MM, that is a moment of beauty. LOVE IT.

Well done, baby. Well done.

In your shoes, I would have at some point not been able to resist the urge to answer, "With all due respect, sir, it is full. It is half full of water, and half full of air." And depending on how recently I'd watched a rerun of M*A*S*H, also said, "Just like your head." Which goes back to what you were saying about ending up in court.

Court would usually bring to jail, so I didn't even asked them if they would have drink from it in my shoes.

I would've said it was full when I arrived, but I got thirsty. Let 'em prove I didn't drink from the old thing. At least, that's what I would've said if I could have avoided saying the thing that would've landed me in jail. Which... yeah, jail.

The recycling sitch is ridiculous. I can't believe the fucker would actually leave a note that basically says "I decided not to pick this up even though I could have because I hate my job, fuck you". If that were the rules around here, I'd just be hauling my own garbage, because I almost always forget it. They pick up every Tuesday, and their schedule has changed so they don't get to my house until about 10am. By that time I've remembered it's Tuesday. I have been hauling the bin down as they arrived, and they wave and take it. Best thing ever, though, is single-stream disposal. We can put recyclables into the regular garbage and it's sorted out at the other end. They didn't even make us give back the recycle bin, which is now a kitty shelter on my porch.

Dear Friend, I love you, I really do. And I like spending time with you. But when you invite me over to watch movies or something and refuse to commit to a movie or TV or whatever, it makes me suspicious. I suspect that it's because you don't want to commit because your husband is involved, and if I show up expecting to watch X and there is some disagreement, one or the other of us will be pissed. Me because I crossed the bridge in 20 degree weather and him because he wants to watch what he wants to watch in his own home.

so, either commit to a movie or talk to your husband. The idea of "show up and we'll figure out something to watch" does not appeal to me.

We're supposed to have our trash bin out by 6am. But he doesn't show up until 1:00pm. And we get crazy 50 mph winds out here, plus all manner of interesting wildlife. So I refuse to put it out that early, because it will get blown over and eaten by bears or something.

However, my trash man does not care, and I can drag it out there while he's driving around the cul-de-sac and he picks it up and waves at me while I wait for him so I can drag it away.

It is still much easier than on the reservation where we had to haul everything to the transfer station.

When I lived in Arizona, I lived around the corner from the family-owned trash-hauling company that I chose to pick up my trash. Unfortunately that meant I was always first on their route, and they started in the pre-dawn twilight in hopes of getting done before the worst of the heat. Luckily my trash can had handles that would latch over the lid, so it was safe enough to leave out overnight. Also, they were observant enough that at least sometimes if I didn't put the trash out, they would give me a partial credit on my bill. Nice people.

Yeah, we can leave our recycling by the curb overnight, too. Good thing, or I'd never get it picked up.

Apartment trash! Apartment recycling! All I have to worry about is competing for space. I just need to remember to take my recycling out on the weekend, since it gets full up towards the middle of the week.

Hee. Don't get me started on recycling. We used to have a reasonable recycling bin, but since the city went broke it's gone. So I can recycle magazines and aluminum cans here in town. I can do cardboard if I don't mind that it's downcycling (going to the digester with the town's sewage (not even my sewage; I have a septic tank) to end up as compost). Oh, and I can take packing materials to the UPS store.

But I have to take #1 & #2 plastics and tin cans to Winslow, just under two hours away. And #3 and up plastics, clear or colored glass, I go to Sedona. So the amount of fossil fuel I spend on achieving recycling is kind of ridiculous.

However, all that means I have about two kitchen sized bags of trash a week. I wish I got a discount for lack of use if I don't have a container out, but since the trash guy has to drive a goodish distance just for me, that's not happening. Once I get the composter and start doing that, the trash will be really minimal. There will be the meat scraps and styrofoam food containers (which can actually go into the digester, although they say it can't) and plastic wrap and not a heck of a lot else.