Changes big and small

There have been so many changes n my life in the past few months since we lost Maggie. Everything changed. Everything.  The biggest change is , of course, losing her. That's the one everyone is concerned with and rightfully so. It outweighs all the others 100 fold. But there are other things, dozens of them, some big and some small  and each little change is a constant reminder of the big change. .

Some of the biggest changes are noise and schedule. My house was a hotbed of activity when Maggie was here.There were nurses coming and going, oxygen deliveries, diaper and food deliveries, socal workers, teachers bus drivers and any number of other people we would see on any given day. All of that is gone now and the house is very quiet.  The change to my schedule is huge. Before I was like a tether ball. I could not go very far and had to get things down in a very tight time frame so I could get back here to help with Maggie. Now I can go whenever and wherever I want,  and for now all I want to do is stay home. Ironic, I know.

There are a million little changes too. I just came across two of them. Garbage and laundry.

Today is Friday which means today is garbage day. I just went downstairs to put the now empty garbage and recycling cans back in their place and marveled at the changes. It used to be we had so much garbage we had a double sized can that was constantly overflowing and we received nasty notes from the garbage company and/or city nearly every week. A couple of weeks ago I had to call the garbage company and request a smaller can because we have about one bag a week instead of the 20 we used to have. I just stood there looking at that little empty black can that was just as empty before they arrived as it was afterward.

Now--------------->>>>>>>

<<-------------then p="">


As I walked way from the garbage I headed into the laundry room. It's a force of habit. Maggie generated 2 to 3 loads of laundry a day so I made it a habit to throw a load in whenever I was downstairs. We needed the machine to be going constantly to keep up  Now, I have one or two loads a week, about a 90% cut. . When I entered the laundry room today, there really wasn't anything to wash.

Having less garbage and laundry isn't a bad thing, of course, It's just two examples of changes in my life that leave me scratching my head and wondering what to do with all the time that I suddenly have. 

Garbage Grinch

I think this is at least my fifth post about garbage. What can I say, it's a big part of my life.

I suspect we had a substitute garbage man working on our street this morning. I say that because I have a nice nodding relationship with the regular guy who laughs at me as I bring just one more bag down the stairs to the truck. He sees Maggie and waves and is generally a nice guy.

Whoever was assigned to our street today would definitely NOT fall into that category. I confess we have a lot of garbage. I mean A LOT. We already have the largest trash can they will give us and it is aways overflowing. Sorry, but you try fitting about 90 weekly diapers and other medical waste in addition to the regular garbage and you too will overflow. Everything is neatly in plastic garbage bags but today there were probably five bags sticking out the top of the can. That happens almost every week, though this week did seem especially bad.

I drove Maggie to school today and the garbage truck was up the street when we left. When I returned about 30 minutes later he was long gone.I could see the truck about four blocks down my street. Unfortunately, he didn't seem to appreciate our overflowing trash can as he left the five bags that were over the top of the can. He threw them on the ground in front of the now empty can. He had to go to extra effort to toss each bag onto the ground rather than just move the can to lift onto the truck. Seems he was intent on sending a Chritmas-y message. Sweet.

My neighbor was in his window and saw me reacting to this. He had a face that seemed to say Yikes!  i just said, if they think this is bad, just wait until next week hen we add Christmas stuff to it. I picked up the five bags and put them back in the can, which made it half full before the new garbage week even begins. I was wondering what to do when I noticed that the truck had not yet done the other side of the street. Perfect I took the five bags and distributed them in the cans of my neighbors across the street. Yes, that's probably against the rules, but I really don't care and neither will my neighbors. The garbage grinch might, but I'm not telling.

As I type the the truck is nearing the other side and I will get a lot of satisfaction when he picks up the trash he used to send me a message. Maybe I will see him as I leave and give him a sweet "Merry Christmas."

I'm sure his heart will grow three sizes - or five bags.

Garbage Cop

A couple of weeks back I posted about the ridiculous amount of garbage we put out every week. Our extra large cans are always overflowing with trash, recycling and compost. I hate to point fingers, but it's Maggie. She generates more garbage and laundry than the rest of us combined. She has little tiny feet and a HUGE carbon footprint. I don't know if the garbage cops saw that post or if its just coincidental, but each week since I've posted that there has been a notice on one or more of my cans flagging some sort of issue.

The first week there was a notice on the compost bin and the next two weeks there have been notices on the trash and recycle bins. Each of these notices are the same and have circled pictures that I presume are supposed to tell us that something is in the wrong bin. I guess those are for ease of reading, but I cannot for the life of me figure out what we are doing wrong. We are conscientious about separating things in the proper bins. The strange little picture communication is more of a waste of resources than whatever it is I am doing wrong. I have ignored them and placed them in the correct receptacle.

On Friday morning something roused me from sleep early. I heard something outside and wondered if someone was going through my car. I peered out the window and did see someone going through my garbage which was out on the street awaiting pickup. That happens, people go through the recycling to snag the bottles and cans that they can recycle for cash. It's distasteful and illegal, but it is also harmless.

Then I saw the flashlight, the clipboard and the bright official yellow vest.   His head was way down into the trashcan and his butt practically up in the air and he was looking around with his flashlight. I realized I was witnessing the garbage cop in action.

I think my head exploded a little bit. I don't know if that guy works for the City or for the garbage company who is paid by the city, but either way....is this a necessary use of resources?

There is no money for schools, teachers have to take unpaid days off and students miss instruction because there is no money, services for the disabled have been cut to the bone and face more cuts ir Prop 30 doesn't pass. But there is money for this guy to stick his head all the way into my garbage can at 5:45 AM and leave me non-sensical notes about a napkin in the black trash can when it should have been in the blue recycling bin. (If I understood it correctly). I don't think so.

Without being terribly graphic, let me remind you that my 18 year old daughter wears diapers and she has zero control over bowels or bladder. There are at least 60 diapers and relevant accessories in that garbage bin every week. I don't thing he was actually opening the plastic trash bags that they are placed in, but who knows. He may want to look, but I really don't care to.

I'm certain with the amount of garbage we produce there will be the occasional item in the wrong bin, especially if someone is going to inspect with a flashlight. But we are 99% compliant. And last time I checked, 99% was still an A.

This week I believe the garbage and recycling will stay inside the garage until I put Maggie on the bus. I presume the garbage cop doesn't come back when it's light because he would be out of work if people realized what is going on.

That's why I had to share.
_________________
November gratitudes, continued
Nov 3rd - old friends and getting to spend Saturday with some of the best
Nov 4th - paint that changes a little girls purple room to  young woman's beige room and her big brother and dad who did the work.

Don't forget to vote tomorrow. Californians: Please Vote yes on 30   so that people besides garbage cops can keep their jobs.
  

Waste Not, Want not.

Friday. Garbage Day. Time to haul (roll) all three giant bins out to the curb for pickup. Black for garbage, blue for recycle and green for compost. Two different trucks come, the first for compost and the second for both garbage and recycling. The compost guy comes first and if I'm still in bed when they come down the street at around 6:30 AM, I know I am late.

The city/waste company provides everyone with the bins. They are decent size, easily large enough to collect a normal family's waste for a week, especially if they are separating it like they should. We do, religiously. We have three separate receptacles in the kitchen and separate it as we go making it simple to put things in the right bins. Apparently we are NOT a normal family, because, we had to order the larger size bins - and pay a lot for them -  because we have so much waste. Even with the larger bins, we always have more waste than anyone else on the block. It's unbelievable.

This is particularly noticeable with my next door neighbors, who, like us, have four people in their house. They are very good about recycling and using green products, as are we. Perhaps, then, someone could explain why their bins look like this

You will note that they too have a larger recycle bin, but a regular sized garbage bin, while we have the larger size of BOTH and still our looks like THIS.

I get the black one and I blame a certain young woman who resides in this house. Maggie produces at least 3/4 of the garbage in this family and it is going straight into landfill. There are probably 50 diapers every week as well as all the other medical waste.

I cannot understand the difference in recycling, though. There is probably more of that because of Maggie too, though I admit we are one of the last houses in America to still get a newspaper.

Wine bottles don't take up much room at all.

Garbage in, Garbage out

Maggie had a young nurse fill in the other night. She is a recent graduate from nursing school, in fact she was in Eddie’s class in grammar school and high school!  She did a great job and did all Maggie’s skilled care with enthusiasm. She had been here a couple of times before training under Fely, but she did this shift on her own. I was home if she needed any help, but she handled things perfectly.

She mentioned how much we recycle and reuse things here, which of course is very different from the hospital. When there is only one patient, you don’t have to worry about spreading germs. Cleaning things well generally takes care of things. It was actually good to hear that she thinks we are efficient with our supplies because I feel like all we do is contribute to the overflowing landfill.  

Maggie generates and incredible amount of garbage. There are at least two large plastic trash bags a day along with a bag or two of recycled food cans  and paper/cardboard from Maggie’s room every day. The rest of the house generates maybe half as much as Maggie does on her own.

The garbage presents something of a problem. The garbage cans are downstairs beneath the deck that comes off of Maggie’s room. Unless one is going to head down the stairs and put the plastic bag directly in the can, I don’t want the garbage outside at night. The raccoons will rip it apart looking for food. That leaves garbage, including diapers, strewn all over the place. Not pleasant.

Generally, I deal with the garbage in the morning. I throw the bag over the deck, put Maggie in the elevator, ride down and then put the bag into the can when I get downstairs. This picture will describe it better than I can. There are the (overflowing) cans along the fence line just at the edge of the deck. You can see the elevator shaft behind the garbage cans.

It’s efficient. Drop the bag, hear the thud, open the elevator door, get in, go down, pick up the bag, toss it in the can and proceed out to the bus.  

I did that this morning before we went shopping. But something wasn’t right. I paused and cocked my head to figure out what was wrong. Then I realized, there was no “thud.” I peered over and saw this.

The garbage was hung up on the cyclone fence. I’m just glad it didn’t land in the neighbor’s yard. That might be difficult to explain at 7AM.