Pack Rat

[Autocar]

When it comes to being a pack rat Iam close to being the king of them. Saturday I was looking for a hydrawlic fitting for the prentice and found everything but a fitting. Every spring I think to myself throw it all away and clean the shop up but when fall gets here its looks the same with a few additions. Then I get into this mood to organize all the different parts, screws and bolts hoses, fittings and the list goes on. Even that seems to fail I back up a little and look at all the hyd. pumps and cylinders and all the rest of a loggers world and walk back to the house with the thought well maybe tomarrow any body else in the same place ?

[sandhills]

It would be farming stuff but ya, pretty much the story of my life.  My neighbor told me a story a few years back that I always chuckle about, he and his wife decided to clean up around the farm and loaded a bunch of scrap iron on the trailer, before they got out the driveway the trailer broke and they had to dig through it all to find a piece to weld back on  :D.  "Never throw anything away" is his new motto.

[thecfarm]

I got a farm house that is filled just about every nut,bolt,spring,really anything that will fit in a front pocket of a pair of jeans. BUT I have no idea what room,be it up stairs or down stairs. At least I have it narrowed down to what house.  :
My story is kinda like sandhills. But mine is when I go to the dump,I come back with more than I went with.

[MrPete]

My Father was very much like you guys.  Luckily, my wife broke me of that habit early on in our marriage.  But I can tell you it wasn't the likes of my Dad.  I remember having a few discussions with him, the final words were " If you want it take it!"  Lol  With that said, he passed a couple of years ago and I still have to throw that stuff away!!!

[Red Good]

My buddy says one day , let's go to the mall , so we jump in the truck and off we go . End up at the community dump and came home with a riding tractor and 2 mowers and several sheets of plywood !! Guy was nuts for re purposing stuff .Red

[shelbycharger400]

at least if i go to the dump, i only drag home a log or 2.  In the past ive found ratchet straps, cable and hooks, and a 6 foot choker chain.  they came home with me on seperate occasions.

[gspren]

  I sometimes say I have any tool that you could think of but it may take awhile to find it.

[drobertson]

My dad passed down his pack rat'n to me, and the wife says no, no, no,  and to be honest, I'm really glad, last week at dad's was a real eye opener, lots of tools, just where?  I found two, three and four of the same, he always did like hitting the flea markets with Uncle Pat  ;D 

[Alcranb]

My downfall is procrastination but my wife  oh brother! hates to part with anything  and has one terrific memory so trying to sneak something out.......
But hey if this is the worst any of us are.....ain't life grand!!!! ;D
Btw "re purposing" I like that  ;)

[Peter Drouin]

I just went to the dump and came home with a box with 30lb of new nut and bolts all sizes, and a 14" wood bansaw , I plug it in and turn it on and It ran find. I had times all the weed whacker or lawn mower needed was gas ::)I am all full but I give the things to the kids. :D ;D

[Bert]

I sometimes say I have any tool that you could think of but it may take awhile to find it.

I have a bad habit of throwing tools for repairs in the woods in an old five gallon bucket. Makes it hard to find what your looking for. My dad always says " just stir it until what you need comes to the top".

I too am a pack rat but I can change......

[chevytaHOE5674]

I don't usually throw farm/equipment related things away because you never know when you might need them. Every now and then I will clean some junk up and scrap it and usually within a few days I end up needing something I scrapped. 

[justallan1]

I'm pretty bad on being a pack rat and have even been called a hoarder. ;D
I bring home old 4-wheelers, mowers, saws, scrap metal, ETC. but generally either have them working or fashioned into something else in a short time.
Before I moved from California about 10 years ago I had bought 5 storage units and a Jeep for $1,500, well I made my money back just on the Jeep and got most of the rest sold, but I think there's a bit of the stuff left that I've never took out of my 5th wheel camper since the big move.
Yup, it's time for a yard sale! :D

Allan

[Stephen1]

I asked my son, When I'm gone there is a lot of good stuff in the barn, what will you do with it?
His reply, don't worry Dad , we won't even open the barn door. We will bulldoze it and everything in it..

[Magicman]

I needed a power relay yesterday.  I have (had) two but I never did find them.  Had to make a trip to the alternator shop and buy another.  Probably when I start looking for my brain, I will find them.   :

[thecfarm]

Stephen1,hold the bull dozer.   ;D   How many trips would it take to get your stuff to Chesterville,ME ?   :D    I still have some room left in the old farm house.  ;D

[Coon]

My dad was an anti-pack rat.  He used to say that everyone should have to move every five years so they would rid of all their old junk....I think he said that because he wanted their old collection for his hoard of a million and one projects.   :D   :D

[thecfarm]

What gets me are the ones that don't have the room too keep all that good stuff. Guess where they show up to find all that good stuff?  :D

[Chuck White]

When I was still in the Air Force, if I had stuff that I hadn't used in a years time, it would either be sold, given away, or thrown out!

Not so much now that I'm retired! 

[Autocar]

I remember the day my sisters and I went to my dads farm to clean the house and buildings out. The girls went to the house and myself and brother in laws went to the out buildings. The boys started throwing everything in a junk pile and I was grabbing it as fast as they threw it out the door. Then I got smarter and backed the truck up to the door  :D. Most of his steel collection was tool steel so dang hard it was worthless for my kind of repairs, some of his old tools I use every day and wonder to myself how old they may be. And alot of it has found a home under the work bench just like his place only difference its four miles further east  ;D.

[coxy]

my dad and wife are (packhoarders ) they don't throw any thing a way some times I wonder how we even have garbage to put in the bags :D :D :D :D :D :D 8) old bolts that are half striped he says you might need that some day to get out of a jam must have at least 8 5gal buckets full of that stuff  the wife never throws any papers or books out except for my northern logger  >:( >:(

[Billbob]

My wife calls me a hoarder.  I say I'm a repurposer.  In the corner of the shed is where I keep all the metal odds and ends, left over pipe, flat bar, square tube, etc. Pieces 1" to 2' long.  She calls it my junk pile, I call it my stock pile. ;) 

[Farmer Bill]

I know I'm a little late here on posting but perhaps someone will understand. I too am a Pack Rat and an avid Garage-Saler. Having lived on the same 18+ acres for about 50 years I have accumulated a bunch of "JUNK"  -  which now brings me to my point. "Junk is stuff that you throw away and Stuff is junk that you keep."  - Now which do I file this under, STUFF or JUNK?
"The Junk Box"


My father often used to say:
"My boy don't throw a thing away:
You'll find a use for it some day."

So in a box he stored up things,
Bent nails, old washers, pipes and rings,
And bolts and nuts and rusty springs.

Despite each blemish and each flaw,
Some use for everything he saw:
With things material, this was law.

And often when he'd work to do,
He searched the junk box through and through
And found old stuff as good as new.

And I have often thought since then,
That father did the same with men;
He knew he'd need their help again.

It seems to me he understood
That men, as well as iron and wood,
May broken be and still be good.

Despite the vices he'd display
He never threw a man away,
But kept him for another day.

A human junk box is this earth
And into it we're tossed at birth,
To wait the day we'll be of worth.

Though bent and twisted, weak of will,
And full of flaws and lacking skill,
Some service each can render still.


© Edgar Guest (1881 - 1959)