Just Another Ride to the Dump
We have been making our dog Annie insane the past few days as we’ve been doing a lot of organization and packing in Wanda, the van.
If we leave the house door open slightly, Annie comes out and crawls up in Wanda to take her seat in the cab. If we DON’T leave the door open, she sits on the rug staring at the door. Even though she can hear us out there, I sometimes think she is convinced we have left her behind WITHOUT dumping a big scoop of food in the bowl. That’s traumatic to her.
Most recently Jenni had an appointment in town and drove Wanda so she could be fueled up. After she pulled out of the driveway, I let Annie out of the house. It’s always humorous to watch her reaction. ‘Hey, where did the big white box go?’ ‘And if you are still here, that means mom must be driving the white box. Is she gone forever?’ (I like speaking for Annie.) We walked to the mailbox a hundred yards away to see if that would appease her but it did not.
She was going to need her own ride today.
Where we live there was no curbside trash service for the first fourteen years we lived here. There is a weekly service now, but we still pay county taxes to operate a convenience station so we have just continued to take our own trash to the dump. It’s only a couple miles away and it provide tremendous entertainment for the entire family.
Annie loves the dump because, first of all there is a ride involved. She gets to sit on the center console and see the world, or she tries to put the windows down during a rainstorm to get a better view. She also likes all the activity of the dump station.
Jenni and I enjoy going, especially during the pandemic, because we get to see other human life forms. It’s also fun to critique other people’s driving skills. Tell me, if you are driving a passenger vehicle, WHY is it necessary to BACK INTO a parking space? To me it seems much safer and more efficient to pull forward into a slot between other vehicles and then BACK out into a more open area once you are finished. My studies show that about 75% of the community is wrong and doesn’t do it my way.
Today was just a normal, run of the mill trip. The employees didn’t speak or make eye contact. A man was trying to cram a bag of wet newspaper into the small recycling slot it has to pass through. Six people got out of an SUV to toss two black bags into the compressor. And, yes, once I was finished I had to wait so that someone just arriving could back into the available spot beside my car.
Yep, just a normal day at the dump but Annie was pleased as she got to ride on the console and lean against my shoulder on the drive home.
