I heart big trash day

My favorite day in Bethany is BIG TRASH DAY! Yeah! It's so cleansing to take all that stuff that is filling the garage, car port, back yard or front porch and put it out and watch it disappear. And disappear it does. It's a very efficient system.

• Step One: The City sets the date and advertises


• Step Two: Residents begin to pile unwanted belongings curbside (I use the term "curbside" loosley since few streets in Bethany actually have curbs. Let's just say they put their stuff somewhere in the vicinity of where the grass ends and the street begins.)


• Step Three: The City delays pickup waiting for Step Four.


• Step Four: Hardy and frugal folks begin trolling the neighborhoods with trucks and trailers, taking what they consider salvageable or saleable.


• Step Five: The City picks up the little that is left of the BIG TRASH.

This morning I drove around on a sort of scavenger hunt. I was curious if I could furnish a whole house from the BIG TRASH. I know. I'm sure there are more important things to do. I counted four couches, 11 chairs, 2 refrigerators, 1 freezer, a desk, several mattresses, an exercise bike, a shower door, a microwave...All within a half mile radius. Yep, I could furnish at least an apartment.

Every year I think Bethany will run out of BIG TRASH. But we seem to generate it like hairs on a menopausal woman's chin. The more you pluck, the more they appear. If I sound like I'm above BIG TRASH day, I'm not. One of the mattress sets (surprise, Tessa!) and the shower doors are in front of our house. Well, they were. They are in the back of some one's pickup now. I have to be careful at this time of year though. We sold all our beautiful furniture when we left Phoenix for Johannesburg. Now most of our furniture is from the Goodwill or is a relative's cast-off, and I'm always tempted to empty the house onto the curb on BIG TRASH day. Mark has to restrain me from dragging too much out the door. If I could get that couch out the door, I'd do it right now, but it's way too big. I wonder if the neighbor has a chain saw.