you're real smooth.
that sounds like such a *lot* of work, but it's wonderful you're doing it.
good luck on the 6th!
i'm not sure what a cube van is, but congratulations on finding one. maybe you can paint little squares on the side, ala rubiks cube.
fabulous! fabulous!
you are an amazing woman!!
su - volunteers sporadic, but we seem to be developing a following....
sera - the 6th not hugely successful, but not a total bust either.... now more cleanup and organizing, and, hopefully, collect some cool new stuff to sell before the grand opening on the 13th. cube van is one of those trucks with a square box instead of a trailer. ...and we're still working on it... won't have it for the grand opening.
claire - kind of you to say that, but at the present, i think i'm an insane woman.... how did i ever think i could pull this off?!!! cross your fingers for me.
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