Finally gave in

It was cold out when I took the dog out for walkies this morning. Cold and windy, enough to bite right through my sweater. So, I put on my heavier jacket for subsequent walkies, and kept my sweater on in the house. One of the neighbors told me she put her heat on last night because it had gotten so cold in her house that she felt she was freezing her babies.

Out of curiosity, I checked the temperature on the thermostat when passing by to get some more hot coffee. What I saw startled me. The thermostat registered 57.

57 degrees. It hasn't been this cold in the house in ages. In the evenings, especially on those days when I baked, it's been reading a comfortable 68. We've been trying hard not to turn the heat on, to keep it off as long as possible and keep the costs down.

57 degrees. It was the last straw. I broke down and turned on the heater. Not too much, mind you, just to a slightly more comfortable 64. Maybe I'll bake again this afternoon and heat that part of the house up. And keep my sweater on. At least, inside, I'm out of that wind!

The vagueries of local government

Yesterday, Hubby took down the deck that had been quietly rotting away outside the door by my computer nook. I'd had this wild idea of using the old fort that the kids weren't using (having outgrown it) as a replacement - at least, until we could build a new one.

So, he took it apart, and put the wood out in front of the house, next to the mailbox. This is usually an open invitation for whoever wants it to take it. That's the way it is in our neighborhood. We also figured that there are people in the area who use fireplaces or wood stoves to heat their homes, and it would disappear quickly. It's also the spot where we put our yard waste, the leaves, twigs, sticks and branches that we collect during the fall and winter. We'd had a huge pile of such there last time the county "stick truck" came through; Hubby had cut back all the bushes along the side of the house to their trunks.

So today, I get up at my usual time and find the yard devoid of any and all wood. Even the concrete from the walkway project (which we hadn't had time to take to the landfill) was gone. I'd heard some rumblings from out front when half-awake, but it was only when I actually got up and noticed it was all gone that I connected the dots between "county" and "disappearance". I even talked with the neighbor, who said they'd come with a truck that had a crane on it (instead of the usual front end loader and multiple dump trucks) and taken it all away.

Don't get me wrong; I was happy it was all gone. What I wasn't happy about was the bright yellow "illegal dumping notice" stuck in the flag of my mailbox, informing me that I had "illegal materials" in the spot where my yard waste was usually picked up. And I had to "correct the violation".

First of all, it is my yard. If I want to put the yard waste in another spot out there, I can, and they have to pick it up. Second, if what was out there was illegal, why did they pick it up in the first place? Why not just leave me the note? And by picking up the stuff, they "corrected the violation" for me. It didn't make sense to me at all.

Ah, the vagueries of local government. Next time, I'll have whatever it is put in the middle of the yard, with a "free stuff" sign on it. Maybe then the county will leave it alone.