16 Tons and What Do You Get?

...another day older, but no deeper in debt!

Kathy and I have finally removed all the busted-up concrete from the backyard. It took four trips to the dump, and more than a few scraped knuckles, but at least it's behind us now. Last Saturday we filled up the pickup truck twice and made two trips to the dump. Mother's Day was Sunday, so the dump was closed. What are we supposed to do on Mother's Day with no access to landfill? Sheesh.

Believe it or not, we hauled a total of 8,000 lbs. of broken concrete. I'm surprised that tiny backyard could even hold 8,000 lbs. of concrete, but the scales don't lie. The truck gets weighed on the way into the dump and weighed again on the way out, and they give us a little slip marked with the difference. The loads averaged about 2,000 lbs. (1 ton) per trip, so 4 tons total. And we did it all by hand, bucket, sledgehammer, and wheelbarrow. Do I know how to show a girl a good time, or what?

Actually, we've moved about 24,000 lbs. in total because we moved each chunk three times: Once from its original location to a big pile in the backyard. Then, from the pile to the truck. Then once more tossing it from the back of the truck into the landfill. So that's three moves per piece for a total of 24,000 lbs. in a week. What fun.

The bright spot: The local landfill only charges us a flat $5 per truckload of concrete, regardless of weight. That's because they resell it to contractors. In fact, they have separate piles of busted-up concrete depending on whether it's got rebar in it, or bricks, or any other "contaminants." Ours is the clean stuff, so we get off cheap.

Oh, and the other thrill is that we always "treat" ourselves to drive-thru fast food whenever we take a load to the dump. It seems only appropriate.