Finally got off my ass today, borrowed my friend David's truck, and went down to the city dump to buy compost. It sounds kind of weird to buy compost from the dump, but they collect yard waste there & convert it to mulch & compost which they sell. Besides, it's not right at the dump, it's up a gravel road, on the other side of a big hill, about a mile back from the dump.
It took me a while to figure out where the heck I was going -- they have free samples of the mulch and compost up front, and I thought that's where I would get my truckload -- but eventually (with the help of a guy who clearly thought I was a total ditz, but at least wasn't rude about it) I found the compost area. It's not as nice of a setup as Sands & Soils, and the guy came at my truck sort of diagonally, so the load fell in at an angle, much of it spilled out on the ground and I had to go back (walking through mucky compost) and shove the pile down into the corners of the truck with my hands, getting dirt all over myself. But at 1/4 the price, I'm not complaining. Besides, the guy saw that he had spilled a bunch of my compost and dumped more in, so I got my full truckload. And I was wearing my gardening clothes and shoes anyway so it didn't really matter that I got all dirty.
David's truck is old and not in the greatest of health, and I thought I was used to its quirks. The drive back from the dump, however, was another matter. It was making this crazy loud noise, and the steering was loose and scary -- I mean fishtailing back and forth so bad that if I got up to 35 mph, it felt like it was going to swerve into the other lane of its own accord. I swear that truck was trying to kill me.
Needless to say, I drove very slowly to keep the steering manageable. Alas, the hazard lights didn't work, so no one behind me knew why I was going so slow. (Well, anyone who gets stuck behind a bashed in old truck that's carrying an open load of dirt and is fishtailing back and forth, and is surprised that the truck is going slow, is an idiot. But then I've observed that many people are idiots on the road.)
Made it home safely, whew! And discovered that the noise and the swerving were probably caused by two unrelated problems: First, a stick caught in the undercarriage. And second, both rear tires are almost totally flat. It must have been okay driving out with an empty bed, but with all that dirt weighing down the back end, no wonder the poor truck was trying to kill me.
So I'm home and have my day's work cut out for me: shoveling compost! fun! But first I feel a little woozy from trying to control the truck. And also probably from the truck leaking exhaust into the cab, now that I think about it. I'm going to rest and eat lunch before I start working.
You know, I keep meaning to find out where the dump is and give it a visit. I have no need for compost, but I do have lots of dump-worthy things. And now we know we're moving, I guess I'll finally get to dump them. Though not for a few months.
The dump is easy to find: get on Club Blvd. and keep driving until you've left town. The dump is on the left, just before the animal shelter. If you see the Starlite you've gone too far.
If you're getting rid of trash, drive straight back to the weighing station. They weigh your car, take a deposit, you drive back up and dump your trash, then you go back down to the weighing station and they weigh your car again to see how much you owe. I think that once you've done that you can save the receipt, which includes the unloaded weight of your car, and then on future trips you only have to be weighed once. But I never remember to save the receipt so I haven't tried it.