We enjoy watching the TV series “North Woods Law,” highlighting the everyday activities of Maine and New Hampshire wardens, as well as Alaska State Troopers. You never know what they’ll encounter while on routine patrol. It could be dealing with poachers, rescuing an injured eagle, or refereeing a domestic disagreement. Many cases involve visits to private homes.

It’s apparent that many Alaskan residents, as well as a few here in northern or inland Maine, still believe in saving everything even if it no longer works or doesn’t provide the service it once did. We can’t help but notice that it’s not unusual for the back or side yard, even the front, to be littered (perhaps an unfair term) with old pick-up trucks or cars, snowmobiles, all-terrain vehicles, tractors, boats, motors,  and other once-handy pieces of equipment.

It was once a common practice to simply abandon items somewhere on your property. Years ago, there was often no place to recycle them, anyway.We’re sure Maine folks, like Alaskans, didn’t believe in throwing something away with parts that might be later needed – a wheel, a starter, a fender. Here on the coast of Maine, you see very few properties where the homeowner appears to keep everything when he discards it. For one thing, we have more options when it comes to disposal, and because land values are so high, we’re less apt to have the luxury of a lot of land.Another reason is much easier access to places where we can get the parts we need to make repairs.

It’s understandable that in Alaska, it sometimes doesn’t make sense to throw away the things that no longer work, if they contain parts which could be used someplace else. Some of the TV shows featuring Alaskan families clearly demonstrates how well they can improvise and make something they need from items they’ve abandoned, but kept handy on their own property. It reminds us all that many of our parents and those who came before them were experts when it came to improvising, and could work with whatever was available to create something to meet their needs.Like the Alaskans of today, they didn’t have ready access to stores and shops to get what they needed, nor did they have the money.It was much more of a make-do society, and while cluttered dooryards weren’t popular, they were practical.

In our house, it was the cellar that provided the storage spot for all of the “I may need that sometime” items from several fisheries.Many of them were costly when new, to be sure, but lost their value when covered with layers of rust. Our grandson decided it was time to part with much of the “stuff’’ accumulated over a period of fifty years, and while it was painful, three truckloads wen to the recycling center. Of course, there will be an instance when we’ll hear “I had one of those but it was thrown away,’’ but in the long run, there comes  a time when saying good-bye makes sense.

For Alaskans as well as Maine folks and those who live in more rural areas throughout the country, hanging on to things isn’t going to stop anytime soon. Change doesn’t come easy.