hump day musing

Bfast- roast beef sandies with melted cheese, burrito and coffee
Lunch- hoagies, chips and waterbottle (freebie catered food)
Dinner - leftover hoagies potato salad and water (leftover freebies)

read an article today about the Extreme makeover house that went into foreclosure because apparently the owners borrowed against it to fund a failed business. In the same paper I also read that the US guvt is borrowing more money to fund tthe guvt and its projects. Wonder what will happen when the white house is lost to foreclosure amongst the ever growing deficit.. Wont be long.

Trashs advice is to BE Prepared for the future. Watch or torrent some old episodes of the Waltons. Learn self reilance and subsistence living. The skills you learn will help you survive. Use them.

Remember that one of Trash's testaments is live below your means.

Monday. Monday... on Tues

BF- oatmeal, blueberries, toast w strawberry jelly,
LU- Roast beef sandies w cheese. cheetohs water bottle
DI- Tuna salad water bottle
watered heavily yesterday morning as everything is buckling under this heat. And no letup in sight. But we have no global warming. hahahaha. Garden looked better when I got home. Back to ridign bike again as I now have the lock and key which I misplaced. All went to bed fairly early last night. Before Alter-eco was over so by 11pm.

Sunday morning rants

Saturdays menu
breakfast- toast and jelly, coffee
lunch-bologna sandies and green beans/dip, water bottle
dinner--turkey hot dogs w/cheese and green beans w/ dip, kool aid

In the morning made a few bucks on the CL . went over to Starriedollars where i saw a compadre I ride thye bus with hangin out in the AC and WIFI zone.
I spent most of the day watching tv and yard saling. picked up some free books from the book seller dumpie. Junior also picked up another bike ($2) we could use for parts.
the afternoon was so hot and muggy we went to the pool and hung out for a few hours.

Reading the rags this morning about a quick stimulus package that would pay us poor folks for selling our clunkers for scrap to keep them off the road.. HAHA ROFL. For me the clunkers are light use vehicles due to their unreliability and age. Mine gets about 1000 miles a year if that. I wouldnt drive it that far anyhow. Prefer walking or bike and public transport.
Hybrids are a waste of money as the take many years to ROI. And for me, the initial investment of 35k is ridiculous. When you consider I spent 20k for my home. A car should not cost more than your home.
I would sat that if a yuppie wants to turn green it shouldn't take alot of green to accomplish. Give them a buss pass, a bike and a few trips to the dumpsters. The true green would appreciate it. The yuppie will shut up and go back into hiding until the nex fad comes by.

it's Saturday morning

Fridays fare
Breakfast- homemade bean cheese burrito, free donuts and orange, coffee
Lunch-- ramen and frozen veggie soup
Dinner--chicken strips, spanish rice, broccoli

I am reading more and more from these yuppie greens about hybrid cars, green houses, on property gardens etc. While laced with good intentions these all cost lots of money. What about the rest of us.. I cant afford 35000 for a hybrid.
The 85 jeep cherokee (aka Dumpiemobile)(4banger engine) works just fine and is green. It tallies less than 1000 miles a year on the road. My fav means of travel is walk, ride bike or public transport. As for the high dollar bike.. My dumpie bike was a frankenbike made out of parts I have scrounged and found. My luxury Raleigh mountain bikewas a gift (dumpster found by older son and rebuilt). So cant say I have spent more than $20-$25 (mostly on tires and tubes).
Attire for all of us comes from finds. Pre owned and worn in are our mottos. Eco friendly on the cheap because we are saving the stuff from the landfill by reusing it.
As for the green house the old double wide is pure recycleable housing. Aluminum siding and roof, light sheetrock walls with recycled newspaper insulation. All the appliances that have been replaced have been replaced with curb finds or CL freebies. The furniture is also curb found, yard found or thrift store finds.
Our diet is solid and nutritious based on the free/cheap system of acquisition. Cooking methods are simple, BBQ ( curb finds 1gas 1 charcoal)or stove during the summer, alot of crock pot during the winter. whole and in season ingredients . With 3 kids its hard to keep all happy so the occasional SONIC or McD's. My gardening skills are quite amateurish but improving as time goes by. Tomatoes, Zuchs and cukes are in the yard now with assorted herbs. That will add some more variety come August. Right now the greens and dumpie veggies and fruits are wonderful.

It doesnt cost alot of money to be green.It takes ingenuity and a tad of eccentricity to make it work.

Thursday follow-up

breakfast--strawberries and banana, toast and coffee
lunch- leftover chicken, taters and brocolli and water bottle
afternoon snack-- soycream and blueberries
dinner- Sonic burger and strawberry

picked up a 60gb hard drive from a trashed laptopand placed it in an external case. That makes the ti-book now has the 60gb internal and a 60gb external.

a day of wednes

Breakfast-- toast w orange marmalade, orange and coffee
Lunch- leftover chili, bread/butter and water bottle
Dinner- chicken strips, potatos and brocolli
I couldnt post last night due to the electricity going out in the neighborhood around 9pm and not coming backup until about midnight.
Took a walkabout yesterday and found some water bottle packets of water flavorings and a recycled bag from Wholey paycheck. Brought home some more ice cream (the Soy) from the day before. Reading more and more about foreclosures and people falling farther and farther behind. We need to do more to protect what little we have. This is one of the reasons we at the Trash stead live below our means. If times gets tough we can survive.

Tuesday ponderings

Breakfast- dry cereal, powdered milk, coffee
Lunch- leftover roast beef, potatoes and brocolli
Afternoon snack 3 scoop banana sundae
Dinner- homemade chili, bread/butter

All in all a successful day. I brought home leftover whip cream, fresh blueberries,chocolate sauce, hot fudge etc from the ice cream social at work.

Took junior for a swim this evening before dinner. I really enjoy the swim as it saves on bath and shower water. Also if one swims in shorts it als is a sort of clothes washing on the cheap. Usually line dried by the next morning. Anything to save some money.

I was also reading an article this morning about the resurgence of modular homes. Havinf lived in a mobile home for the last 9 years (6 years in an old singlewide) and now 3 years in a double wide with garage I can say that the ROI for inexpensive living is there.

Trashdigger family diet

AS part of my daily postings and to bring to light the trash lifestyle I thought that I might include in my daily postings the menu we nourish our bodies with.

Breakfast : 2 waffles (from a case left behind in the bookstore dumpie and froze, 3 crabapples picked from neighborhood tree

4 strawberry preserve packets and 2 slabs of butter on waffles (left over and rescued from work fridge) ,2 cups of coffee .

Lunch: leftover fish and hushpuppies from last night dinner, refilled water bottle, and rescued cherries.
Dinner: Roast beef (bought on clearance) Mashed taters (box found at eviction sale) and brocolli spears (frozen)

Dirt (a Saturday find)

I saw this little story on one of my fav sites this morning. I thought I would share it.

God is sitting in Heaven when a scientist says to Him,
“Lord, we don’t need you anymore.

Science has finally figured out a way to create life out of nothing. In other words, we can now do what you did in the ‘beginning’.”

“Oh, is that so? Tell me….” replies God.

“Well”, says the scientist, “we can take dirt and form it into the likeness of you and breathe life into it, thus creating man.”

“Well, that’s interesting. Show Me. “

So the scientist bends down to the earth and starts to mold the soil.

“Oh no, no, no….” interrupts God,

“Get your own dirt.”

my new toy

a cuppla posts ago I was talking about the potential of my getting a recycled Powerbook to use for the blog, the photos and the to-come videos. Well it happened yesterday. I recd this fine little piec of technology and have been spending the time to ready it for its new life.

brief rundown on the specs

667mhz g4

1gb (the max) in RAM

60gb hard drive

OS10.4.11

CS2 , Office 2004, FInal Cut 4

 This baby has alot of potential. The only thing it need is a new battery. The one thats in it is dead. I am looking fwd to a long future with this new tool.

if England is doing this why arent we being told..

check this out

With the potential food shortages expected, England is urging its citizen to return to return to the WW2 food frugality system.. Why isnt the USA pushing for this in the mass media. Or are they too afraid of the scare it would cause.

Trash is adjusting the homestead for the life in Babylon mode. Are you?

10 benefits of high gas prices

I put about 10 dollars every 2 weeks into the gas tank. $20 a month is more than enough for the short trips we use the dumpie mobile for.

1. Globalised jobs return home - Yes, it seems that the high fuel price will mean that local will once again be the most sensible option. Without cheap oil, the world is getting bigger again.

2. Sprawl stalls - It’s too expensive to schlep all the way from the country into the cities for work these days. People are moving back into the cities and taking the bus. Time to stop the plans for building all over our greenbelt land.

3. Four-day workweeks - The shortened work weeks are becoming popular in some part of the US. The state employess in Utah are enjoying this.

4. Less pollution - Goes without saying.

5. More frugality - Truckers and the like are joining the ranks and the prices of trucked in stuff is going up. A good reason to buy local.

6. Fewer traffic deaths - Fewer cars on the road mean fewer accidents. Though the drivers need to be more aware of us bike people out there.

7. Cheaper insurance - Not sure whether this one would apply. Perhaps one of our readers could shed some light?

8. Less traffic - Yup!

9. More cops on the beat - fighting real crime instead of wasting time on trivial bullshit

10. Less obesity - Walking is cheaper than driving, and with food prices on the up, less is more!

reflection for a brighter day

"Go back to simple food, simple clothes, simple pleasures.
Pray hard, work hard, sleep hard and play hard.
Do it all courageously and cheerfully." - Herbert Hoover


Isn't the way its supposed to be. A word of wisdom from times gone by.

weekly roundup

Its been a helluva week around the homestead so I havent had much free time. I have started posting entries in the old paper journal. But alas after finding the head last weekend and spending the weekend stay-cationing in the camper. Going back to Babylon in the the heatwave has been hell.

Am working on several Franken-puter projects in order to be ready to convert video from the vhs to digital format to post here. Got some real good footage and more photos. A lovely lady friend of mine is upgrading her machine and has offered to "donate" her perfectly good old one to me for use with the video projects. It will de be better than the ol' g3, the dell, and the franken-G4 laptop .

Junior has been adding to his bike collection with finds and more finds. He wants to fix em up and sell em for ice cream money etc. have told him to save save for the coming Armageddon.

Zen and the art of dumpsterdiving

This is the head that I found sitting next to dumpster behind the Safiesway on Sunday. It has found a nice home in the  Zen garden evolving  in the front yard.  OHHHHHMMMMM. Blessed be to  the dumpie diving angels.

the future for Trash

If the country goes to hell and Trash loses it all. I will always have a home, a car, and the dumpiebike. See above. With those three staple items in place Trash and family can survive. .

How about the rest of you?  

the future of America.. tent cities

tent cities showing up in America. why arent we seeing more of this in the media.. I guess it is getting too close to the election
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvEKvFyv2NE


here is one in CA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmeHiFZUWtE

the Garbage warrior

I am adding another link over to the left for a new documentary about eco-architect Michael Reynolds and his goal of building sustainabel housing and community out of garbage and "found items". While these ideas are somewhat radical in an existing urban environment some of them can be used for out-building on your own suburban homesteads. Enjoy.
http://www.garbagewarrior.com/

here is the trailer
http://www.garbagewarrior.com/trailer.html

Saturday motivaton

Yesterday morning on Planet Green they did a piece on Dr Milton Saier PhD and Biology Professor at UC SAn Diego. A devout Freegan and Dumpster diver.
I thought I would share this as a motivator on July 5.
click here for the article.

Independence DAy is tomorrow. show yours

Plant  something: 

Harvest something: .

Preserve something: 

Prep something: 

Cook something new: 

Manage your reserves: 

Local food systems: 

Reduce waste: 

Learn a new skill: 

and they say nothing is free

This is not something you tell a habitual dumpie diver. I found this sign the displayed the other morning while heading to work. ALl day long I had ideas run thru the head of how much of this I can use. And since its a construction site how many goodies are buried in there.  Will have to check it over this long weekend. I def have some uses in mind (fill dirt for raised beds, extra dirt  for containers , etc).  I dont think I will need 5000 yards but maybe I can save one yard.

we will see.

Any other ideas...

25 things you can do to survive the times...

This morning,one of my favorite  sites had a link  which listed 25 things you can do to be the change. (btw enjoy the video at the end.

List are good - just like the list above.  We old DD freegans are avid listers and journalers.  Lists keep you focused on the path that you wish to travel.  Sometimes our list do get overwhelming… and long, too long!  How about you?  Are you long listers?  Just when you start hyperventilating and wondering how on earth can you accomplish it all - think small.  Baby steps.  It’s not about the destination, it’s the journey. Right?

Though I have done quite a bit over the years, my journey will never end.  Every day there’s something else to learn, something else to improve, something else that needs to be changed.

Let’s think, be positive.  What positive baby steps are you taking this week?  Care to share?

a visitor to the garden

this hollyhock array showed up this year. The closest one that are around is across the street. DOnt know how this one decided to travel across but alas. Since its not bothering anyone and I will show flowers soon. It can stay.

Where do they get this crap

I was checking out Planet Green on TV last night after perusing the dumpies and coming home with not too much of anything when I caught this hilarious tv show. The premise is that these two clowns gind a true idealist Green and make them over using yuppie green practicals. Last night they took the leader of a college recycling program ( 30 something mom of a youngin) whose wardrobe consists of thigs she had dumpied (sweats, jeans, tshirts, etc) and sent  her to NYC for 2 days of shopping at "Eco-friendly" stores (HAHA). Giving her a "green" credti card  with a $5000 limit.  With $5k she could outfit her hubby, kid, and herself and prob quit working for 6 months to a year and truly live green.  

But instead she went off a shopping buying a trench coat ($400) made from recycled plastic bags, $125 for recycled designer jeans , etc. You get the drift. Stuff that will prob wind up in a few weeks in the recycle bin at the college for someone else to find for free and wear happily.

What a crock to perpetuate FAD ideals ...

Its humorous and mind numbing. But I guess to some people its worthwhile.

Not to me. I just laughed thru it.

July2 in the garden .. an update

I thought you all might like to see how the assorted garden is coming along. Not too shabby. SO I included some shots I took this morning BTW the grape vines were the ones I mentioned in an earlier post..

Enjoy...

its about time for this to happen

Isn't this a bummer. NOT. Coffee, like smokes  and beer are not an affordable luxury for me. They are a necessity of life.  Quantity not always quality. For me, homebrew coffee and officebrew coffee is the best. And its free. If I have to pay for coffee One dollar to fill my mug  is plenty. 

The only time I go to Starrybucks is if I have free giftcards that are given out or in the spring and summer when they give away the used grounds that are like nirvana in the garden. They package them in 5lb bags and set them outside.

 I gather them up on the dumpie bike  a cuppla bags at a time and haul them. 

Guess soon I will have to add Starrybucks dumpie to the travels as the ones they close will probably have some goodies.

The sad part is now 12,000 skilled barristas will be looking for work.