Everybody’s moving. And everybody’s cleaning out their homes. The drop-off shed at the thrift shop is overflowing, and the curbs are lined with all sorts of treasures. If you’d care for a nice oak table, about the size of a desk, there’s one in front of my neighbor’s house. It looks to be in good condition. It’s just missing it’s legs, lost during their last move.

I’ve only retrieved one thing from a trash pile: a half dozen black metal stakes with hooks on the end meant to hold a potted plant in your garden.

I am grateful, though, to be the recipient of many neighbors’ generosity. The neighbor with the garden hooks has also promised me a large, inflatable pool – a good size for my bigger kids.

Another neighbor gave me a backpack to carry a kid just like the one I had when Bill was deployed and I had to mow my lawn while pregnant and while keeping an eye on three little kids. I would put Katie in the backpack. That backpack became faded by the sun and ripped from years of use. This same neighbor also gave me a pair of doggles. Greta is starting to have clouding on her eyes, and my neighbor said she’ll need sunglasses because the eye drops she’s sure to be prescribed will make her eyes sensitive. Greta does not appreciate her kindness.

I haven’t even told Bill about the nice white cabinet another neighbor offered. She got it from yet another neighbor who has given me tons of school supplies and clothes that fit Billy. Sometime this weekend, Bill will have to carry that cabinet over here just as he had to bring over their dark green leather sofa a few weeks ago. If I were buying a leather sofa, I would have picked a dark brown. But a free dark green one is very budget friendly.

I’m doing my part to help the local free-trade economy. Children’s clothing in excess of my needs has been parceled out to different neighbors with appropriately aged kids. The rest is off to the thrift store. And I’ve been happy to donate or loan out school materials and reference books to one neighbor who will begin her homeschool adventure this fall with her three school-aged children plus one preschooler.

Despite all the trading and giveaways, there are always times you can’t find a good new owner for your unneeded things, and so they end up on the curb waiting for scavengers. So, if you’re in eastern Kansas and you’re looking for a deal, Fort Leavenworth is the place to be.