Garbage picking

I admit it. I garbage picked the other day. It was completely accidental though. And it was unplanned. And I really didn't mean to do it. But I couldn't resist.

Janis and I were running a really HILLY, hot, sucky run in a very nice neighborhood that happens to be not too far from where I live. The houses are spread out and the neighborhood has million dollar homes in it. We were running, and hating every minute of the hills, when we came upon a house in a cul de sac that had 3 bar stools out on the curb.

Keep in mind that it was garbage day. So the bar stools were sitting nicely next to the garbage cans. We stopped running and went over to check them out. There was nothing wrong with them. Except for the fact that they needed a little screw tightening - they were great. Janis said that they would look great in my house and I should drive by and get them after we were done running.

We continued on with our hot and sweaty run and finally finished 3.5 grueling miles. (A lot of which we walked because of the hills). By this time, I had completely forgotten about the bar stools. I got in my car to drive home and just as I was almost home, Janis called me on my cell to remind me about the bar stools.

So I turned around and went back. Now, the weird thing is that when I got back to the house, there were only TWO stools sitting on the curb. Weird. Very weird. Originally, there had been three. So where did the third one go in a 20 minute time span? Had someone else been garbage picking? If so - why did they only take one stool? Had the owner changed their mind and decided to keep the stools? Was I committing something illegal by taking the other two stools? I quickly looked around, and saw that no one was around. I literally ran out of my car, took the two stools and put them in my car. And then I drove away.

I felt like I committed a crime. I know people garbage pick all the time. If it's on the curb with the garbage, then it's fair game. But I felt so weird about it and I still wondered what happened to the third stool.

Anyway - I got the stools home and set them up in the kitchen. I took a photo.

I emailed the photo to Brian. He emailed me back and wrote, "Where did these come from?" I told him that I "found" them on my run.

When he got home later, he spent a lot of time on those stools. He cleaned them. He tightened the screws. He fixed some of the wood that was loose. Before I knew it, those stools were as good as new. Seriously. And I sadly wondered how someone could be so wasteful and put them out for the garbage? Why not put them on Freecycle or sell them on Craigslist?

Anyway - he arranged the stools like this:

I couldn't decide which way I liked them. But it didn't matter. Because, after all that - I decided that they were annoying me in my kitchen. They were in my way and they had to go. Technically, the counter doesn't have a big lip, so the stools are not really "under" anything and I think they just looked odd.

Needless to say, I will not be putting them out on the curb. Nope. Instead, I will be selling them in the neighborhood garage sale next weekend. Now, how's that for recycling, and reusing?