Owning a business whose parts are delivered on pallets and building a structure/homestead/compound whose waste cannot be tossed in the local weekly trash collection results in a messiness everywhere. Even when attempting to contain said mess it spills out and ends up taking over the whole property.

It happens slowly so that the mess almost goes by unnoticed. Almost. It drives me crazy. I have to see it, mow around it, and be reminded by it that we are living very close to a lower level standard than I prefer. And if you don’t live like this, if you live in a tidy suburban neighborhood then you may not know that trash acquires trash. It seems to grow and collect all on its own.

Trash is not always “trash” but “another mans treasure” and “cherished memories”. Then there is trash talk, trash pandas, and white trash. Trash can be salvageable if the right person wants to dedicate the time, energy, and resource to repair. Trash can be recycled if there is a local station collecting that certain recycle number. Then there is just trash trash. For example, when the Kid was just over a year old we bought him a Red Rider Wagon to pull him around the neighborhood on our nightly walks. Usage of that red rider wagon went from tiny tot to tools, from rocks, sand, and boards to camping gear and dogs. It has hauled on flat tires, on hard tires, on stiff tires, and on broken tires. Everybody has hauled something or another in the little red rider wagon. That same wagon has now rusted into just rubble with hard, inflexible rubber wheels. The rust was swept into a pile and tossed into the metal recycle bin. The wheels had to be cut apart and trashed into the giant red dumpster. Finally, trash is dangerous. It is an eye sore, a fire hazard, and a health hazard. Just look at the size of that skin! Luckily for us this was just a run of the mill non venomous snake and not a seven foot rattlesnake. Yikes.

We try to contain the trash. We really do. The pallets are stacked neatly against the storage box. The crates against the Work Box where garbage that be tossed out weekly is stored. The residual remaining’s of the concrete pad form work that has not been used for various other project stored flatly on the side of the concrete pad under the Work Box where it sits in the water when in rains and houses a whole herd of mice. Herd of mice? Family? Pack? But then there are things like the office chair that broke. Not fixable but cannot be thrown out in the weekly collection either.

Oh yes, then there are the large ticket items. Like old sailboats damaged by Hurricane Harvey seven years ago. Seven years ago! Is the boat fixable. Yup. Have we fixed it. Nope. Bought a newer version instead. Should have gotten rid of it when the county was collecting hurricane damage. Instead it has sat under the Shop Box collecting mud and floating off every time we get a deluge of rain.

If you drive down back roads anywhere across the great state of Texas you will see two major trash items on the side of the road. These are not the minor items that include beer cans, bottles, or fast food wrappers. Major items taking deliberate consideration to toss. Tires and toilets. Both are recyclable but neither are easily done. Worse yet, most centers require payment for these items. Add to that, every tire since god knows when has been charged with a recycle fee. Meaning that when the tire is no longer usable, it should be dropped off at a tire center. Good luck. Even if said tire was bought as said tire center, if said tire doesn’t remove it to install new tire they will not accept the old tire. This held so true that even after all the debris and destruction from Harvey, there were piles of tires laying all around town. Not even the county agents collected them. Oh when called out the county representative would simply state the collection agent would get to them. Years came and yet, grass grew through the piles, piles were tossed about with various winds and water storms, and dozens and dozens of county mowers mowed right across them until they finally were reduced to rubble.

Once all the garbage, trash, memories, bits and bops were ever so perfectly and tightly packed into the dumpster the remaining goodies were neatly restacked, the grass mowed, and piles organized by need. In the rearranging, it was decided instead of mowing down this native grass clump yet again it would be moved. Digging carefully under the roots the entire cordgrass bush bunch was transplanted in front of the Work Box directly between the bucket bushes and the matching ground bushes. It looks great transplanted and hopefully with enough care it wont die. These cordgrass clumps are very hardy and easy to maintain. Maintenance requirements: nothing. Occasionally on really dry, dry years they might need a gallon of water or two a month but even then they will survive on morning dew. They won’t grow or be vibrant green but they will get by just fine. I only wish there had been two needing to be moved then the entire front of the box would have curbside appeal.

Oh what a difference a day makes! One pile of box container walls, one tractor platform, one pile of wood timbers and posts, and one boat trailer being stored for our friend the Potter. One roll off dumpster filled to the brim awaiting collection at the end of the week. Now when people see the mess from over head I can honestly say all that trash belongs to the neighbor. Perfect.