You know, that's just like Hick. Not the being sweet part, doing my handed-down job for me. The short cut part. Though I'm pretty sure taking a few extra steps up the curved driveway would be less work than pulling a loaded dumpster across a bumpy yard/field. Also, I'm pretty sure Hick took the dumpster himself to speed up the arrival of his supper.
The next week, I went out as normal to tote that dumpster to the end of the driveway. Hick was gone somewhere, but I wasn't expecting him to do it for me again. Lightning doesn't strike twice in Val Thevictorian's yard/field.
The dogs get all excited on dumpster day, yipping and jumping and biting the bejeebers out of each other's lip flaps. They didn't do that when Hick took the dumpster, because there wasn't that satisfying rumble and crunch of the dumpster wheels on the gravel. There must be some special audio frequency that gets them all hyped up, because I only see them act that way when Hick drives the Gator or I pull the dumpster.
Anyhoo...I tipped it over and grabbed the side of the handle with one hand. That's how I pull the dumpster. The Pony preferred the chariot/rickshaw method, where he reached back with two hands to pull it along behind his heels. Not me. I'm no contortionist.
DANG!
The dumpster was SO HEAVY! I know that one week we filled it to the top, where the lid would hardly flap shut, because we had the remains (minus my short fork) from Hick's Retirementpartypalooza. And even THAT week, the dumpster was not this heavy. Huh. Maybe I was weaker now. A couple weeks older, losing strength exponentially as I age. Maybe I was just tired. Maybe Hick mowed the gravel in the driveway again.
I swear, it felt like I was dragging that dumpster sideways! Like the wheels weren't even turning. I looked back, but they were. SO HEAVY! Like there was a body inside. I did not inspect the contents. Don't think I'm being overly dramatic. There WAS that headless body found in a septic tank not even a half mile up the gravel road.
This was like trying to move a football blocking sled, only by pulling it instead of pushing it. By the time I got to the end of the driveway, my hand was stiffened in a claw shape.
That's the final dumpster destination. I took this picture the next morning, on the way to town. I pulled off in the yard/field to take it out T-Hoe's window. You can see a sliver of his mirror there at the bottom. This is about 3/4 of the way up the driveway. I figured it's not a very good view of the dumpster, so I drove up closer and took another picture.
Apparently my behavior was suspicious. Jack and Juno and Copper Jack all came frolicking out the driveway to look up at me through the window. The neighbor's horse came around the cedar trees, and a SQUIRREL dashed across the feet of that horse. You can see it there, that dark streak. No wonder that horse doesn't get excited when bad, bad Jack goes under the fence and yips at it.
Anyhoo...the reason I took these dumpster pictures is because of a little information Hick revealed that morning.
"That dumpster was SO hard to pull! I don't know if something's wrong with the axle, or what. I thought I'd never get to the end of the driveway. My hand just now straightened out. Did you put rocks or something in there? Or junk from the BARn?"
"No. I didn't put nothin' in it this week."
"Well, if it's this hard next time, you're going to have to oil the wheels."
"Them wheels don't need oiled. It's a new dumpster."
Huh. I was not informed! But our old one DID have a cracked lid that pinched in the handle area. When Hick called his people and complained about it, they put on a new lid! Then a couple weeks later, I noticed when I brought it back down the driveway that there was a crack in the front of the main dumpster part. I don't know what those guys do to it. They don't hook it to a winch. They just lift the lid and reach down in and grab the bags.
No wonder it's so much heavier. The plastic is stronger. The wheels aren't broken in. I'll get used to my new load soon enough, I guess. I hope this one lasts 20 years like the last one.
I don't think dumpster wheels need breaking in. Maybe Hick is chucking concrete blocks.
ReplyDeleteHe DID have a stack of those big landscaping paver thingies for setting the corners of his new freight container garage...
DeleteA brand new dumpster and you didn't notice?? Oh, of course, it isn't penny coloured :)
ReplyDeleteThose dumpsters are what we call wheelie bins and our truck comes along with an arm extension thingy that lifts each wheelie bin and tips it out into the garbage truck, the dumps it back on the path, and with that kind of treatment they last a surprisingly long time. We each have our own smallish bin for each flat and the recycle bins are one per four flats, so they get really full and quite heavy, I know because I've taken over wheeling it out each fortnight. Pat used to do it, but she's in the nursing home still.
For us, a dumpster is the giant rectangular metal bin behind the supermarkets.
Well...the dumpster was still GREEN, so I didn't notice anything new about it. If there'd been a penny laying on the lid, I might have investigated more thoroughly.
DeleteI've seen trucks lifting the dumpsters (bins) and pouring the stuff into the truck. Maybe that's a different trash company. Because once upon a time, when I was up early enough to see our trash men in action before 7:00 a.m., one guy just reached in and grabbed the bags and tossed them. That's why I tell Hick to stop throwing loose stuff inside, like the stinky meat trays after grilling.
We've always called ours a dumpster, even though that's what we call the giant metal ones as well.
Stinky meat trays? I wash mine and anything else that might go stinky in the bin. I like my bin stink free. Food scraps that might go stinky have a special container in my freezer and don't go in the bin until the morning the truck comes. Usually it's just the fat that I trim off my steaks.
DeleteI usually stuff the meat tray down in the trash bag, and tie it up tight, and take it out to the dumpster than night. Other stinky smaller items, like a tuna can or sardine tin, are put in a ziplock bag first.
DeleteOur dumpster has a bent lid that makes it hard to deposit trash, but our city won't give us a new one.
ReplyDeleteWhen I read about the headless body found in the septic tank half a mile down the gravel road, I wanted more details.
I think I wrote about the headless body a couple years ago, when it was found. I actually watched a procession of black SUVs go up the road that morning, thinking maybe someone important was on a tour. It was the county coroner and the FBI, I think.
DeleteOf course the whole situation involved a multi-state drug ring, and a motorcycle gang in this case. A tattoo artist had got himself on the wrong side of that group, and they dispatched him at another location using a baseball bat, then brought the body out here to the septic tank of a house for sale. I've actually been IN that house, back when it was occupied by "normal" people!
I think somebody snitched to avoid prosecution, and led officials to the (headless) body.
FBI, headless bodies, drug rings and tattoos ..... sounds like a book.
ReplyDeleteNot one I'M going to write! And no need to read it, because I lived close enough to it.
Delete