OT - small independent trash pick-up

9 years ago

I love rural living. Although we could burn our house trash, what we don't compost or recycle, we have picked up by a small, locally-owned company. This is part of the note that I received in this year's payment coupon book:

"For the 2015 year, prices as of now will remain the same. I was going to raise the price $.50 this year, but since gas prices went down I decided to wait. If prices go back to $3.00 or over please add the $.50 to your payment.

We are going to try and recycle some more this year, so if you would like to help and put your cans in separate bags it would greatly be appreciated. (This is only by your CHOICE. You don't have to do this)"

*************************************************************************
(Italics, mine.)

Isn't that just a nice example of old-fashioned service? They also used to buy GS cookies when my girls were young. :)

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Comments (11)

desertsteph
9 years ago
that's awesome! Used to be like that where I am - until developers bought up tons of desert and started building... and city folk moved out here.
my postman used to be able to leave a pkg on the ground by the box at the road. Often he'd drive it back here. No more. If a pkg doesn't fit in the box he (a new guy I'm sure) leaves a notice in the box and I have to go over to town to get it. That didn't even used to be so bad until they built the new po office to hold all the new peoples mail... and the lines gone very long. Now it's a real PITA to get a pkg by the PO.

Now my water people are still like that but not so many of us have water hauled anymore. Newer house dev had area wells put in and some people haul their own water. But my people would even leave me water if I weren't here. Once I slept thru the delivery and found a note on my door. He stopped by another day (someone else's delivery day) to pick up his money. And I have bees out by the tank so I always go out to be with him in case he'd get stung. He's afraid of 'em and they've never bothered me. I think they know me by now... I felt really bad the day I didn't make it out there. I couldn't believe I slept thru the truck beeping.
User
9 years ago
It's still like that here. The thing is, I never know when the garbage man is coming! I've been collecting feed sacks just because I don't want to fill up the little two wheeled dumpster, not knowing when he will come. Eventually I will bring the barn garbage can up with all of them in it and leave it beside the other container. If they would keep making them out of paper instead of plastic I wouldn't have a problem. There are only so many empty plastic feed sacks you can recycle!

I have my own well but I worry a lot about ground water. The water table is very high here and I'm surrounded by cultivated farm land. My pasture gets flooded every spring and often in the summer/fall, too. I don't want my horses wading through it or eating the grass that's been under it. Mostly it sits on the pasture grass so long it kills it. I've quit reseeding. It got to be yearly. Too expensive.
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Maybe the solution is to do either/or but not both types of chores in the same day. Organize a room, then clean it. I was watching Hording Buried Alive last night. They had a woman, a former teacher, who had 2,000 totes in her home, neatly arranged but full of stuff she no longer needed, hobby supplies, many books, school supplies. It was neatly organized but they hit the nail on the head when they said "You have too much stuff for this small house." To add to it, she was reluctant to give anything away. She picked 16 items she was willing to donate, but that made no dent in the 2,000 "organized" labelled tote boxes. Her daughter (an adult) was very upset. No neat, happy end , showing her well-organized beautiful home. They left her with her overcrowded house and her many issues, which included family deaths, isolation, and her shopping addiction. Truly scary stuff.
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I had chimed into sugarbreak's thread in the Conversations area but I'll add mine here, too. I've been "starpooh" for 11 years. It started when we were looking for a distinctive email address for our family. So we took a family vote. My vote was for "tearose" because I love the smell of roses. DH and my then 8-year-old DS voted for "roadkill" because they're both jokesters. My youngest DS voted for "no_nap" because, as a 2 year old, that was his favorite phrase. So I suggested "starpooh", named after a gorgeous desktop wallpaper that I had found. After much discussion (and whining from Mr. "no-nap"), we decided that starpooh fit our family. Starpooh wallpaper: I do love this pooh wallpaper but actually Classic Pooh is my favorite. Here is a link that might be useful: sugarbreak's User Names thread from 2006
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When charities do pick-ups if you have a lot of items and they ask that a sign be put on it with their name like Purple Heart . Easter Seals will mail you a sign. Please do look to see if the items have been set out for charity. The first time I did an attic cleaning I put everything in my walkway leading to my front door and on the porch, not at the curb and not on the city sidewalk. The next morning everything had been ripped open and scatterd. Half the stuff was missing - All the good stuff as there were a number of NIB items received as gifts that I could not use. Since the plastic bags were ripped open everything got wet in the rain. And a lot of it was broken or smashed. When Purple Heart showed up at 8:00AM there was not much left and they wasted their time coming out. Obviously people ingored the HUGE Purple Heart sign. The next time I put stuff out for Easter Seals and put up the neon sign they gave me indicating it was a donation for charity. First a neighbor canibalized the pile. I watched. Then another neighbor. I watched this. I said nothing as I did not want any "ill will' with neighbors. Then a truck pulled up and a bunch of guys jumped out and started towards my porch. I nicly told them they could not take the stuff as it was for charity and pointed to *the sign*. I told them Easter Seals was on their way to pick it up. They had the audacity to argue with me. They said they "had permission" to take the stuff. I had to start screaming that this was my house, and my stuff, and they better not touch it or set foot in my yard to get anything! They took off quickly. I think they may have been illegals and did not want any police. From now on I take everything personally to drop off centers. Now, I myself am not against picking usable stuff out of the trash. If I have any doubt about an item I will ask them while they are setting it out or ring the door bell or even leave a note. I've found some nice items sitting on top of trash or right next to the bins. Some I keep and sometimes I just rescue them and donate them to charity. I hate seeing waste. If Goodwill is going to drive all the way out to my place for a pick-up I don't want to see them waste their time coming all that way for nothing. If a neighbor would ask for something they see out I would give it to them, but the thing is, a person should ask before grabbing something intended for charity.
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Just today I was reading Michael Chabon's new book of essays, "Manhood for Amateurs," and he was talking about the same issue! His essay is really funny, it's called "The Memory Hole." His technique is similar to what mine was when the kids were small. I would have areas of the house where artwork could be proudly displayed, and then I would tell them I was going to "put away for safe keeping" the older art projects, and I'd store them in a big plastic container in the basement. Then as time went by, I'd select the most meaningful items and transfer those to another container and the "practice items" would mysteriously disappear, ha! Long after they remembered they had labored so hard over a particular creation. (The storage went over OK because I told them that art curators do the same thing.) Of course, the age they are now, it's fun to bring forth some of those efforts and review them, especially when they bring a boyfriend over.
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mama goose_gw zn6OH
Original Author
9 years ago
If my mailman has a package, he pulls up to the front sidewalk and beeps. His wife was my son's 2nd grade teacher. The substitute driver will leave a package on the back step, if I don't make it to the car in time. I think she went to school with my older daughter.

The UPS man brings the packages up on the front porch. His daughter and step-daughter went to school with my younger daughter.

BTW, I just had my JD lawn tractor serviced by the local dealer--lol, the pick-up/delivery guy is one of my distant cousins. His brother was one of my HS teachers, and later performed my wedding ceremony.

I don't think the connections have any bearing on the services rendered, but it's nice to to have a friendly connection to all these folks.
finallyhome
9 years ago
I live in a huge metro area near downtown. I went to the mailbox around Christmas and found the card below. Surprise! (I'll get around to telling them you are not supposed to put anything in the mailbox.)
Shades_of_idaho
9 years ago
So nice when you can live in a small town for so long every one feels lie family.
mama goose_gw zn6OH
Original Author
9 years ago
What a nice note. I know there are helpful people everywhere, but I remember when our small family moved across the country, I really missed the multi-generational hometown connections.

Oh, I just thought of another--the mailman that we had when I was growing up, was the father of my current mailman. I am not making this stuff up. :)
User
9 years ago
Mama, see you thinking about trash pickup we must be on same wave length.

Cannot make a link with my Kindle. But visit Trashdance.com for a video about the workers of trash.

I took pictures yesterday of the "Construction Dance" and the artistry of mudding wallboard, sort of like Venitian plaster without color pigments.
User
9 years ago
Wall cabinets gone, look at wall pattern
User
9 years ago
It wants a message
User
9 years ago
Our postman is retiring soon. His wife has dementia. He will come to our open house and see my HOSTA garden. He reads my NYT delivery with my approval...just Sunday paper...we chat. Our automated municipal trash and garbage has good workers, not small town, but we sure do let them know how much their work means to us.
mama goose_gw zn6OH
Original Author
9 years ago
You smell that? I love the smell of drywall mud in the morning.

Smells like ... victory.

This post was edited by mama_goose on Fri, Jan 16, 15 at 14:20

OT - small independent trash pick-up

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desertsteph

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OT - small independent trash pick-up

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