I mean it this time. I really don’t think we have enough to fill one more dumpster, but its more than can be taken with a variety of truckloads to the dump directly.

Not that I bought a truck for nothing.

For instance, I’m now legally obligated to say ‘yall’ when referring to yall.

When walking through the building, we realize how far we’ve come with the cleanup. That makes the remaining piles seem like nothing. But when you add them all together, it gets to be quite something. And tossing into a dumpster is far easier than carefully loading the truck with trash, taking it to the dump, and carefully unloading it.

I far prefer underhand.

Today’s Top Finds

• Approximately 100 gallons of water
• Bulletproof vest
• Five foot nutcracker
• Tramapoline! Trabapoline!
• Extra house corbels
• Groundhog
• Reel mower

The Kitchen

We start our adventure in the kitchen. Mostly clean, but the large pantry is still in the way.

Yep, still full of Canada Dry and Sharps Beer. One of the caps biodegraded and accidentally spilled; that was a nasty-smelling surprise.

After these were discarded, there was still the matter of the actual cabinet. It can’t tip over because the diagonal measurement won’t fit under the ceiling…

Cutting the cabinet in half proved most useful. After taking it outside, and removing the other salvageable cabinets from the walls, the kitchen started to look like something you might want to put appliances into, after a thorough cleaning.

And underneath the pantry was another great find.

We had wanted to move the stove over to this wall for better kitchen workflow, so this is a handy spot for the wire to come up. The plug is jammed full of… something, though. That will have to get replaced.

The remainder of the cabinets can come off the walls as well, and could be used in a garage or basement somewhere.

Master Bedroom

There are two very large objects in the master bedroom that would strongly benefit from the presence of a dumpster. The dresser, and the carpet.

Tearing up this carpet will likely help with allergens, too, since it is quite the dust magnet. So we can hope for improved smells as time wears on.

The padding was littered with staples, which are worth taking up, since the flooring is rather nice pine, which could be refinished.

You said there would be finds!

I did, I did indeed. And they are mostly contained in the basement. But, some are contained in the garage.

In this photo we can see a few things that I’d like to save and investigate for restoration later, particularly those two porch columns on the left. These were removed when the porch collapsed, and to save money, were not re-integrated to the design.

I don’t think we could swap out the 6×6’s that are currently holding up the roof, but maybe they could be cut in half and placed around them decoratively…

There is also a reel mower at the front left. It turns, but it’s a bit rusty. Could be made to work, and with only a patch of lawn up front, it makes sense for the prior owner.

We also ran into this single running board for an unknown truck. I’m sure the previous owner has never had a truck.

The garage was at one point wired for lights, but since there’s no attachment point at the house for a wire to come across, and no dedicated breaker, I’m guessing it’s been a while since that was the case.

This is what actual running knob and tube would look like if you saw it in your house. Wires run parallel on ceramic knobs. These happened to be cloth covered, but that has disintegrated in the weather. The garage has no door, after all.

The Basement

Alright, on to the REAL good stuff.

Yep, that is a 5′ tall nutcracker. And in great shape, too.

Big Nut and I thought it would be cool to scare Hillary when she’s at the kitchen sink.

Anyway.

End of the First Day

After a hard day’s work, we ended up with a mostly full dumpster.

And, there was more to go to fill it up to the top. A quick rest and back at it for more interesting finds.

Not all finds were uninteresting. For instance, there were two spare corbels for the exterior of the house.

They were probable recreation experiments, because I think that they are all present and accounted for.

End of the Second Day

Well, we did finally fill up the dumpster all the way to the top. A few fence panels, a bit out of the mudroom off the kitchen, and we have an essentially clean slate to work in.

And not a moment too soon. We knew they were picking it up the next day, but didn’t know exactly what time.

Well, it was 7:30 AM. So much for the last box or two.

The tarping on top of the dumpster is why you have to fill it, at most, level with the top. This lets them stretch the mesh over the top of the dumpster. Then, none of the hoard junk gets on your car on the highway.

We did set aside a bunch of the water to use on our plants during dry spells. No sense in putting it down the drain if it can be immediately put to use.

Next Steps

I know for sure that there will be more trash to take out, and more usable items that could be cleaned up and sent to the donation center.

And before you object, if you don’t wash all the cups and pots you bring home from the Goodwill, dishonor upon your family. You don’t know where that stuff has been.

Plus, we are only donating washable or cleanable solid items that are in good or better shape. Anything porous, cloth, chewed, or otherwise trash-worthy is still trash.

Anyway, I have a few stories to tell before we get on with the planning and the measuring and the construction and the picking colors and all that. So hold tight.