Planning to ReTIRE

Reduce. Reuse. Recycle.

Rethink. Repurpose. Retire.

So you’ve got these slightly-used radial tires — not the best choice for the car anymore, but still plenty of life left in those durable tori — obviously thanks to Charles Goodyear’s discovery of vulcanized rubber (but don’t get me going on the process of heating rubber with sulphur to improve it’s stability, durability and adaptability — or I’ll wax poetic for hours.)

So you’ve also got this yard — and sure, it’s lovely and green and verdant — it’s a tiny little paradise all for you and you feel recharged and refreshed by its very existence. But it’s missing something, isn’t it?

And just like adding peanut butter to jelly, slicing to bread or sulphur to heated rubber — something amazing is born from the combination of two already incredible components:  used tires and green-space.

Here’s where the bounty of the human imagination is as boundless as the sea – I’ve got tires, I’ve got a yard, I’ve got imagination – what will I make?

What won’t I make?

I could go practical:  I could make a planter, a series of planters, a stacked planter, a wall, a wall planter, a staircase, a staircase with walls, a staircase with planters, a walled-staircase with planters,  a bench, a chair, a chair and table-set, a stacked table-set, a bike-stand.

I could foster fun:  a see-saw, a hobby-horse, a jungle-gym, an obstacle-course,  a set of swings or a steel-belted slide.

I could embrace the variety of the animal kingdom:  alligators, bears, bugs, caterpillars, chickens, ducks, elephants, fish, frogs, giraffes, horses, parrots, peacocks, snails, spiders, squirrels, swans, toucans, turtles, unicorns, zebras. There is no ark large enough to accommodate the full cornucopia of repurposed tire-beasts.

I could set free fantastical flights of fancy:  a dragon, a unicorn, a sea-serpent, an elephino.

I could channel my industrious imagination into our familiar mechanical beasts of burden:  tractors, trucks, trains, trikes, bikes, motorbikes, motorboats, motorcars.

My only limits are my supply of used tires and my acreage.

I wonder if my neighbors are fully using their yards.

Or their tires.

Steve Brian

Broker | OR

He/Him

Steve has made his career based on the concept that “service comes first.” He has helped clients buy and sell homes on both sides of the river and has a strong understanding of what it takes to negotiate in a way that allows his clients to feel that their best interests are always at the forefront of the negotiation table. He has worked with first time buyers, upsizers, downsizers and investors alike, priding himself on being able to provide well-informed advice based on the current market and leaving the final decisions up to his clients! After moving to Portland in 2002, Steve bounced around different neighborhoods on the Eastside of Portland and grew a love for straight shots of espresso. He has now planted roots with his family in the Terra Linda neighborhood of NW Portland and is a sucker for a delicious beer on a hot, summer day from one of the many local breweries in Portland. When he’s not wearing his “Steve the REALTOR®” hat, he likes to spend time in the water with his two boys or just put on some mud boots and find some trails to explore. "Service Comes First!"

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• steve@stevebrian.com