It has been a puzzle to me since moving out here almost 3 years ago what to do with "yard waste"....especially since most of the yard is rock.
The first Christmas here I wanted a real tree...I wanted to submerge myself into the glow of the season, to breathe in the fragrance of the evergreen, to know that all was "real".
That all remained real, especially the "real" mess of thousands of dry needles covering my floor....and the question of tree disposal. Back in Wisconsin it would simply end up as furnace fuel. But here in the city? Now what?
This is real embarrassing....
Fast Forward 3 Years....
See that gray-brown tree core and skinny branches behind the dried up moldy corn stalks? That is the same once elegant tree that graced my living room. It has been lying around the garage for 2 years. Before that it sat in the back yard for almost a year. Yah.....
Picture this same scenario throughout my garage. It has been joined by several bags of dried out dahlia bulbs and 2 thorny decorative bushes that never got planted. (How does one "plant" when all visible surfaces are covered with pebbles? And underneath is a "weed barrier" that never prevents weeds.)
Black bags and white bags stuffed with unprevented weeds in various degrees of decay lay scattered throughout the garage floor. A myriad containers of once lovely flowers now reduced to dried stems and dirt punctuate the floor.
Interspersed are all my fall, Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas decorations...just sitting, waiting for the next holiday season to arrive in several months.
Mixed with all this are many boxes transferred from Wisconsin 3 years ago...important possessions like 3 boxes of various sized rocks....all pretty and from varied places; boxes of shells and beach decorations that filled my Midwest home; 3 racks of souvenir spoons from family travels.
Each walk into the garage was an obstacle course inviting an accident to happen...to happen to me.
What to DO?
ENTER....JAKE!! YEAH!!
With a month recess in LaCrosse practice, games and tournaments he nicely agreed to help me clean up. He is the same faithful grandson who worked with me to create my little Hobbit garden.
For 4 hours we dumped dirt, stuffed black garbage bags, piled boxes and decorations on an upper shelf, cut up recycling to shove into the proper container, stomped happily on packaging "bubbles" to release their loud pop, snapped Styrofoam, swept the floor, and fretted about the wasp nest high in the ceiling.
NOW....WHAT TO DO WITH ALL THIS STUFF? THAT QUESTION CAUSED ALL THIS...
WELL....
You stuff 10 stinky black garbage bags into the back on your little SUV and drive off to find the...... waste station (city dump)
YIKES!!
It cost $10 plus weight fees to simply dump bags or $5.00 to empty one's own bags of organic waste. I chose to empty our own.
One drives one's little vehicle into this area shared by large city garbage trucks buzzing all over. One is directed by a voice whistling at you to drive over here....only the sun is blocking "over here". Once inside the huge warehouse garage one is to back up to a small area assigned to you for your organic waste. Never mind that is it right next to a massive bulldozer happily scooping up piles of garbage dumped from the city trucks. Never mind, either, that wave after wave of garbage odor is wafting past you and you are right in the middle of it. (I complained to Jake and he wisely responded, "Well, Gram, it is a dump.")
We shook out our bags of organic waste while staying clear of the bulldozer backing up very near our little space, stuffed all the bags into one and boldly drove out the appropriate door back to the weigh station.
Our fee? $5.00
That was totally worth this adrenaline rush experience!
Enough for my life time!!
I told Jake I sure wouldn't want to work there.
He thought it would be very cool....
My day did end up peaceful. Kahana brought over the finished ceramic pieces from last week's adventure.
Her NY baseball cereal bowl and my little fat fish....
Jake and I finished up the day with burgers from McDonalds while watching Mall Cop 2.
The next morning he and I sat at the orthodontist office for 90 minutes while Jake had his appointment. Then back to my house for more outdoor cleaning....
Pressure washing the back sidewalk....
Assembling a glass patio table to house a green umbrella...
Ahhh.....let the summer begin....
This has been a good $5.00 adventure day in the life of Grandma G.
"One who is slack in his work is brother to one who destroys."
(Proverbs 18:9)
Angie and Mal are continuing their Ireland adventures. They spent 3 days in Dublin....
Rugby game...
Even found an Irish Rainbow.....no gold or leprechauns....
