FD, IA - Dumpster # 2

If there's a 'Dumpster # 1' there's got to be a 'Dumpster # 2.' And here it is. The second chapter. More excitement in our lives that we can stand. 

Morning came pretty fast for these weary bodies. We ate breakfast out, returned to the house and began in again on the second dumpster. With the 4 of us, it was going pretty fast. Because Gary and I had spent 3 days earlier pulling everything out of the cubbies and rafters, had already separated it into 'trash' and 'keepable' and had piled it along the garage wall, the actual loading of all the garage trash into the dumpster was pretty straight forward and went fast. Pick up a pile, walk into the dumpster and pile it - neatly. Remember, to pile it neatly.

Here’s Cathy with a small 6-wheeled cart that she used to get lots of the heavier things to the dumpster from the back of the garage. That might look like a light load but it is all heavy metal - the rebar and heavy piping that Lug saved so assiduously. Not only was all this metal heavy but some of the pieces had sharp edges. Note the heavy gloves she’s wearing to protect her hands. Strange, she’s smiling as if she were having a great time.

We got the garage emptied about noon and then Tom, Cathy’s husband, arrived and we began on the carpet in the house. We knew we had to pull the carpeting since it was looking very used and very dirty. But we all knew that there was a beautiful hardwood floor (oak) under all that awful looking carpet. Popular in homes these days and a definite plus for selling the house.

Back in 2001, Gary and I had asked if Lug and Darlene would like to pull the carpet in their bedroom to get back to the original oak floor. Darlene was all for it but Lug was only ‘convinced’ when Gary, Darlene and I began to pull it up and there was no going back. What a beautiful room it was with the oak floor and we all knew that the rest of the house would look like that if we pulled the rest of the carpet. Gary began last night (he just can’t relax when there’s work to be done) about 8:00 and pulled all of the hallway carpet. With the carpet removed, the pad underneath was revealed and it was obvious that it was old, crumbling and had broken down long ago. Here’s a picture of what we found under it: remains of the carpet backing, the pad and probably lots of dirt. But hints of the beautiful oak flooring beneath.

With 5 of us working, we thought that if we worked really fast, we could also get the padding, carpet and all the tacking strips into the dumpster and save a later trip to the landfill with just a pick-up full of these things. While Dawn,Tom and Gary pulled up the carpet, Cathy and I went around pulling the padding and then the staples holding the padding down. They were throughout the floors and, using a wrench we could get them pulled. My hands still have blisters from this - did I wear gloves? Nope - and I don’t need any comments.

When the carpet, the padding, and the staples were all removed, Dawn and Tom started in on the tacking strips around the edges. And, by the way, isn’t that beautiful oak flooring? Dawn also worked on pulling the nails out of the walls which held lots of pictures. Look at that form.

And, finally, Dawn, Tom and Cathy pulled the carpet and padding from under the Grandfather clock and a large corner wood and glass hutch. Very carefully and vey slowly.

Gary and I were working outside on a garden plot that Lug had for many years. Since he hadn’t grown anything for about 10 years now, it was beginning to look a bit seedy (pun intended) since the outside fencing was falling down, several trellises inside were leaning a bit and a large home-made wooden composter looked like a small oout-of-place elephant. We thought that if we took these three things out, the garden itself might not look too bad. But, Lug had NAILED it all together with LONG nails. He was thorough. It took a bit of time to pull out all the nails and take the pieces of fencing apart. But we had a deadline and we were determined to make it. Here’s Gary pulling the final side off of the composter.

Finally, the dumpster was as full as could be and we had the carpet, the padding and all of the garden fencing parts in. Whew.

Trevor with Pederson’s came at 4:00, right on schedule. We 5, thoroughly exhausted, asked him if he would take a picture of us in front of the dumpster. He laughed - this is the first time he’s had that request. Then we all wanted a picture with him. He laughed and said that no one had ever wanted a picture with the trash man since people thought trash men smelled.

We all laughed, Trevor hooked the dumpster up to the truck, pulled it on and took off. I’m sure that he’s told the rest of the crowd at Pederson's and they’ve all had a good laugh. That story of the 5 crazy people wanting pictures of a dumpster will last for a while.

Gary called Pederson’s the next day and thanked them for all their service: they were always on time, they had pleasant drivers and they did what we wanted them to do. No wonder their dumpsters are all over Fort Dodge: with the good service that we got, they have cornered the business.

We had a plan and it worked: 2 20’ dumpsters in 2 days. Yeah!!!

Of course, I can hardly move. I can sit and I can stand but the transitions are tough. I don’t know about the others but I can certainly feel that I have done more than I usually do.

Tom and Cathy then loaded up their cars with the furniture and knick knacks that they were taking home, we all went for dinner and they were off.

Oh, yeah, in all the hustle and bustle, Gary broke a corner off of one of his front teeth. Looks like we’re going to keep the dentist in business this spring.