Thoughts on Gardens

A few gatherings from the garden

Got some Tomatoes, Cucumbers, and a Squash along with some Sage & Rosemary.

Since moving back to the Old Place, The Fuzz has been trying to work the garden a bit.

At one time it was rather large as one might expect with a large family and low income.  But all that is not needed for an old guy by himself.

Along with downsizing, The Fuzz installed 3 raised beds which make it a bit easier to work with.

But this got Our Fuzz to thinkin' about things.

There was a time when a lot of folks worked a backyard garden- even in town.  Seems like you don't see that much these days.

When The Fuzz went to work for the city back in the "day"as they say, summer was the "heavy time" for garbage.*  This was because in this mill town most- or at least many people still worked those backyard gardens.  And that meant it was canning season.  And that meant lots of heavy sloppy remains in that bright Summer NC sunshine.

But now, with apartments and Farmer's Markets and such, this is no longer the case.

And while The Fuzz does not miss the heavy lifting, he does lament the fact that a lot of people have lost touch with the earth and her seasons.

But enough said for now.  The Fuzz says he doesn't want to go off on a rant today…

So enjoy your fresh veggies no matter where they came from.

*For those unfamiliar with The Fuzz, he collected garbage for over 33 years.

What's New

Here it is, a brand new Garbage Truck!
Regular readers of this blog are no doubt familiar with The Fuzz's chosen profession*. They may also realize that this complicated equipment does not last forever. So here is a look at the newest addition to the fleet.
The Fuzz got to try this puppy out the other day. Other than a slight complication at the dump, things worked out fine.


*Here's a closer look at the process, 1, 2.

Here's a bit of Fuzzy Thinking for ya.
(The Fuzz does prefer not to contaminate this blog with this sort of stuff.)

Blue Is Green & So On...

In regard to our "Recycle (Blue)" post, Woodie had this to say-

"...The carts allow for more privacy, IE less people commenting on how many liquor, wine and beer bottles are in your bin, which DOES happen, sometimes. :-)"

Actually, this can be an issue.
Back in The Days, The Fuzz used to "Pull Garbage" in little orange carts from behind the houses.
There was one fellow who used to carefully wrap his trash up in paper bags. The Fuzz and his coworkers, in an attempt to maximize the space in their buggies, would sometimes rip open bags like his to better pack the garbage in. This fellow would get pretty upset when all his liqueur bottles were suddenly exposed. Back then this was a dry county!
Of course now days, this isn't much of an issue with all this automated stuff.
When The Fuzz was asked how he got into this line of work, he finally admitted that it wasn't really the money, but the prestige that attracted him.

Recycle (Blue)

Recycling is the thing these days. And that is a good thing.
Here's a sneak preview of our Brand New Recycling Roll out Carts.
Starting next year (soon) these Blue Carts will be picked up every other week.
This is modern "Single Stream" recycling.
This "Recycling" stuff is not really new. Garbagemen have been "Recycling" forever. In fact, back in the days, 'bout all the good stuff got "Recycled".
Unfortunately, with our modern mechanized way of doing things, Our Fuzz, and others like him, no longer have access to all that good stuff. The Fuzz believes that in many ways, Old School was better.
But, as they say, "That was then, this is now".
So go Blue. It's the Green thing to do.

Old & New

Here's a look a the old landfill. As you can see, it's quite a hill now. Note the tiny trucks* up there. That hill was once a pretty deep hole.
It does have it's good points, there's a pretty good view from the top.And here's a look at the new one. The Fuzz has added a few notes here. At A is another look at the old one, as seen from the new. That structure at B actually has nothing to do with either landfill. It is a chicken feed place over by the railroad. And at C you can see some of the liner.
The Fuzz got these pix the other day, before all the rain started. But it looks like we might see the sun a little in a couple days.
We are pretty much moved into our new place now. It's starting to seem like home. It seems just a little strange to be at the old house now.
Wow, a new landfill and a new home. Odd that it's happening at the same time, but I don't think it means anything in particular.

*As usual, click on the pix for a closer look!

Coming Up In The World

Here is our new "hill".

This is at the "Landfill". And it has been pretty well "Filled". What we are looking at used to be a rather large hole in the ground. As you can see, it is nothing like a hole now.
We thought we'd check up on the Garbage Business, and got The Fuzz to sneak his camera into the landfill. (These things used to be called dumps and were good places to find stuff and shoot rats.)
This is a view from up on top. At one time this spot was actually lower than that pond down there. The Fuzz made this picture from a truck while making a deposit. You can get some idea of the scale from the utility pole down there. Anyway, that's a lot of trash.
Some years ago, they built a Dog Pound on top of one of the older "Landfills". It didn't work out. After a while, one end of the building started to sink into the earth. Eventually, they had to tear it down and build a new one in a different place.
This is a look in another direction. You can see the trestle over there, in fact you could say "Down there". That pile of stuff in front is a bunch of well composted wood chips. They use these to dry out the mud so the trucks can get in (and get out) in wet weather. In dry weather it makes a nasty dust that clogs the truck radiators and makes them run hot. Sometimes, like today, they must be cleaned out twice a day.
The Fuzz wonders just how high this will be before it's over. Already there's a pretty good view from the top. Maybe someday it will be a tourist attraction, and a great boon to the pitiful local economy.

A Pre-Dawn Departure

Here's a shot of the Sunrise, looking across the road from the front yard.

Even if the sky had been clear this morning, The Fuzz would have missed this view, since he was on the road way before dawn. He hit the road early to bring home that Scholarly Son for the Holidays. We are happy to report that he (Scholarly Son) is doing well out there in that Big City.
The Fuzz's Sweetie recommended an early start for the avoidance of nasty traffic. As usual, her advice was excellent, and except for a bit passing though the Other Big City, he had the roads pretty much to himself. I'm not saying he broke any laws, but he did seem to be just a bit ahead of schedule.
Tomorrow, it is back to work. This week is "the lull before the storm" as it were. Next week we only work 3 days, but of course all the work still must be done. Then after that, another "short" week, with super garbage. The Fuzz has been doing this stuff for going on 30 years now. He used to let it get to him, thinking of all that extra Christmas Trash. But eventually he realized the best thing was just to forget about it all, and enjoy life and all these Good Holidays. As the Good Book says, "Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof".

The End for My Flipflops

It looks like this is the end of the road for my Flipflops. There's been many a mile pass beneath these things. It's not that they were "Down at the heal" exactly, more like there Was no Heal.

All through this winter The Fuzz has had an eye out for a new pair, but it would seem there's no market for Flipflops around here in the middle of winter.

But Today, he scored big at Wally World. So these will get a much needed rest. I doubt that they will be preserved for posterity though. Their Historic significance will go unnoticed and they will most likely end up in the landfill, just another insignificant bit of plastic for future archaeologists to puzzle over.

Watermelon

During these hot days of summer, we often have a watermelon in the afternoon, after work. Sometimes they're good ones, sometimes not as good. But regardless of how we rate the particular melon, there is always something leftover.
Watermelon is best eaten outside, so we usually have help with the remains. Flies and yellow jackets we expect, but the Butterflies are a treat.
Eventually, what's left will make it to the garden, but for now we can enjoy the butterflies. Even garbage has it's good side.

Joyless Stick

This is supposed to be the "Joy Stick". Long ago, [Thursday, February 22, 2007, (Really Getting Into This)] there were a series of posts, on garbage and related things. So I won't get into all that here, but....
This is a "Joy Stick". Why they call it that, I can't say. Because I don't know. However it is necessary for the successful completion of this important operation. If it doesn't work, you are SOL, as they say.
After a recent absence, I resumed my place as an important cog in the mighty workings of modern civilization. As I prepared to engage the first of many trash receptacles, I noticed that this important control was loose in my grip. My first thought was "Rats", or some equivalent. I soon determined that a slight twist, would retighten it. This was good, since it eliminated a return to the shop to annoy the mechanics. After a successful day, and another job well done, I did annoy the mechanics, and one did correct this problem. But....
The next day, as I went out on my appointed rounds, I found that the red button, (visible in the illustration) had no effect. This red button is supposed to make the machine pack up, or rather, "compact" the refuse. This is necessary because if it doesn't happen you won't get very far. Fortunately there is another control for this function, and since the yellow and green buttons did work, the job could still be done. So after another successful day, I once again annoyed the mechanics. But...
This morning I was informed that in the effort to repair this seemingly small problem, this component had been destroyed, and thus rendered useless. But we are prepared for these situations. So the old reliable was once again pulled out of retirement, and with real people swinging on the back, we sallied forth on our mission. New parts were ordered (mucho dinero), things looked hopeful. But....
I hate to say it, but the parts shipped, were not the parts needed, so tomorrow will be more of the same.

Final Destination

Let's just say, we've been furiously grabbing garbage for several hours now. The packer has been packing and packing, but can only do so much. If we don't do something we will have garbage blowing out of the top of the truck all over town. It's time to take a ride in the country. We run the packer blade all the way back, and if we haven't gone too far with things, it should seal everything safe in the truck. This is important because the police frown on littering.
When we get there, we will have to run over the scale. For some reason they must keep a careful account of just how much stuff comes out here. A big reason is money. The County charges by the pound for garbage. But we have to pay them. This seems somehow wrong. I mean, this is our garbage, and we are delivering it to them. They don't even have to go get it themselves. But be that as it may, we will have to sign a ticket, and they will bill the city. Threatening to just keep our garbage won't help.
Now we'll travel down a dusty road, cross a creek, and eventually wind up on top of a hill that used to be a big hole. After they dug the huge hole, great sheets of some kind of rubber looking stuff were spread out on the ground, then garbage, and more garbage. There is a system that collects the water that ends up in here, and pumps it out. That's not my problem and I'm not sure what they do with it. It's probably really exiting, but, like I said, that's not my problem.
This is where the birds are. It's cool to see the buzzards hanging out in the dead trees. There weren't any around when I had the camera, so you'll just have to take my word for that. We will dump our garbage out on the ground along with everyone else's, and unless it looks like there is something good in there, they will run over it and crush even more with these big crusher things. This is one parked. It's probably tore up. All this kind of stuff seems to tear up a lot. We keep our mechanics busy too.
Finally they will cover all the garbage with dirt. And that will be that. Out of sight, out of mind.

I'm not sure why I wrote all this stuff about garbage, and I only scratched the surface. I do have a life other than this, but someone once said to write about what you know, so I maybe I got this out of the way now.

On The Route

Hello again. Now we are out on the "route". We've left the "Shed" and made it though town without incident. (Just as a side note, our modern facility is sometimes referred to as the "Shed" by the few old hands who remember when it really was a shed. Back then we worked out of an old tin building with little heat and rats in the walls. But all that is in the past, now we've got running water and everything.)
This is what we see as we make our way along the street. The cans are actually pretty easy to get when they are like this. You just pull up along side and grab 'em. The problems start when they are next to a tree, or maybe a mailbox for example. The arm on this truck is capable of doing major damage. Once I made toothpicks out of a 4x4 post. I'm not proud of this, but, like they say "stuff happens". Even one of those killer brick mailboxes is no match for a garbage truck on a rampage. People seem to think that if they can squeeze the can between a tree and a mailbox, everything is cool. But of course it's not. Sometimes people park their car in front of their garbage can. This is a stupid thing to do. When they find it still full of garbage, they call our office on the telephone and say we "missed" their garbage. But with our modern technology we have a Radio in the truck, and we keep a list of what, and why, and where.
This is what you see when you grab a can. You have to work with the mirror, but this is no problem, you get used to it pretty quickly. You can see the powerful jaws in action. As soon as you have a grip on it, you jerk it up off the ground, and dump into the hopper. On a good day most of it goes in. This would be a good place to bitch about those Styrofoam "peanuts", but I don't think I want to go there.

Next time we'll visit the Landfill.

Really Getting Into This

As you probably realize, we finally made it into the truck. This is not one of those flip-flopy things, we really are on the right side. Of course in this case, the right side, is the right side. Since all our cans will be on the right side, we need to be on the right side also. This takes some getting used to, unless maybe you have some experience with the postal service. When I first started doing this, I rode home on my bike, so I didn't really "re-normalize" and scared the doodoo out of my sweetie when we got into a normal vehicle.
The thing with the three buttons that grabs your attention is what works the arm. I guess it's a little like a video game. I don't play video games. Pull back, it goes up, push is down, side to side, is in and out. Sounds simple but can get hairy in a hurry. If you have to grab a can that is close to anything, there is a good chance you'll accidentally destroy it. It happens. Your yellow button grabs, green lets go. The red cycles the packer. On the far left, there is a thing that resembles a tiny computer monitor, this can be set to pack automatically. This is not a good idea, since it will happen when you don't want it to. Just remember to use the red button as needed and you won't have garbage falling out all over the place. You can see when you need to do this in this TV-looking thing. Mostly you use this to see if the garbage is falling out of the can so you don't put it down too quick, and throw garbage everywhere. You can also see behind the truck when you have to back up. And you will have to back up more than you want to.
The other knobs and switches are normal truck stuff, Heater, Fan, and even Air Conditioning ! Wow ! Nice in the summer. And most importantly is some stuff to lock all the differentials and axles and stuff. This is so you can get really good and stuck before they have to pull you out of the mud with the bulldozer at the landfill.

More really great stuff in the future !

Modern Times

Here is our fleet of modern, state of the art, Garbagetrucks. On the right is one of the older rearloaders that is actually still in use. With these new wonders, the "operator" (not referred to as "driver") pulls along side a can, grabs it, and dumps it into the top of the truck. Then, does it again, and again, and so forth.
This is a shot of these trucks warming up, at dawn, anticipating an exciting and productive day.
Until recently, this function was performed by a crew of 4 men, a driver, and three "pullers". Back then, the residents of this fair city had the luxury of backyard pickups. This meant that they had the option of hiding their trash in difficult locations anywhere on their properties and it would miraculously disappear once a week. This was known as "Pulling Garbage" or "Pulling a Buggy". That was how I broke into the business myself. The first change was the "rollout" step. Now all cans must be rolled to the curb (if there s a curb). The city now provides these "rollout" cans to the residents but they have to pull them to the street themselves. This was not well received in all quarters, but it is now a fact of life. Now there was a 3 man crew, a driver and 2 hands on the back. Lest one thinks this is a cruel and heartless business, there is a provision for "handicapped" pick up where a crew does the back yard thing for folks who can convince the city that they are incapacitated somehow. This is much abused of course. One of the old rearloaders is used for this and to work in the business district.
The last step, which was the plan from the beginning, was the new trucks, a one man operation.

In the future, (if there is one) we'll get into the truck.

Garbagical Historical

Back then, before my own involvement incineration was the going thing. This was a state of the art facility in that bygone era. I can only guess that in those more innocent times, hazardous, choking, fumes were not a major concern. As one can see, this facility is no longer in use.
There are places these days where, I hear, they burn the trash to make electricity. This was not that sort of place. This must have been a fairly common arrangement back then. I remember going with my father to a similar facility in another town. They would push the garbage down through a hole in the floor. It made me think of Hell. But that was years ago.
Here is a closer look at what's left of the guts of this thing. I suppose in it's day, this spot contained it's own bit of Hell. Not today however, it was a cold day when I visited.
There are all those ruins in Greece, and Rome that people go to see. We have our own here, although they don't seem to
have as much class. But they are a lot closer. I sometimes wonder what future generations might think about our debris. Of course, this place might be a cinder by then anyway.

Next time we'll look at equipment.

Aftermath & Pineapple

Now comes the payback. This is it. For those of us in the garbage business, lots of job security, at least for a couple of weeks. I used to think about it all Christmas, what it would be like when we went back to work. But then I realized all this did was take a lot of the fun out of the holidays. So, now I just forget about it all till it's time has come. It's more fun this way. I can even convince myself that it's someone else's problem. Well, one more day and it's the end of the first round.
I wanted to talk about pineapples. I even had a picture of one we had. But I seem to have deleted the picture some how, and we ate the model. It was tasty though. We have a recording of the Beach Boys singing "Christmas in Hawaii". That was supposed to be part of it all, the Christmas connection. But there is no picture now, and no pineapple. I don't think a can of crushed pineapple would be the same. If you want to call some kind of food "Hawaiian", you just add pineapple. Sometimes we eat "Hawaiian Hotdogs". They are made with wieners, peanut butter and, of course, pineapple. I'm not sure how the peanut butter works in, but they're not bad, really.
Sorry about the picture though.