Back Alley Karma, or The Yankee Motto...

Back Alley Karma, or The Yankee Motto...

Fix that thing,
Don't throw it out.
Make it do,
Or do without.

I used think I was just a spendthrift, but years ago I heard that little ditty - they called it the Yankee Motto - on CBC Radio and realized that it was OK to be tight.

That came to mind the other night as I biked down my back alley past a Kenmore vacuum cleaner sitting out on the side of the road. In my town, when you decide to upgrade some household appliance or furniture, the best way to get someone to haul it away for you is to leave it about 5 feet off the back alley. People come by, look furtively North, South, East and West, and then load it in their car and it is gone. It beats trying to sell it, and the entertainment value far exceeds what you get if you call Goodwill.

Somebody hauled away a perfectly good mailbox and some of that black plastic edging from my place a couple weeks ago, so when I spotted that vacuum sitting there I figured it was good karma for my earlier donation. It didn't quite work to load it on my bike, but it was only a couple dozen yards south of the garagemahal so it worked out just fine.

It seems to work OK, and came with some free duct tape on the hose. When I removed the tape I found the hole they had lived with for what must have been several years. So I'll check out replacement hoses or try to figure out a better way to patch or shorten it. Maybe it won't work, but shoot, the price is right and it lets me get in touch with my inner Yankee. Or as ABB would say, get my Yankee on.

Had a great weekend with my friend. We talked for hours. And hours. And cooked. And ate. And hung some pictures. And, well yes, drank a little too. Isn't that what friends are for?