Yep - Trash Tuesday

GOOD MORNING America!!!!
Surely is a great day.  Last nights low in the 20's.  High today around 60 plus or minus and sunny.  Trash is at the curb at 6:55 am.  Thwarted our beloved solid waste agency once again.  In the planning is my trip to that dastardly solid waste dump with a load of accumulated stuff.  To be brutally honest, they have a great dump site.  I must give these people credit for the way they handle their residents visits to the dump.  The dumping area is divided into types of waste such as refrigerators, tires, general trash, electronics, hazardous materials and so forth.  All areas are paved.  The general trash area has unloading bays you back into.  They are elevated so you don't have to hoist your stuff up and over, just toss into a submerged dumpster.  Pretty cool setup really.  Cost is $5.00 per vehicle load for most stuff.  In the olden days you had to slog through muddy rut filled dirt paths to a likely looking spot.  Open the doors and shove the crap out.  If you encountered any solid waste agency employees, you were treated as an interloper into their domain.  That attitude, I must say, has gone by the wayside.  These workers are almost courteous.

Many of you know that I don't necessary have anything good to say about the solid waste agency management with the exception of my above kudos.  Probably my biggest gripe is the cost of their services.  Over the last 20 years, the price has escalated to unbelievable levels.  Thirty bucks used to cover 2 months worth of service.  Sometimes in the summer if you were watering the lawn, it might be as high as thirty-five.  Not anymore baby.  We got our bill the other day.  It was nicely itemized; Water - Residential $34.10; Sewer - Residential $27.43; Storm Sewer- Residential $8.54; Solid Waste - Residential $23.84; Recycling - Residential $6.59.  This is a total of $104.02 thank you.  No wait, it didn't even say thank you.  No hint that they appreciate our patronage.  Hello, a suggestion - perhaps if you want to continue escalating the rates beyond reason, a little of schmoozing of your customers will go a long way.  Just saying!!!

Another big week at the Doggie Fitness Center.  Kinnick is in week 2 of his boot camp training.  I think he is getting the hang of it pretty well.  I took him on a road trip yesterday.  I hauled my current wife, Sue, around delivering a newsletter she publishes.  We stopped for gasoline also along the way.  Sure am glad I have a home equity line of credit.  My 14 gallons of petrol just about cracked $50 bucks.  As our daytime temps get into the 50's or higher, my trainers work with Kinnick outside more and more.  He absolutely loves working up a sweat outside.   He has always been good with Fetch and Return but we have enhanced this activity.  The intensity has risen quite a bit.  We have talked about the neighborhood dogs off and on.  They are really jealous.  They stand outside the fence staring with their mouths open and tails wagging.  Occasionally we will hear a jealous yelp but for the most part they just want to join in.   Maybe someday in the future we will offer a free neighborhood dog day or something.

Barney & Max are scheduled for Thursday, I believe for 3 days.  Their mother, Debby the younger elder, is accompanying a gaggle of her girlie friends to Minneapolis for a shopping frenzy.  There will probably be a pair of shoes in her bag somewhere.  She seems to have developed her Grandmother's fetish for shoes you see.  The pug boys will be worked out pretty hard too.  They have really gotten soft over the winter.   Their harnesses are getting a bit snug.  I envision a lot of treadmill time.  Barney will also utilize the solar tanning bed also.  That is his thing.  In addition to the treadmill, Max will be training for FlyBall.  He needs work on his technique.

Exhaust fan replacement is on my list today also.  I purchased the replacement several months ago.  I have been studying the installation ever since and now feel confident that I can get it installed.  Shouldn't take me more than 2 or 3 days counting my extra trips to the hardware store for goodies that I never anticipated a need for.  This does involve electricity so I may enlist Sue to do the wiring so I don't electrocute myself.  Not that she knows how to wire electrical circuits but she did work with circuit boards.  That should qualify I would think.  We have plenty of band aids, gauze, antiseptic, tape, ice packs, heat packs and Advil on hand.  Lets just keep our fingers crossed.

Unfortunately, sports fans the French Roast is gone for another day which usually means it is time to wrap this up.  One last thing - what a championship basketball game that was last night.  I turned the back yard light on so I could watch the grass grow.  I found that more exciting.  Have a great day y'all.  TA!