Trash Talk

My husband doesn't like to take out the trash. He will do it if I ask him to, but it is not his favorite chore. Something about his hands feeling dirty even after he washes them. 

I don't mind taking out the trash. It is fast and easy and it makes a big difference in my piece of mind (not to mention the smell of the room if we are talking diapers or things that should be in a compost pile). So, I usually do this chore. No problem. Except for lately...

Our landlords (being the thoughtful people that they are) built a little enclosed area where the trash and recycle cans live. It has a little gate that closes up so you can't see what is inside and there is ivy growing all around and on top of the enclosure. It is nice to be able to hide our unsightly cans. There are only two problems with this arrangement.

Number one, I am the sole person in charge of bringing the cans out to the street for trash day. We live in a triplex, but our neighbors are two single ladies and I think Dan just volunteered us to do all the trash work when it came time for us to figure out a schedule. This way we don't have to keep track of who's turn it is. It is always my turn. The problem with this is that if I forget, the trash may overflow until I remember to bring it out the next week. The other ladies never complain, and they don't create a lot of trash, so that problem is usually fine. 

The Number two problem actually just started becoming a problem. The ivy is starting to get a little overgrown, and the top of the short little shed is starting to sag, and there are creepy crawlies EVERYWHERE. I may be able to deal with the germs on a garbage bag, but I do not want to be bitten by anything. I have stopped taking the trash out at night because I can't see very well and there is always something rustling in the ivy. Rats? Birds? I don't care, I don't want any creature to touch me. In the day it isn't that fun either. Yesterday there was a huge spider (like fist sized) right in front of the gate. I'm sure that is a great place to catch flies, but it freaked me out. I asked our landlord to tell the gardener to cut the ivy down, but I don't know if he will remember to do that. I would talk to the gardener directly, but I don't know how much English he understands. He is super nice, but he seems to have a hard enough time when I am just trying to say hello. I'd ask Dan to talk to him in Spanish, but Dan is not home when the gardener is here.

To make a short story long, I no longer like taking out the trash.