It was with gas saving joy that I found out that we have a local landfill, not four miles away from my house. Much, much closer than the one on the other side of Santa Cruz that I'd been planning on loading and taking all of the bush debris to this weekend. My chest and arms look like I was in a fight with a cat that had a knife, one good gash on my chest and another one on my arm and then hundreds of scratches all over both arms and my legs but it was worth it!
I'd loaded up the truck as much as I could yesterday, piling up branches until they were several feet above the cab of the truck, then climbing up on top of the pile and using my body weight to mash it down into a more managable size. I bungeed the tarp over the top (not knowing that I was avoiding a potentially $500 ticket) and parked it overnight before heading out to the dump this morning with Nande.
A quick drive up two exits on the highway and through some lush California countryside and I was entering the landfill. And the best part? Today was the last day of free drop offs for yard type waste like tree branches and big old ugly bushes! Sure, its not a winning lottery ticket but it was a nice surprise and made me for damned sure going to get the second load out there before they closed at 3:30.
I'm not sure what it is but I really like going to the dump. I like checking out the massive piles of twisted crap that people have given up on trying to repair, seeing the tv's with smashed in screens, the bikes with absolutely seized parts, the rust bubbling away from the steel, the vast wasteland of trash that's slowly pushed into massive piles.
I suppose I should be depressed by so much garbage that will do nothing but sit in the ground for a thousand years until it breaks down and returns to its elemental forms. I suppose I should note the wastefulness of our society in creating such an enormous pile of garbage. I suppose it should galvanize me into being more enviro-friendly and less wantonly wasteful (though I'm really not overly wasteful, I don't think)
But I enjoyed it, Nande enjoyed and I especially enjoyed the regaining of the back corner of my yard (even if I now have to put in a temporary fix for the gaping hole in the fence at the bottom corner so that Nande doesn't get into the asshole neighbor's yard so she can play with their big Rottie).
After the second dump run, Nande and I headed up into Santa Cruz to go and play on the beach with the volleyball crew. It was her first time in the sand and Modoc and Brady were there as well so she was instantly happy and they taught her that digging in the sand is fun. She also went for her first wade into the ocean, I didn't take her out swimming but let her play in the breaking surf so she starts to get used to the water. Next time I may bring her a little further out but I want her to take it at her own pace. But she loved it and really had a good time when the other two dogs came down to the water as well.
By the time we loaded back up into the truck, she was running on fumes and promptly passed out with her head in my lap all the way home. She was mellow all through last night but was still super cute, moving from room to room whereever P or I was hanging out. P, by the way, began and finished the construction of a cat condo so that the cat can have her own space and not worry about the hound hounding her so much. She really did a kickass job on it and now we get to spend the next week or so cutting and stapling carpet into the frame. It'll be really nice when its all together and I'm amazed that a woman almost seven and a half months pregnant was able to start and finish the construction yesterday. The workshop is paying off huge dividends.
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