Dogkisser's Sweet Dumpster Finds

Some New Finds!

2006-11-03T20:39:00.000-08:00

Can you believe this find? I didn't get this fencing, and I'm pretty pissed off about it too! This was found by a good friend of mine over in Dartmouth while she was out walking her dogs - and it was enough to finish fencing in her yard so that she doesn't have to put her dogs out on a long line when she takes them out to pee now. Is that awesome or what? What an improvement in the quality of her canine life companions lives! She noticed that the house she found it at had just put up a nice wooden fence. Wasn't it nice of them to put out their old fencing in such nice condition?

I found this hat that Charlie is modelling up in the woods behind my house. I'd say some stoned teenage hoodlum must have just lost it off the top of his head because it's in perfect condition and it hadn't suffered any effects from any weather. It says "snowboarding" on it - so I'll look just like a punk kid when I'm out walking the dogs now. Or maybe Charlie will - I haven't decided who's going to wear it just yet.

Man, this was a find. I love this garbage can. I found this on the way home from the beach last week out in the middle of nowhere - well actually it was on the side of the road out in the country on the Herring Cove Road - but it's in excellent condition even though it's really old - and the person loved it so much that they had even put wallpaper on the inside lid - SO country. And it even had a clean garbage bag inside so when I brought it inside I didn't even have to put a new garbage bag in it. Is that great or what? Life is GOOD! haha!

An Adirondack Chair Makes for a Perfect Deck!

2006-07-03T15:42:00.000-07:00

I am really sorry that I forgot to get a "before" picture of this chair - but it was missing an arm and it was really jiggly - and green. But I saw it's potential.

So I took it to my Dad and he fixed it right up. I think it was the thing it gave him the final impetus to finally give me a jigsaw! hahahahaha! So now I can fix up things like this myself! hahaha! Thanks Dad! But I did paint the chair my own self. And my Dad put a ton of screws in it to make it nice and secure.

The brand name on it says "Bear Chair" - and when I did a search on the internet - it comes up as a brand made in Ontario - sold exclusively down here in the Maritimes at Kent, which is a store that I refuse to shop at because it's not dog friendly - so when I looked online for pricing it comes up as being $90.00 AMERICAN!! So I got a chair for free that's valued at $90 American! Now that's savvy shopping!

How Garbage Walks Solidify a Pack Structure

2006-06-23T19:19:00.000-07:00

I've been doing a lot of research lately on Cesar Millan and his philosphies on living with dogs and dog training.

Some of it I agree with, some of it I think he talks about about just so that he can flap his gums and some of it I do not agree with. I am not in favour of the "flooding" method of dog training - where you teach a dog to get over his fear of something by exposing it to him 1000% and then making him deal with it like that so he has to get over with it or die on the spot. It doesn't work with humans, and I know it wouldn't work with any of the dogs I've met in my life. It's the same thing as making a kid smoke 2 packs of cigarettes when you've caught him smoking for the first time. Sure he's probably going to throw up - but it doesn't deal with any of the underlying reasons WHY he was smoking the cigarettes in the first place (peer pressure, thinks it's cool, piss his parents off, etc.) - it's the same thing with flooding. Dragging a great dane onto the middle of a shiny floor when he's terrified of shiny floors and making him "just deal with it" - is not the way to go. But that's not why I'm writing this post!

One of his other big things is proper exercise - he exercises the dogs in his care 4 hours a day - which just about NO one else can do - but he also says that classical dog parks are no good because dogs just wrestle and dogs need to feel like they're going on a hunt with their pack leader every day. So it's really important to WALK your dog.

Well I'd like to submit that my garbage walks and my going for walks in other people's neighbourhoods in general are the perfect example of going "hunting" with your dogs. And the prey is other people's garbage. Me - I just surf the top layer - and I hardly ever take anything anymore. Last Sunday when we went for our garbage walk we walked for so long that by the time we got back to the car I was too tired to go back and pick anything up. The picture above is a little wicker basket (a garbage can actually) I picked up just on my own street last night when I had Charlie out. It was a gross white and I just painted it up tonight and now it's perfect.

But I think there are extra benefits to going for garbage walks above and beyond finding urban archeological treasures - you will also be solidifying your pack structure - if you believe what Cesar Millan teaches. He believes that dogs need exercise where they move forward with their pack leader - not just moving around in circles or wrestling and playing - or even chasing a ball with a chuck-it or doing flyball and getting out their energy that way. They need to walk and go from A to B.

And garbage walks are perfect for that. So check out which nights are garbage nights in your town and get walking! haha!

A nice new to me desk!

2006-03-27T16:21:00.000-08:00

I drove by this table for a couple days before I picked it up. It was on my route to work on Herring Cove Road - I don't know why someone else didn't nab it before I did! Someone put it out more than a week before garbage day. So last Friday I put it in my car and then Saturday I looked to see if it was worthwhile.

It had completely fallen apart - every screw was loose in the whole table - but someone had spent a lot of time sanding the table to try to refinish it and then just thrown the whole thing in the garbage for some reason! Why? Maybe it's because obviously the under part of the table and the legs are obviously from a different older table and the top is just 1" plywood, and the person wouldn't have realized that until they'd finished removing all the paint - and then said "SHIT!" It's plywood on the top! All that work for plywood!

So I tightened everything everywhere, painted the top light brown, left the rest of the table "distressed", and bob's-your-uncle - I've got myself a beautiful desk that fits with the rest of my decor!

Beautiful. And the price is very right! And the landfill thanks me too!

After I screwed everything together, but before I painted the top
Buttercup modelling the finished product!

An Amazing Find that I Couldn't Get

2005-10-17T15:48:00.000-07:00

I came upon this Armoire / Medical Chest / I don't know what the hell it was meant for this morning:

It was on the curb on Bloomingdale Ave - which is off on Connaught Ave - which is on my way to work - in the south end of Halifax. The shelf that's sittingon the top has a glass front.

It is totally really old - it was way too heavy for me to drag to the car on my own and I think it was too big to fit in my car anyway.

I saw it there on my way to work and it was still there on my way home from work.

I was totally upset that I couldn't get it because it is absolutely gorgeous. The things I could do with this piece of furniture. It could be fixed up to be absolutely beautiful. It is a complete shame that it's going in the garbage don't you think? I am crying wooden tears for this piece of history...

Something to stick in the ground

2005-10-08T17:28:00.000-07:00

The 2 little wooden horses I found in a wooden box on Allen Street one night - my parents put out these kinds of ornaments on their lawn at their cottage - this is but a small selection that I put out for the photo's purposes - but those 2 on the right are ones I found while on a garbage walk. I don't know if my parents know that the 2 flamingo's that they've had on their lawn for years are ones that I knicked from someone's lawn while I was in university..... Oops!

Before picture of the lounger

2005-10-07T04:51:00.000-07:00

I was just on the computer doing something else with my pictures and came upon the "before" picture of the lounger when I brought it home from curbside - this is how it looked in it's original form - it only had one completely visible rotten piece that made the original owner throw it out.

I ended up replacing about 5 pieces of the top - but that's no big whup when you've got a father who has every tool known to man - right Dad? And then slap some paint on it and you've got a brand new to you piece of furniture!

2005-10-04T18:19:00.000-07:00

The above bowl that I'm mixing the dog food in is absolutely huge - it's aluminum and I got it out of some peope's garbage on Pepperell Street. There was nothing wrong with it - perfectly serviceable for at least 20 more years or so. At least for making dog food!

2005-10-04T18:15:00.000-07:00

This teak lamp I got out of the garbage where I work - it is actually teak too. I LOVE teak. It's a nice long lamp - that's not the original shade it came with. It's gone through a few shades - that I've mostly bought at Value Village - and most of them have been red. I like red lamp shades for some reason. Lamp shades are another great thing to get out of people's garbage. I've gotten a few good ones over the years.

2005-10-04T18:13:00.000-07:00

I got this cutting board on Lawrence Street - I don't know if maybe it was the top of someone's dishwasher because it's got a lip on the front of it like it was part of a built-in something or other - but it looked like it was about the right width for my kitchen counter so I brought it home and lo-and-behold it was a perfect fit - so Bob's-your-uncle I have a perfect butcher block for nothing! Fuck you Martha Stewart!

This book shelf was on Pepperell Street on a Wednesday afternoon when I was driving home from work - it turned out there were these 2 Serbian women cleaning out their garage right at that moment and they were like "we've got all this other stuff back here if you want to check it out!" - and I was like - well actually just this book shelf is perfect for me if that's okay with you - they DID have a lot of good stuff, but it was just so overwhelming to actually be able to go through stuff for free. A lot of people would've gone crazy and taken everything but I just couldn't get my head around it. That and I had to get home to the dogs. But this is a pretty nice book case, eh? I didn't even have to paint it or anything - and it's not bowed in the middle - it was in perfect condition. Already painted black.

See that shoe shine box on the shelf? I paid $1.50 for that at Frenchy's. That always reminds me of my brother because he's got one and he's very into having his shoes shined nice - and he's always had a shoe shine box just like that - so when I saw that box for $1.50 I had to buy it.

I got that wooden box below the Rubbermaid box on Robie Street. For some reason I have a weakness for old antique shipping type boxes - I think it's the patina - especially when they've spent time outside. This one needs new hinges because the old ones are all rusted and have separated from each other - but the wood is still in excellent condition. I have a serious weakness for boxes.

I LOVE this lounger - I also found it on Robie Street - completely separate from the above box but very close geographically. All that was wrong with it was a couple rotten planks which I replaced and then painted so that you can't tell which ones are different. But I love this lounger because now I lay out on the deck with the dogs in the night time. I love to lay out there and listen to the wind. Unfortunately I can also hear the neighbours verbally abuse their 2 young children though, which sucks. But the wind going through the trees on my back 40 is awesome while having Buttercup laying on my chest - and now Teddy laying on my legs. DEFINITELY worth twice the price I paid for this! haha!

2005-10-04T18:11:00.000-07:00

I got this lamp from Connaught Ave - some more teak. That lamp is neat too - it's got a globe on it - but I bought it at Value Village for like $3 so it doesn't qualify as garbage chic.

This is a closet rod that I haven't put up yet - I'm going to hang quilt fronts that I have yet to put together on it in the rat's room. I got it on Duncan Street. All that was wrong with it was the paint was white and cracking like crazy and the rod was loose so I hammered a nail into each end and now it's as tight as everyone I talk to is when I ask them if they want to buy one of my quilts!

This is a foot-stool/seat that my feet are currently resting on! They were in the garbage area of my old apartment building. I actually have 2 of these. They had plastic covers on them which I replaced with nice fabric that I had and now they look beautiful.

This shelving unit was put out in the garbage in the apartment building I used to live in, so it was dragged back inside by moi to live out the rest of it's useful days by me. It now holds a small portion of my fabric stash.

This book case I found on my way home from work one day on Cedar Street - I find a lot of stuff on my way home from work NOT on garbage day - but just when people are tossing stuff to the curb and I happen to be passing by! It is solid maple but it was painted the pukiest colour lavender that a lot of wood seems to be painted and it's my belief that wood should either be the colour God intended it to be or it should be painted brown.

I started scraping it, but that was taking too long - so I went with plan B and painted it brown. And this is the finished result - which is now in my bedroom and holding my Buddhist paraphenalia.

2005-10-04T18:07:00.000-07:00

This shelf and the shelf below aren't really garbage finds - but they are "found object" furniture. They are pieces of wood I brought home from the beach that I've used as shelving for the living room. I think they look super!

I love the patina of them - they're nice and grey and worn looking. Beautiful.

This metal shelf was another thing being thrown away at work. It was puke grey and I painted it blue and now I've got a moveable desk!

Now what a find this was! This is a plumber's old tool box that I found on Shirley Street years ago. And I almost left it behind too. I was out walking the dogs and I saw it, and I said to myself - where will I put it? It must be garbage if someone's put it out in the garbage! And then I shook my head to clear it and said to myself - "what am I thinking! I LOVE boxes! I cannot walk away from that box! Am I crazy?" So I walked the dogs home, got the car, and went and picked up this box. And I have loved this box every day since then. I knew it was a plumber's tool box because of the stuff that was still inside it - like the soldering paste and the couple of tools that were there. I've kept lots of different stuff in it - right now it's got empty picture frames waiting to have photos put in them. I LOVE this box.

This shelf is also another piece of wood that I picked out of someone's garbage because I liked the colour of it. See that picture below it? The one of the schooner? It's a hand painted photo - I bought it for $1 at a yard sale - and I bet it's probably worth at least $100. And that picture beside it is great too - I bought it because of the title - it's called "Peasant girl gathering faggots". I think that's hilarious. It's a painting from a museum in New Brunswick - I bought it at Value Village - both of those pictures are not in the frames I bought them in.