A Garbage Day to Remember

A Whole New Perspective on Taking out the Trash

Yes, this morning, I have reached a new low in cross-training; I raced the garbage man. Not down the alley, but raced him to get all our items out in time. I know that they often come early and this was a Garbage Day to Remember. I was racing for my life at 7 am this morning through the ice covered yard and it all started a year ago when my brother said to my husband, "Let's go wild boar hunting in Florida." I knew I was in trouble because that would mean I would have to clean out the chest freezer. Seeing as how I love them both, I figured it would be alright in the end. After a grand adventure, complete with up-close video of the boar trying to trample my brother, my husband brought home the bacon. Then, came the processing of the dead boar in our kitchen to get to that bacon.

After dinner last night, we proceeded to process our own meat. I put the kids to bed but only one would somewhat sleep, so the older two got to come down and cut up the pig with us. They were thrilled at the privilege of using real knifes (the kid-kind but still real).  We sealed back straps, roasts, and ribs late into the night. Then, my incredible husband washed every dish, pan, knife, and surface while I climbed into and out of the chest freeze in the basement. This must count as weight-training right? I had frozen 10 gallon milk jugs of water after our last power outage to help keep it cold. We have frequent outages as our local squirrels frequently fry themselves on our transformer out back, so this seemed like a good idea at the time. However, after crawling in and out of the freezer to reach them and then haul them up the stairs, I was not convinced that I was such a bright person. Then, I had to wrestle frozen/melting milk jugs along with about 30 lbs of freezer food experiment gone desperately wrong out to the trash. Oh, and did I mention boar bones? Lots and lots of boar bones? Kurt laughed that at least they had left all the blood in Florida. Yuck!

It is about 40 yards from our house to the alley. At 7 am, I was out with my running shoes on. I hauled at least 5 trips with 20 to 40 lbs a trip down and then sprinted back. I was racing the garbage man and also my two sons who were sleeping while Kurt got ready for work. I knew that if I didn't bust out a sprint work out, this job would take me literally all day. The boys always want to go outside but today they would slip on the ice...hhmmm  just like I was doing. I composted what I could in our compost heap and took the rest to the trash with a tinge of guilt. My extreme conservationist streak despises putting things in the trash, but I only had limited time this morning. I needed this kind of trash gone!

I managed not to break my neck and in the middle of trips Kurt bewilderingly asked why I didn't let him do this. I mumbled something about not wanting him to be late for work. Selfishly, I wanted to get my sprint workout in before the boys woke up. Yes, who does this? Crazy of me, I know. Being a mother must mean I have lost my mind at times.  I think running marathons also has the same result, but it was a blast. I wouldn't have life any other way, secret garbage running and all.

Any other secret garbage sprinters out there? Who takes out the trash at your house?

PS At 2 pm, the garbage man has still not come, of course!