A Brief Respite From The Heat Before Descending Back Into Hell

After a month of 90+° weather, the gods took mercy on us, and granted us a few pleasant days, with highs in the low to mid 80's. It had been stifling hot for so long, that the grass cutting had to be neglected, for fear of succumbing to heat stroke, so when the cooler temperatures rolled in on Wednesday, I pulled the lawn mower out of the shed, and cut the shin high grass along the road out front. I was a bit worried about doing it with my broken toe, but I have been following Bree's advice of taping it to it's buddy, and keeping a close eye on it. I don't have a level piece of ground on my property, so it was getting a lot of lateral force exerted against it, which made it a bit uncomfortable during the 45 minutes of mowing, but not debilitating. It's still a bit tender to the touch, but most of the bruising seems to be clearing up, and the circulation appears to be excellent. I think it's going to be just fine, but it will probably take a few weeks before it feels completely normal.

After mowing yesterday, I had a load of trash that needed to go to the dump, so I loaded it into the back of the pickup, and down the road I went. The western county dump is about six miles away, and because of the lower temperature and humidity, the usual summer haze was absent, so the brilliant greens of the fields and forests, stood out vividly against the azure sky, making the ride a truly pleasant one. Pleasant that is.......until I got to the dump, and noticed that the gates were shut. A sign on the fence said, "Closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays"! I never received a notice from the county, so I just assumed that they were curtailing hours to save money in these hard times, so I did a U-turn and drove back home.

When I pulled into the driveway, I wondered what to do with the bags of trash in the back of my truck. I knew that I would have to go grocery shopping today, so I thought I would just leave them in the truck, then stop by the dump at the eastern end of the country, on the way to the grocery store. That turned out to be a mistake. This place literally crawls with little critters at night. Skunk, Opossum, Raccoon, you name it. They are all out there crawling round at night, looking for a bite to eat. Well.......when I went out today to go grocery shopping, sure enough the truck had been visited by a midnight diner. All four bags had been torn open, and their contents were strewn about the truck. A couple of empty bread wrappers lay in the driveway, and I had to re-bag it all.

With the trash in new plastic bags, I headed down the highway. When I got to the turn off for the eastern dump, I made a right and followed the winding country road another four or five miles, then another right turn into the dump. I pulled up to the gate and low and behold, it was closed too! A sign on the fence said, "Closed On Thursdays"! I don't ever recall getting a notice from the county, saying they were cutting back on hours that the two dumps were open. I guess they just expected us to figure out their new schedule on our own, by trial and error. Previously, both dumps were open seven days a week, closing only on major holidays. Not to worry though, I would just go back to the western dump on the way home, after getting my groceries. I must be mellowing in my retirement, because a few years ago while I was still working, I would have been enraged by it all. Infuriated by the western dump being closed, seething over the mess the midnight raider left me, and brilliantly incandescent at finding that the eastern dump was also closed, but for some reason or other, I took it all in stride. I don't know, it must have been the gloriously beautiful break in the hellish weather we've been having. There are just two more days to enjoy it. On Sunday, we descend into hell again. The forecast is calling for 93° on Sunday, 97° on Monday, and 99° on Tuesday!

Melissa XX