Thursday, October 22, 2009

It Was A Beautiful Warm & Sunny Afternoon For October

......and having a load of trash piling up, I decided it was time for another trip to the county recycling center. Either I'm shopping too much, or pixies are coming into my house when I'm asleep, and leaving empty cardboard boxes. Anyway, I loaded up the pickup with broken down cardboard boxes, and bagged trash, and headed out of the subdivision. Our mailboxes are the big black rural type, you can stuff fairly large packages into. You know, those big black mailboxes with the rounded tops, and a red flag on the side, to raise and let the mail carrier know there is outgoing mail to be picked up. They are all mounted on a rail at the subdivision's entrance, so on the way out, I stopped to see what might be inside of mine. I opened the door..........hmmm.......not much today.......an Appleseed's catalog, an appeal from an insurance company to drop the company I'm with, and give my money to them instead, and a curious little yellow envelope. I don't know if you remember or not, but a few blogs back, I mentioned that a wonderful woman who also blogs here, was doing something very sweet for me, and that in a week or so, I might just show you. Well, turns out that the little yellow envelope, was from her, and it contained a pretty little bracelet she made for me! You can see it on my wrist, in the picture below.
The fall colors are reaching their peak around here, so I took my camera with me and took a bunch of pictures of the countryside, on the way to the recycling center. Unfortunately, when I got home, I got a low battery indication, so I plugged the camera into the charger, but when the charge was over, the memory had been wiped out, and all of those pictures were lost. Drat!

Normally when I go to the recycling center between 4 and 5 PM on a weekday, hardly anyone is there, and the attendants are either in their shed, or sitting out in front of it, having a smoke. Today there was more activity. When I pulled up to the recycling dumpsters, there was another woman there, unloading her pickup (seems like almost everyone drives pickups out here in the county). She looked at me for a second as I pulled up behind her, but showed no alarm at all, and just as quickly went back about her business. There were two pickup trucks backed up to the bagged trash dumpster, and one of the attendants was heading up there from the his shed. As I got out and began to unload my cardboard, the other attendant started walking up to the bagged trash dumpster as well. It took several trips back and forth from my truck to the recycling dumpsters, to unload my cardboard and newspapers, and by then the two pickups had departed the ramp at the bagged trash dumpster, but the two attendants remained there. One inspecting the contents of the dumpster, then engaging the hydraulic compacting ram, and the other one sweeping the ramp above the dumpster.

I was dressed exactly as you see me in the picture above, with the addition of a pair of denim capris and a pair of black patent loafers. Because one of the attendants was still sweeping the ramp, I couldn't back my truck up to the dock, so I parallel parked at the bottom of the ramp, and got out. I had four bags of trash to deposit in the dumpster, so it required two trips up and down the ramp, passed the two men. I was no more than six feet away from the guy sweeping and no more than ten feet from the guy inspecting the contents of the dumpster. They paid absolutely no attention to me whatsover! I didn't know whether to feel relieved, or insulted, but as I turned to go back to my truck, a black pickup with two rednecks in it, pulled up behind my truck. The passenger had his window rolled down, and he definitely gawked at me. I don't think he necessarily made me as a male. I think he was just surprised to see a six foot two inch, 200+ lb woman walking towards him. We made eye contact for a brief second or two, then I just did what any respectable woman would do in that situation. I totally ignored him, and walked back to my truck. The more I do this, the less I care what people think.

Melissa XX

8 comments:

Naukishtae said...

Melissa, next time take out the memory card before you recharge.. I think that will help.. although I could be wrong.. I agree.. ignore them and move on.. take care. Naukistae OXOXO

the CFG said...

sorry you lost the photos :-(
nice bracelet!! xx

Melissa said...

@ Naukishtae & NickyB

Good news! Turns out I didn't lose the pictures after all. I dropped the camera yesterday, and apparently the memory card popped lose from its socket. I pushed it back in, and there they were! I'll post some of them later on.

Thanks, Nicky!

Melissa XX

Jenny.J said...

Good for you for getting out, even if only to the dump! lol
Every step builds confidence.
The bracelet is lovely and I'm so pleased that you havn't lost the piccies.
I look forward to seeing them.

Hugs Jen x

Anonymous said...

I am with you there. I have been out and about while away this week and also realise people just dont care unless you give them a reason to.
Well done.
x

Anonymous said...

PS Its great to recycle isnt it!

Melissa said...

@ Lisa

Re: PS Its great to recycle isnt it!

YES Lisa! IT IS! I was so happy to learn when I moved out to this county, that the county dump had recycling dumpsters. All glass, plastic, paper, cardboard, oils, fuels, chemicals, air conditioners and refrigerators, are recycled, so is metal. Bagged garbage is destined for the landfill. There is also another large dumpster for bulk waste, like old mattresses, construction debris, etc. I assume that goes to the landfill too, but I don't know for sure. I don't know why it took so long for recycling to become mainstream. I remember talk of recycling trash and other environmental concerns, when I was in high school, all the way back in the 60's. Why did it take almost 30 years, for municipalities to catch on?

Melissa said...

@ Jenny.J

Thanks, Jenny! I live a pretty isolated life out here in the boondocks, so any excuse to go out as the real me is appreciated!

I was so happy to discover you were following my blog! When I saw your picture on your blog, I was so impressed! I had to do a double take! I couldn't believe that you were actually TS, you look so naturally female!

Melissa XX