Mexikid Stories by Pedro Martin for September 01, 2020

Both my uncles were always working on each other’s cars, and sometimes I would tag along to the wrecking yard with them to get a needed part!!

There is often quite a lot of good stuff in the dump. Not always broken or wrecked. But nobody can have any of it.

My grandfather was notorious for always bringing more back from the dump than he took there.

LOL! I used to go dumpster diving, but never dump grazing!

I think dad did bring a few things back. I think that is why the dozer is right there these days to stop us.

I lived next door to an automotive junkyard in Mississippi. It wasn’t even fenced. My three brothers and I roamed frequently through this forbidden zone in a manner that would have horrified modern safety experts (and our parents). I don’t think we found anything useful, which was great, because we were not into stealing, just exploring.

My father-in-law called the guys at the dump “butchers” because they charged him to dump stuff, and charged him if he took stuff.

Good times. I remember going to the landfill when it was open and free. I figured we lost that ‘right’ when some pussy sued after stepping on a nail, something like that. So the municipalities, out of fear of a lawsuit and realizing they can make more money and a few jobs locked it down.

We used to bring home broken tvs from the dump and my brother would replace a tube or two and they would work – for a while. In a couple months the picture tube would blow and that was too expensive to replace, but he would salvage the other tubes to repair other tvs we brought home from the dump. He always had a stack of two or three tvs in his room and a box of spare tubes and a tube tester. He would watch the one on top until the picture tube failed, then he’d change to the one under it.