The 'Pickers' Are Coming!

   The "Pickers" are coming to my neighborhood! No, they're not the guys who tear through the old barns on the History Channel. These 'pickers' are from our Township Department Of Public Works who will be doing a community cleanup.
   But, alas, they won't find much at my place.
   That's because of another cleanup that happened nearly a year ago.
   Here's the story as I remember it!

   You should have seen the gleam in my wife's eyes! It's the kind of look you see in a child's face when they run into the living room on Christmas morning and see the tree,the lights, and the pile of presents! It's the reaction you might expect when three cherries all come up on the same line on the slot machine. (So I'm told.)
   But this was June,not December. And Mohegan Sun was more than a mile away.
   So what, you might ask,made my wife so very very happy?
   The owner of our mobile home park moved a huge dumpster onto a pad and invited all of the residents to fill it with whatever they wanted!
   Now one man's (or woman's) passion is another man's plague!
   My wife envisioned tons of items from our home flying through the air and into the dumpster.She saw a clean yard and clean sheds.
   I, on the other hand, envisioned safe and hidden treasures
being flung into history.Forever gone!
   But one doesn't mess with Christmas or ignore sudden yet unexpected winnings. And so out I went with the wheelbarrow.
   Some selections were easier than I thought. There was a computer screen that no longer worked and a tire from some long gone automobile.
   But then things got tougher. I had to think long and hard before discarding a half dozen old baseball bats. Admittedly I hadn't used any of them since I played pick up games with the other teens on an old make shift field between two elevated railroad tracks in Hazleton. The fishing rods were rough too even though several were really just parts of what had been two piece rods when they were new 30 some years ago. Nearly a dozen rods went out in all.
   Then there was the grill! It seemed to me it should stay there ready to cook up a steak or some hot dogs for the next holiday that might come along. My wife pointed out that it hadn't seen a steak or a hot dog since my son got his own place about 8 years ago.
   I guess you would also have to consider the fact that the gas tank used to feed its flames was not only empty for years but obsolete!
   It did survive for one more day as, by the time I got to the grill, I found the dumpster filled and closed. Even without tank and gas one doesn't easily toss an outdoor grill over the top and into an industrial dumpster!
   I rolled it into a newly delivered and empty dumpster early the next morning though I seemed to have a hankering for a hamburger as I did so.
   The electric snow blower didn't cause quite as much soul searching. It worked OK. But the duct tape that held it together was showing its age and I always felt a little uneasy as my wife pulled the electric cord connection behind her in the heavy snow! (She says she likes to shovel!)
   Anyhow, two days, a few cuts and minor bruises later, I had done my share to make more room in our yard and sheds.
   And except for the items I've already described I must admit I would be hard pressed to itemize the loads and loads of items now bound for some unknown landfill.
   I would suggest, however,that it would be interesting to watch as some archaeologist, as yet unborn, discovers that landfill some day in the future and finds the remains of an old family grill,an electric snow blower and four sticks of wood bearing the markings "Louisville Slugger." If only he knew of their impressive history!
   Hope all your news is good!