Junk yard inventory

4/25/10 Bunch of "scraps," trashed

Let's take an inventory of what I hauled to the dump today, why I had it, and what shall be lost with its departure:

1) Old Blue Tarp. This tarp was in the shed when we moved into this house. (Another gift from the generous Mr. Zipkin.) Even seven years ago it was not in good shape, but I've still put it to use in myriad ways. Most often it served as a cover on one wood pile or another. During the last few years, I had to only cover wood that I didn't really want to keep dry, since it had so many holes and was so porous, it was basically like using a giant Kleenex.

2) Two Mostly-Empty Buckets of Joint Compound. The larger bucket was also abandoned by Mr. Zipkin when he vacated 34 Lukes Road, but I did use a fair amount of it for various wall repairs over the last few years. The smaller bucket was one I bought several years ago, probably for our big bathroom renovation. When I opened them the other day, the remaining compound in each was rock hard and useless.

3) Several PVC Tubes. Guess who left these behind when he moved? Bing! Bing! Bing! You're right: that Zipkin fellow. I never found a good use for them and they've just been taking up shed space for seven years.

4) Section of Water-Resistant Drywall. Believe it or not, I bought this myself. I used most of it when we remodeled our upstairs bathroom for the area above the shower. When I finally got rid of all that other drywall, I actually encouraged the guy to NOT take this, since it was a "specialty product." What a stupid move that was.

5) Modified Shower Curtain Rod. When we were in the process of replacing our tub and sink, we had a week or so when the walls weren't done so I couldn't mount the new curtain rod. However, the old curtain rod (purchased by the ever generous Mr. Zipkin) was too short to work, so I needed to insert a dowel to lengthen it. It did a fine job of holding the shower curtain for that time while the renovation was happening. Then, of course, I held onto it for safe keeping for several more years.

6) Drywall Corner Bead. Also left over from the bathroom upgrade. Perfectly good and usable, but I was on a roll today.

7) Pickup Truck Bed Liner. You may find this hard to believe, Dear Readers, but this gem was left behind by Mr. Zipkin. What you may find harder to believe is that I've found several uses for this over the years. When we had a portable garage, I used it as a sort of floor so certain things I stored out there wouldn't sit directly on the ground. I also cut pieces off at times when I needed a little section of rubber, as we all often do. Most recently, it spent the winter outside our front door, since our brick patio had been torn up and not replaced with the fine stone patio that went in this spring.

Useful items, all. Sorry to see them go.

So's Mr. Zipkin, I'm sure.