Charmion, I have a friend who lives in Green Valley, Arizona, where there is a charity thrift store called The White Elephant. They have a bout 600 volunteers all told, with various tasks. The store is open Monday through Saturday from 9am till noon. That's all - just three hours a day. (One of the volunteer jobs is to list some of the better but easy to ship items on eBay.) Everything is tested before it's sold, the clothes are checked to be sure everything is intact. They make bundles of clothes that need work that are given to some of the immigrant support groups so their members can do the repairs then sell the garments in other stores or donate them to families arriving from across the border who have nothing. Their prices are extremely reasonable, they sell everything you can think of, and the business has donated millions to various good causes in the region. When they're done right, those kinds of charity shops are amazing. My son was in nearby Tucson for university and we stayed with that friend when we first got into town, so we loaded up on household goods when he moved into a house with roommates his junior year. He has turned into quite a cook, and I'm guessing those pots and pans we selected may still be with him.

The Goodwill bin is filling up. And my thrift store iHome docking station is perfect; the remote control and the AM antenna arrived yesterday and it is now up to speed. I love having digital tuning and buttons like on the big receiver in the living room (or on my car radio like forever). The whole thing came to about $18, and interestingly enough, most of my old boombox Sony radios will sell for about the same amount on eBay.

Rain was heavy enough today, and is expected to continue through tomorrow, so I won't be able to have the garden tilled for another week or so. But the leaves I cut up with the mower are all plastered to the ground in the garden plot. The magic will happen when the tiller pushes the leaves into the soil and pulls the roots to the top. I'll rake out roots and shape the beds and be ready to go. For all that I have tried a couple of times to have a tiller of my own here to use, in the long run it's better for all if I hire my friend to bring his tiller. Then his gets used and stays in working order and he has a job for the morning.