Death By Recycling

Tomorrow is our garbage and recycling day. Where we live, garbage is picked up once a week, but recycling is only picked up once a month. This means that our recycling bins are HUGE. Well, my husband is out of town this evening and won't get back until very late tonight. We try to make it a habit to set the bins by the curb the night before. We've been burned a couple of times when the recycling has been picked up very early in the morning when we didn't have it set out.

So tonight is my turn to take the garbage out, and let me first say this: Mother of God, it is cold outside! Right now it is about 15 degrees with a wind chill of 3 degrees. Having said that, I piled on a bunch of warm clothes, hat, and gloves and went to the side of the garage where we keep the bins. The snow that is still on the ground is frozen, so I pretty much slide my way into the bins. Now I look around and realize that I have to maneuver the bins over the mound of frozen snow. Not easy, but I manage to get the garbage bin to the curb. Now it's time for the recycling bin. Being a mere 5'2", this bin is almost as big as me, and it just happens to be stuck in the snow. I yank at it and pull it with all of my arm strength (which isn't much). I cuss at it and hope the neighbors don't hear me. Finally I manage to get it loose, but it starts to tip toward me. All I can imagine is this giant bin falling on me and pinning me to our front yard. Would anyone see me? It's pitch black out, and no one in their right mind would be outside, so I figure I would have to wait for my husband to come home. Fortunately it didn't tip over and I made it back into my warm house just fine.

Ugh, I'm tired of this weather. No warm up in sight - tomorrow's high is supposed to be 15 and it's only going to be 6 degrees by Sunday. Gotta' love the Midwest...