I have a little problem. It’s growing, though.
Garbage I can burn, I burn. Garbage I can compost, I compost. Garbage I can’t do either thing to, piles up. Once upon a time I had a neighbor with a Dumpster, and then I didn’t have a problem. I carried the equivalent of one garbage bag a week to my neighbor’s Dumpster, by agreement. I never – well, hardly ever – abused my Dumpster privileges. And so garbage didn’t stack up at the Secret Lair.
I wasn’t the only one using J’s Dumpster, by the way. D&L had the same arrangement, and they generate lots more garbage than I do. So when J&H moved away and their much-lamented Dumpster was no more, D&L started going to the dump every month or six weeks. They let me tag along, but only to the tune of one garbage can or so. They’ve only got a pickup truck.
Today I acquired a second garbage can…
…and garbage officially became a problem.
It’s not even a serious problem, really. True I have no driver’s license and the local cops know it. But the dump is on my side of the boonies; it isn’t necessary to drive through town. The danger of imperial entanglements is quite low.
And honestly, I used to sneak the Jeep into town fairly often. But that was years ago, and for years I’ve been content to stay in the desert except for once-a-week shopping trips in D&L’s truck. Now we’re getting into ‘that peculiar old guy’ territory, see. I’m not faking the hermit thing. The thought of driving onto pavement in broad daylight is not undaunting.
Oh, and hey! I want to show you one of those special tools only a guy who lives alone in the boonies could maybe fully appreciate…
My daughter made this for me years ago. And for years it’s been behind the passenger seat of the Jeep, and sometimes months go by without my hauling it out. But it’s always there. It’s just a hank of poly-nylon rope, nothing special, but that big monkey’s fist on the one end is handy as hell when you’re cutting wood alone and need to get a line up high in a juniper to make sure it’ll fall the way you want. Or for any other reason you might need to toss a line, y’know. They happen. Plus of course just having a couple of chunks of rope in your Jeep is a smart habit. Along with the tools, and the heavy tow strap, and the tire patch kit, and the 12-volt compressor, and…
Rope thingy looks handy. When I’m “lumbering” I tie a half-brick to the end of my rope to assist in tossing over a limb. but ya gotta be careful ’cause when it tops out over the branch it then swings right back at’cha , , , OW!
Start your very own midden. Centurys from now, some pointy-headed archeologist will thank you.
Imagine the strange conclusions they will come to on minutely examining your garbage! You could even leave a few sly false hints behind to lead them astray.
Ben, that’s a possibility. I prefer to outsource my midden to the county dump because I don’t want a hole filled with garbage my back yard. But it is a possibility.
Kentucky, I’m not a very good pitcher, and I’ve gotten that monkey’s fist in the head a few times. Far better that than a brick. 🙂
I usually throw a hammer with a rope tied to it, but I have to get it a lot higher up than those dinky junipers you deal with. 🙂
Just put your garbage in the wash, and after the first rain it will become someone else’s problem. I mean, after all, that is the hive-dwellers way. Make sure you don’t put anything in there with identifying info on it, of course…
}:-]