Timothy Stark Raisbeck

Saturday mornings mean a walk to the end of the drive to open our front gate for the trashman. I generally rise anywhere from 7 am to 8 am to accomplish this. Dogs have this inane ability to sense certain things before they actually occur. A good example of this is their ability to sense a family leaving for a vacation before they actually leave. Maybe it has to do with the packing of suitcases and the scurrying about getting things in order. In my case Gracie always knows that I’m going out the door for that long walk up the drive. Even Kirby doesn’t have the desire for the Saturday morning walk but Gracie wouldn’t miss it for anything. She knows when I put my shoes on and open the door with my bag of trash in hand that it’s time for the Saturday morning walk once again. The minute the door opens she bounds outside which is interesting as I can tell she isn’t even fully awake at this point. Down the steps to our trash recepticle area, I tie up the garbage bags and start for the “drop off zone”.

We do not have your traditional trash collection service like you see in most subdivisions where there is an actual “trash truck” with collectors on the back that jump off, hoist whatever you have left for them on your curb the evening before, and heave it in the back for the ultimate smash up.

We have a man and his wife that drive a small pickup and towed behind is a flatbed trailer that has been modified by the addition of plywood sheets on the sides, to accommodate the trash. When they were first hired to collect our trash they used to come all the way down to our house for the pickup. They learned early on that with all the dogs we have, that they were not welcome visitors, at least in the eyes of a dog. They let us know after only a few pickups that they were no longer going to come all the way to the house so they suggested a “drop off zone” that was a significant distance away from the house that would keep that out of harms way. I can’t say I blame them and I had no problem with that suggestion.

As we begin our initial trek, we are joined by Flo Jo and Kodiak. They never miss the Saturday excursion as well. They know when they see and hear Grace and I make our way down the steps that they need to get it in gear. Kodiak usually leads the way followed by Grace with Flo Jo staying closer to me. The four of us make our deposit at the drop off zone and continue on to the end of the driveway where we set the gate to the open position allowing entry for our friendly trash collectors. I turn around and make my way back to the house with dogs sometimes in tow and sometimes not. They like to loiter at the end of the drive most of the time picking up other scents and what have you. At some point or other in my return journey the three of them always manage their turn around as well. We all make it back to the house very soon thereafter. Our Saturday morning walk takes no more than 10-15 minutes. It is probably 1/8 mile each way down the drive.

May 13, 06:20 PM by Timothy Stark Raisbeck