We live in San Jose, California, which has an extensive and effective
recycling program. They take almost everything: Cans & Cartons, Glass,
Paper & Cardboard, Plastics, Polystyrene, Scrap Metals, Textiles,
Used Motor Oil & Filters. They will also pick up larger items (furniture,
appliances, mattresses) on arrangement. John and I are dedicated
recyclers and have two bins: one for garbage and the other (twice as large)
for recycling. Over the years, we recycle more and more. Last weekend, however,
we achieved a personal best by reusing several hundred pounds of steel.
(My daughter said we are paying back the environment for driving an SUV.)
Ten years ago, our house had a swimming pool with the required
fence around it to keep kids from falling in. The fence was made out of
heavy steel rail panels, painted black. Two years ago, we filled in the
pool to put in the very short rail line for WP668, our backyard caboose.
We left the black metal fence up while we were working to keep our dogs
out of the construction. Once we did remove the fence, we stored the
sections just in case some use would turn up.
Last week, something turned up. We have a long garden strip with silk
trees (also called Albizia or mimosa), privets, gazanias, California poppies,
sweet alyssum, four o’clocks, and fennel between our neighbor’s driveway
and ours. To widen our garden, after talking with our neighbor, we removed
the concrete and asphalt on our side and put up a fence to keep cars off
the plants. We spent the three day weekend constructing a new fence out
of pieces of the old. John’s welding skills came in very useful. I hate
digging post holes. We removed about 4 cubic yards of concrete and asphalt.
Tomorrow, we have 4 cubic yards of top soil being delivered. That’s progress!
Silk tree flowers
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Fennel flowers
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Our “new” fence
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Images Copyright 2008 by Katy Dickinson and John Plocher
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