“Remoted” Day 287 (Monday)

In shocking news, the day kicked off with Moose barking. This was followed by going outside, eating breakfast, then attempting to poop on the rug in front of the sink before I could get him back outside. He was getting into poop position when I spotted him, but I ran over and shooed him to the door. He almost made it outside – the first of it landed on the threshold, the remainder was planted on the little deck outside the door. After it was cleaned up, I could finally get dressed.

Before coffee, the trash was bagged. The trash and recycle bins are rolled to the curb before the recommended time of 7:00. Sometimes the trucks arrive shortly after 7:00, so delaying can be a gamble. My next-door neighbor, owner of the last house on our dead-end street, is never one to gamble with the pickup time. One of the barrels from her multifamily was posted in front of my house before 8:00 Sunday morning. By the afternoon, the full contingent of barrels arrived.

This morning’s first light revealed three trash bins and two recycle bins perfectly spaced and centered along the entire 22-foot length of my front yard fence in an impressive and precise display of symmetry and balance. A green recycle bin sat on each end with three red bins meticulously placed between them. There was no room left for my barrels in the space along my own property frontage. This is often the case, but it doesn’t always bother me. Today it did. 

I marched out to the street in a huff and kicked the neighbor’s recycle bin on the end to shove it into the next trash bin, and then shoved and shifted all five bins to fit my own trash bins at the curb. I did this with as much noise as possible, although this effort was mostly wasted, as the perpetrator had already left for work.

Spaghetti squash seeds.

Yes, there was swearing, and I hope any witnesses enjoyed the performance. It was juvenile, but the exertion of kicking and slamming the bins made me feel better. It’s probably better to punch the neighbor’s trash bin in front of my house than the neighbor. Almost immediately after the recycle truck came, the tenant removed the two recycle bins from the front of my house, so I suspect she may have seen the morning spectacle. The bins often remain in place as late as Wednesday, after having been placed there some weeks as early as Saturday morning.

In a flurry of vacation day activity, the very large spaghetti squash was roasted today. This feat first required hacking my way into the squash with my non-professional grade, lightweight knives. It was huge, and there is now more roasted spaghetti squash than I know what to do with. 

The squash seeds were roasted, providing a new favorite roasted seed. Spaghetti squash seeds are larger than those from butternut and acorn squash, and very tasty. The home roasted squash seed rankings now stand at spaghetti, acorn, butternut. In case you are wondering.