Boat Show Blues

In my last post, Jared had a fever during Matt's triathlon. Well, that fever developed into a hospital visit and diagnosis with pneumonia! It's obvious that we are not going to make our trip down to the San Diego Boat Show. Huge bummer, because we both were excited for the trip. Jared even said last night that we should still go. Yeah right, buddy. I called the airline (Alaska Air) and had our tickets postponed for later use (instead of eating the cost of the airfare, they will credit your account the full value of the tickets for later use). The hotel wasn't as cooperative. We still might have to end up eating that $300, but I am hoping to hear back from the manager soon that we won't. 
6-28-16 UPDATE: the hotel refunded the entire amount! We are thrilled! :)

Yesterday, I took the kids to go spend a few days with their grandparents. After all, they were so very much looking forward to going, and this would give Jared a nice and quiet house to recover in. 
My parents happen to live very near my in-laws', so I deposited a second load of stuff to go into storage. I got the shelving all put up and organized the boxes. There isn't much left to bring over, as the storage unit is just about cleared out. That will be my task today and tomorrow, getting the rest out of storage.

We had our yard sale last Saturday and it went well. After it was over, we took the remainder to the donation center. Anything that was not taken by the donation center went to the landfill. That was a mini adventure it itself. You see, Jared has always made that trip. Since he was sick, I just decided to suck it up and do it myself this past Tuesday. The kids have gone with Jared before, so they were excited to be my helpers in this endeavor. 

We arrive at the landfill and Matthew is telling me what to expect and how we will have to drive into this big building and back up the trailer before offloading it. Wait, what? Backing up with a trailer is NOT one of my better skills. I mean, I haven't really had much opportunity to practice, but I already know the couple of times I tried sucked big time. (Flash back to when I dropped off stuff at our storage container at my parent's house. The darn trailer kept jackknifing! It was so frustrating. I know I have to turn the wheel opposite and everything, but with a walnut orchard right behind me, it isn't so easy. I ended up figuring it out, but let's just say it was not my best moment. Note to self: make time to practice this skill!)

Anyway, back to the landfill. Turns out the big building is closed for the day due to maintenance, so we have to drive out to the landfill. The spot they indicated was about a mile and a half out. No biggie, as long as I am going straight, we are all good. Now, if you've ever been out to a landfill, you know the bouquet of aromas that await you, even with the windows up. The waste-water treatment plant is just next to the landfill. I know this much, because I took my 5th grade class out there for a field trip when we had to learn about water filtration for a unit in science (NGSS Unit 3, 5th grade). The kids had to design and construct a device that would filter dirty water and produce clear water at the end. Cool experience, but I digress.

We made it out to the spot and I am greeted by one of the employees who tells me that it is easy to get flat tires out here, so be careful. Great. 

I pull up to the big semi-circle of trucks dumping their loads of trash. "I'll just pull up over here to the side and off-load." I thought to myself. "Then, I can just swing around and take off without needing to back up the darn trailer". Good idea, but it was not to be. Another employee comes over and asks me to move into a specific spot to off-load the trailer. This entails me pulling out and then backing in to the middle of the activity. I went ahead and let him know that I was not the best at maneuvering a trailer while in reverse. He just smiled and said it wouldn't be a problem. 

After backing up slowly and trying to keep things as straight as possible, I finally stop to check just how far back I had to go. There were so many vehicles driving in and out behind me that I decided to check in with the guy to see if he really wanted me to back it all the way up. I think he got the idea, so he said I was fine where I was and that the huge dozer to my right would be right along to scoop up the load and push it into the pile. Ok, fine. I off-load the trailer as fast as I can, while making small talk with the nice employee. How they can stand that smell is beyond me. It's worse than your typical dairy farm experience. Guess they just get used to it. 

A few minutes later, we are pulling away from the landfill and heading home. Another item crossed off the list.