The wife: "Ugh! There's someone else going through the garbage. THAT'S ILLEGAL!"
Me: "For someone who is all about recycling, I'd think you'd like it when people took things out of the trash. That's the ultimate in recycling."
The wife: "Well, it's illegal. They shouldn't do that." [Goes about her business, muttering about the merits of recycling.]
Every.Single.Time.
The wife worries about the pill bottle I just threw in the garbage, as I'm supposed to recycle that...yet, she frets about people taking things to re-use them. It's not like they are making a mess. They "shop" and go. It doesn't seem illegal to me but I'm sure it is (after all, the wife knows her recycling laws) and I have to believe there is some reason the law is in place. (I've never seen the law but I'll take the wife at her word.)
So, imagine this: while walking the dog on the morning of July 3rd, we came across a brand new storm door window. The item in question was propped up between two green garbage cans filled with lawn refuge. We both saw it at the same time, with both of us commenting on how weird it was that this door window was at the curb with the garbage. It was obviously waiting for a trip to the landfill. A closer look showed that it still had the original stickers on it and that it was indeed brand new. An even closer look by the wife led to the discovery that it was the exact brand and size of our existing storm door.
She looked toward the building and mentioned how the people had a new storm door. She looked toward the window between the garbage cans and then back toward the newly-installed door.
It was then I saw it--the wheels turning, the internal angst, the pros-vs.-cons....
...The wife was actually thinking about how to get this storm door home!
We were a little over a 1/4 mile from home. We're walking a 105 year old dog. It's hot out. I looked at the window and then looked at the wife. The window looked heavy.
Did I mention we were walking?
The wife decided we needed this window, illegal scavenging be damned! I offered to walk ahead and get the car but she declined, saying it won't fit in the car and that she could carry the window home. I think I mentioned the illegality of the operation of which we about to partake and I may have mentioned ten or eleven times about her stance on garbage-picking, but I think she had selective hearing and thus went over to the window. She picked it up and started home.
I couldn't let her have all the fun or bear all the load, so I grabbed part of the frame with one hand and dragged the dog along with my other hand. It really was pretty heavy, more so because it was an awkward thing to carry. Sweaty hands make it hard to hang on to a storm door window.
We marched down the street, hoping not to cross paths with some unsuspecting neighbor.
Of course, we did indeed run into a neighbor. Try explaining what's going on when carrying a glass storm door down the street. At first, she didn't seem to see the glass. At second glance, she seemed perplexed but still offered to help. We politely declined and kept on moving.
When we finally got home (like, three weeks later....or, so it seemed), the wife zipped into the garage and confirmed her victory. The window was indeed the same brand and size and it was nicer than the window we already owned.
Score one for the wife. Two thumbs up for the landfill.
Now that she's faced the thrill of victory, maybe she'll look a little more kindly at the scavengers....
After all, she's one of them now.
Perhaps this adventure will allow her to view the weekly scavengers as magicians instead of as criminals. After all, recycling turns stuff into other stuff and that is pretty magical.
So, recycle.
Reuse.
Refuse.
Re-purpose the neighbor's door.
Personally, I recycle whenever possible in an effort to save the Earth...
If you watch CSI or Blue Bloods or any "cop" show you would know that anything in the garbage is fair game. If it's out on the curb, in the garbage can, recycle can, its yours. If it's on t.v., it must be true.
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