Disposing

You don't have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them.
-- Ray Bradbury

Saturday, March 10, 2001
Two years ago: Joining
Three years ago: The Opposite

Jack wanted to work with his daughter A---- on moving the beds upstairs. This is in a congested area, so it was best if I stayed out of the way. I did some work in the kitchen and cleaned the half bath while they yelled at each other. "Use your words, A-----" says Jack, commendably restrained when she started growling and moaning.

They did succeed at getting the ratty old full-size bed downstairs (this is what Jack and I used to sleep on in his old house), then moved the trundle bed from his room to her room. This trundle bed didn't really ever work well as a sleeping solution for Jack and me. Jack's stuff tended to spread into the area needed for pulling out the lower bed. Also, Jack's back problems have made it much more comfortable for him to sleep in his recliner!

They got the old bed loaded in the Blazer, with the box spring tied down on top, and the mattress folded inside. The metal rails and the headboard were also on board. Jack and I set off to find a method of disposing of them.

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I was worried about these objects falling out of the back of the truck, but Jack reminded me that if he stopped suddenly, they would move forward towards us! So I ask him to only accelerate slowly.

I had a feeling Goodwill wouldn't take this stuff (they are picky about furniture) and told Jack of my doubts, but I didn't have first-hand knowledge of their current policy. Sure enough, the wiry man standing at the donation area in back of the store said they didn't take mattresses. "But Value Village does, I think..." We could get there on a back road, and we wanted to go to that end of town anyway, so it was worth a try.

D'oh! They only take mattresses that are in "saleable condition." Funny that we feel defensive about stuff that we are trying to get rid of, but it's true. Even though it doesn't meet Jack's needs anymore, couldn't someone get some use out of it? He didn't even offer the rest of the stuff. At least the guy told us where the dump is, and it wasn't too far, just a few miles up the freeway.

We managed to get the stuff offloaded, and the fee was only three bucks. I think Jack felt a bit sad about getting rid of it! He'd had the bed for a long time.

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At Compucare I inspected every shelf while Jack chose the computer parts he wanted. He's building himself a new system. He'd been debating with himself for a while between a laptop and a new desktop machine, but winning the contest means he can go ahead with the desktop plan -- a laptop is included in his winnings.

At Costco he picked out a large hard drive. Wow, at last they had the type of bookshelves he wanted, after not carrying them for so many months! I offered to write the check since he'd just dropped so much on the computer. Jack decided against any stop at Walmart for more drawer-type storage units.

We got A----- to help in bringing the bookshelf in. It was taller than the ones Jack already has! We opened the box right there in the truck, and carried it in board by board. That saved Jack's back to some extent. Things were shifted around, and Jack and A---- worked on assembling the shelves directly. I stayed upstairs, out of the way. They succeeded, with some degree of yelling and shouting. I gave lots of praise, and indeed, I was impressed! Jack kept going, convincing A---- to work on moving books from his existing shelves without getting them out of order. I ended up ordering pizza, when it was past dinnertime.