He Can't Help It

The man must burn. I need him to burn here at the lake. The garbage pick up here is a situation. Since the majority of the people who have homes on the lake do not live here full time the sanitation company has a terrific policy of "pay as you throw." You don't have any kind of service contract with them you simply leave your money (cash or check) in an envelope taped to the garbage can and they haul your crap away. $3 per can, $2 per hefty bag. Simple, right? Except that Monday is garbage day and most everyone, including us, almost always heads back home on Sunday. You can't leave your garbage at the street when you leave on Sunday because there is no one to bring the cans back to the house. Some say, "No problem. Just put the garbage in big ol' hefty bags and and leave it." They have never experienced the wrath of raccoons. Inevitably we often travel home with garbage in my truck looking for a dumpster somewhere. Then we do the dump and run. Lene is very good at this. We also burn anything that is paper when we are here. Totally legal to burn unlike the dump and run. So Rick burns. And he burns well.

But since we were here this past Monday I happened to observe the garbage man actually bringing my neighbor's (who do not live here full time either) garbage cans back up to her house. I immediately grabbed a few bottles of cold water and ran out to the street. I handed him the water and asked if he did that for everyone or just my neighbor and would he do it for me if I made it worth his while. He said he would and I'm going to give him a little something on Monday for his trouble. Why didn't I think of this before? Our garbage woes are over at last. Six years but no more. Brilliant.

So how much do you think I should give this guy? There are two of them. One drives, one rides on the back and does the deed. Keep in mind this is Kentucky.

Side note: There was a terrific ice storm in western KY in February. Rick is burning the tree limbs that fell on our property. We were luckier than most. There were parts of KY that were without power for 12 days, including Cadiz. As I drove in on I-24 last week there were piles of trees every 100 yards or so along the interstate and much more that stills needs to be done. There were no deaths related to the storm which is remarkable. And it has put many people here to work. So those are good things. But man, don't mess with Mother Nature. She is oh so powerful.