Who has more fun than me?

Nooooo-body!!!!

When one is a homeowner, there is always something to do. Take this weekend, for example.

If you’ve been reading my newsletters, (yeah, right!) you’ll know I have had issues with the woodchucks, both living and those not-so living, in the past. A whole family of them had been living under the cement floor of our screened in porch, digging a gigantic pile of dirt and sand on top of my deck footings. See previous post: The joys (and tribulations) of homeownership (don't look under the deck!) Sand, dirt and time are one of the enemies of pressure treated lumber.

I have been staring at my deck for weeks now, seeing a giant sagging area just above our beloved woodchucks winter home. I know it needed to be looked into and soon. Winter is coming and I wanted to get this issue fixed before the snow flies.

I bit the bullet Sunday morning. After eating my orange/cranberry bagel with butter, I headed outside to tear the trek material off the top of my deck.

This is where the fun started. As the deck had been sitting there for quite a while, most of the screws were quite unwilling to be taken out. I grabbed my trusty giant crowbar and got to work. Taking one-third of the treks off, I surveyed the damage. It was not pretty. In fact, there was way more decay than I first thought. The entire top would need to be removed. Hey, what else is vacation time for but to destroy all your muscles dismantling a deck?

It's a major project. I won’t bore you with all the details. (Too late, you’re already bored, I know.) The highlight for me, was cutting all the decaying pressure treated lumber off and carrying it to the front yard. Luckily, my neighbor has a truck and lets me use it. I have him on speed dial lately.

On Monday, another vacation day, I loaded the truck and went to the dump. I pulled in, asked how much it would cost to unload my lumber. The kind lady measured the load and said it would be $137. I gulped. She said to hang on a second. She asked a co-worker if it would be cheaper to go to the giant transfer station. Apparently, this is where all the garbage trucks in town go after they pick up your trash. He said it would be about $60 and wasn’t too far away. I hopped back in the truck and headed there.

To say it was eye opening (and nose opening!) is an understatement. Twas nasty.

The line of garbage trucks and ‘two guys hauling junk’ trailers was long. There’s a large mechanical scale to drive over and get weighed. When it’s your turn, the green traffic light comes on and the man in the booth’s voice come over the speaker. He mumbles something incoherently and I realize he’s asking if I want to pay with a check or credit card. I yelled card, please and he said to go ahead.

As I drove around back, I saw a large steel building with three humungous openings to back your way in to dump your stuff. There was a guy in a loader truck whose job was to push all the trash into a big pile. He guided me to the correct stall. I plugged my nose and got rid of a giant load of rotting lumber.  Once done, I returned to the green light and got my load weighed. It was about $60 as I had hoped.

I chatted with the fellow behind the counter (and fuzzy speaker) and commented on the number of trucks that came in and out. All of this trash, he told me, is delivered daily to the town of Coventry, and placed in a huge dump pile there. I believe he said over 500 tons daily. Yikes.

It’s a little weird to me. You rarely think about where this stuff goes once you’re able to unload it. But obviously, it has to go somewhere.

I know where I have to go, right to my backyard.

I still have a deck to fix.

I may be sore and tired but at least it doesn’t smell like the dump.