It's large garbage week a/k/a "trash amnesty week" which basically amounts to you can put just about anything on your front yard and the city will come around and take it away. There are limits--no matter how many times the city says "NO WATER HEATERS" you invariably see water heaters sitting out on the curb in hopes of being picked up despite all evidence to the contrary. But the funny thing isn't really what kinds of crap people will put out on the curb for the garbage collectors to pick up, but it's what gets taken by various people in the meantime.
We wanted to go out and kiss the people that were taking our old bathtub for use as a watering trough on their farm. We were worried that the city wouldn't take it, in which case we wouldn't know what in the hell we were going to do with it. But now that question has been answered--a horse or cow or some other animal will be drinking out of it. Truthfully, it's nice to know that it won't be sitting in the landfill until it rusts away into nothing. In addition, someone came along and took our old bathroom sink, an old pressed-wood bookcase that had fallen to pieces, three broken box fans, the old living room chandelier that we had up before we put up the ceiling fan. There's still the old bathroom mirror sitting out there as well as some chicken wire we figured some farmer would love to take. Oh well, I know that the city will take everything that's left. I hope. :)
In a way, it's sad that we're throwing so much stuff out. It doesn't make me feel like a very good steward of the earth, but what can you do. And then I feel doubly guilty because all this stuff that gets thrown out is being taken by people who must really have nothing because they're going through people's garbage for Pete's sake! Heidi said it's the equivalent of a "redneck garage sale" which I suppose there's some truth to, but that's still not a really nice thing to say.
That's the thing about our town though. I like small town life enough, but I don't really feel like I fit in very well here. It's not really a blue collar town (although there is an element of that because we do have a couple factories that are somewhat large employers) but it's almost like sometimes I just don't feel like I click with anyone here in town. Sure there are other educated people, but then there's our tendency to be hermits and not really get out very much. I wish I were more outgoing, but right now I really don't have the energy to be forging new relationships and friendships. Heidi and I sometimes think we'd fit in better in Grinnell, mostly because it's more liberal and we'd feel less like radicals and more like middle of the road people.
Yesterday when I was walking to church I thought about Rick H. who I haven't thought of in forever. I'm not sure what brought him up in my brain, but I thought "Y'know, I should e-mail him and see how he's doing!" His twins are probably 3 or so now and he and his wife have been married for almost 10 years. The last time I talked to him was--shit, I can't even remember when the last time I talked to him was. It must have been when Heidi was pregnant. I know the last time I saw him was at our wedding. It's kind of sad to me how that relationship has fallen apart. And it's not like anything bad happened, we just drifted apart and man, that kind of makes me sad. And just as soon as the thought about e-mailing him entered my brain, I thought "Geez, what would I even have to say? Not much. I wouldn't even know where to start." So I forgot about it.
So I'm sitting here listening to Dave Matthews, despite the fact that I mentioned in here not all that long ago that I really don't like Dave Matthews. But this kind of music is really speaking to me these days. I'm not sure why. It's just cycles, that's all. I'm sure I'll cycle out of this musical phase soon enough.
The good news is that Wendy and I are going to go see The Texas Chainsaw Massacre next weekend! I'll have to write a review or something. I'm looking to exercise my writing muscles (which is part of the reason I'm writing in here) and it gives me an excuse to not think about my job.
No comments:
Post a Comment