September 29, 2010

"Sometimes you're the windshield, and sometimes you're the bug..."

Today, I was the bug, but every day can't be a winner. On Sunday I stopped by a house where there were some metal poles in the trash, and some lamps. The woman of the house came out and informed me she had a section of drain pipe in the back, and did I want it?

That happens a lot, people will have junk that is too big or too heavy for them to move, and will gladly allow you to haul it. Of course I wanted it! Well, until I saw it, and even more so, smelled it!

It was a section of sewer pipe over twenty feet long! It had been out there for a little while apparently, and there wasn't too much odor - until I took a sledge to it to break it into smaller sections that I could handle. Then, pee-eeew!

That pipe weighed close to 300 pounds - scrapping ain't for the weakling or faint of heart! As I was breaking the pipe, she asked me if I wanted the metal desk in the back yard, too? This was an old office desk that had served as a work bench. Problem was, I had no more room in my truck. I told her I would come back Monday morning, after I unloaded the truck at the recycling center.

The load I took on Monday weighed in at well over 450 pounds. I immediately went back to the house, with a hand truck, and carted the desk. I knew the desk was heavy, but that and about 60 pounds of other scrap gave me a 360-pound load of shredder feed for that second run.

Tuesday was okay, but I only picked about 200 pounds of scrap. Today, nada. Nothing. Not even a curtain rod. I hit the West Side, and the 3rd Ward. Twice I made a quick pass, just to catch anything good before anyone else got there. Zilch.

Tomorrow I will have to be up bright and early, and will hit The Lake. People on the West Side and the 3rd Ward will put their trash out before 4PM, even though city code states trash should be put on the curb no sooner than 4PM the night before collection. People at The Lake, however, usually obey the rules. They are, after all, generally the people that wrote the laws. But they also throw some really good stuff away.