Relative Something

Today is trash pickup day for us. Trash day becomes a monumental occasion when you are in the process of clearing out 25-years worth of accumulation from a home.

A year ago, when Cyndie moved to Boston, I called our trash company and asked that our service be reduced to the smallest bin they offered. They seemed reluctant to drop down to that size for a house in our neighborhood, but I reported there would be only 1 person living in the home, and they gave in.

Most weeks, I was unable to fill even one bag. It was embarrassing carrying this half-filled bag out to drop in the tiny bin. It was hardly worth the walk to roll it to the end of the driveway. I bet the pickup arm of the truck didn’t even register any weight when it hoisted it.

Now we find ourselves wrestling to put 10-pounds of trash into a 5-pound bin. It is comical, the amount of stuff we have been trying to force into that teeny, tiny bucket. Last week I was having difficulty rolling it to the end of the drive, because it was so top-heavy it had become tippy. We had more crap in bags stacked above the rim, than we did underneath it.

After the effort to process everything in the garage last weekend, it became no contest on trying to use the mini-bin. We called our trash hauling service and reported our predicament. They were very accommodating, …for a fee. We received authorization to pile extra bags beside the bin today.

Yesterday we got an extra refrigerator removed from the basement and sent off to a new home. All the hazardous waste was loaded into the car for a trip to the Hennepin County drop-off facility. Somebody picked up 3 boxes of stuff I had posted as give-away on craigslist.

The progress thus far is laudable. I believe we are in reach of actually being ready by the time the moving van arrives next Tuesday. Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean we get to rest between then and now. We still have a LOT of work to do. But, it is a reasonable amount of  “lot.”