Soap Box Day Today

Wilma · January 09, 2009, 02:01:21 PM

No, I'm not, but there doesn't seem to be anybody else doing anything. Meanwhile we are just piling up the trash and some day it will bury us.

W. Gray · January 09, 2009, 03:21:38 PM

Here is a novel (albeit unoriginal) solution: Everyone obtains an empty 55-U.S. gallon metal drum with the bottom intact and the top taken off. They then cut ventilation holes at the bottom on each side.

They put the drum on the back property line and assign one of their kids to carry out and burn all their trash including tins, bottles, etc. Makes a great chore for the boy in the house.

Every so often the city, or their contractor, sends a truck by and empties the drum for you. The sharply reduced volume of trash, i.e., the ash, the burnt tins, and the burnt bottles, then goes to a landfill.

Jo McDonald · January 09, 2009, 03:59:21 PM

That is exactly what we used to do, Waldo -- until the Gov't with all of it wisdom (?) put a stop to it --- now we have the overflowing dumps - that is a lot harder on our environment than a little gray smoke coming up from the burn barrel If we could get the "do-gooders" to butt out, we would all be a lot better off, and so would our world..

Rudy Taylor · January 10, 2009, 10:29:06 AM

I live in a town where the city outlawed trash burning 35 years ago, and the result has been a marked increase of junk that's piled in alleyways and behind garages.

I'm not against landfills, but I think disallowing the burning of trash was a huge mistake. I also think a reasonable city dump served a great purpose. It was the greatest recycle station in the world. If we had a tricycle with a wheel missing, we'd place it just inside the gate at the city dump and someone else would take it, repair it and get some good from it.

If we can stuff something inside a trash barrel or trash sack, we don't have a problem disposing of it. But there are lots of items, such as an old microwave oven, TV set, couch, etc., that once were thrown into a city dump and burned that now find home in our small towns' alleys.

Jo is right. Here's a case where the government butted in where nothing was "broke."

Here's another quite unscientific comment: We notice more rats in our town today than we did when we had a city dump. The reason? The rats stayed at the dump ... they didn't see a need to travel into our towns. Besides, it was fun plinking rats with a .22 rifle on a Sunday afternoon.

Diane Amberg · January 10, 2009, 01:07:19 PM

We have air quality issues here that you folks in the wide open spaces are less likely to have. Newark hasn't allowed open burning for a very long time because of that. We do not have problems with junk in the alleys. We have pick ups for that and rats? Not a problem. We eat 'em...rat on a stick, a great Delaware delicacy.

sixdogsmom · January 10, 2009, 05:07:31 PM

Diane there are those that would say that you elect them to go to Washington!

Jo McDonald · January 10, 2009, 07:32:30 PM

Diane, you as a large city, perhaps need some regulations like you have, BUT --- we as a small town need not be lumped into that category. There doesn't seem to be any "common sense" to any rules and regulations any more -- just dump them all in a pile and make it the rule for everyone -- large and small. If ONLY -- we had any voice at all in the things that matter to us. But how in the Sam Hill do we get rid of the idiots that are sitting in the high back chairs with their goofy grins and their lack of brain cells, making the rules. It would be such a blessing if we could put the "Gravy Train Riders" in the garbage disposal and flush them down the drain? The power to be is in the hands of total idiots -- and they are all identical, no matter what they say or do -- it is just one carbon copy after another. Makes me sick to the bottom of my shoes. Darn "em ! I wish I could have 30 minutes to tell them all to go where the sun don't shine, and the fire is blazing high!

Diane Amberg · January 10, 2009, 08:06:44 PM

If I lived there I'd feel the same way you do.

Wilma · May 28, 2009, 10:06:26 AM

I know that I have neglected this thread lately, but yesterday I was so frustrated it took all the fun out of a shopping trip. Four years ago I bought a digital camera with a rechargeable battery. I have really enjoyed using it, but this week the battery gave out and wouldn't take another charge. Yesterday whilst in Wichita I went back to the store where I had bought it thinking that they would have a new battery for it. Boy, am I naive, not only did they not have a battery, they didn't even sell the camera anymore and they couldn't tell me where I could find one. So I did what everyone else is doing. I found it on the internet and ordered it. Now I have to wait 2 weeks for it to come. Meanwhile, I can't use my camera. Who knows, maybe the baldheaded cardinal that I have been trying to photograph will have grown back his topknot by that time. Whatever has happened to service? Is technology advancing so rapidly that we just throw away our favorite possessions because we can't get replacement parts for them? I don't want a new camera to have to learn how to operate. I want my just 4 year old camera that works really well for me. My old box Kodak lasted 30 years and was still a good camera when I couldn't get film for it anymore.

Diane Amberg · May 28, 2009, 12:18:56 PM

I'm sitting here waiting for a work type phone call, so I thought I'd gripe a little and then go away. If you have something to say to me, say it. Don't whine to Teresa behind my back. That is not fair to her or to me. My E-mail has always been public. I don't hide. I know its a site for Howard, the site description even says so. I know I've intruded and I apologize, BUT, I think it is very unfair for a forum member to attack me using a piece of someone else's post, who probably didn't give permission for it to be used that way. And if using smileys and saying "I was just kidding, honest," isn't a strong enough way show intended humor, well, I just won't any more. No more kidding, no more puns. Ya know they say ''If you can't attack the issue, attack the person." Please don't say I can dish it out and but can't take it based on erroneous information. If I do hurt your feelings, which is the last thing I would want to do...you tell me, don't have someone else do it for you. But I do have feelings too. I am tough but there is a limit.
I had wanted to ask what you all thought about Sonia Sotomayor as a new Supreme Court Justice nominee, but I'm afraid now anything I say would be used against me by several of you who have apparently declared me the enemy. Better that I not say anything if a neutral, issue based debate can't happen. I'm really a light hearted docile old cow most of the time, but cows can give quite a kick when needed.