the website that goes with this blog is an attempt to drum up construction biz so i'll attempt to post some biz related blog posts. this one's about batts. boards and batts. siding. wood shrinkage. wood stain. fir versus cedar.

doug fir 1x3's

well it is indeed true that anyone can blog these days. reminds me of road trips in rural mexico when you know you're coming to a town because you see more and more garbage. then  most of these towns have at least one guy who takes it upon himself to drive around with a bullhorn, ranting about something he's got issue with. my spanish is not great but the enthusiasm, the charisma that these guys display thru their oratory always inspired me. so this is my outlet. cheers

the banana tray is a relic from better times at the san juan county solid waste facility. back then it was just the town dump run by a couple clove cigarette smoking gals, very masculine gals as i remember, and very resourceful. that was 1999 and the dump seemed to be open whenever you needed to go. you didn't really need to have garbage to dump to go because the dump boasted a ever changing interesting inventory of items the dump gals deemed not worthy of a ferry ride to the landfill. "you're new around here?" she said with a wink. i nodded. "you gotta boat?" nope. "well i got a perfectly good one for you over here..." fifteen minutes later i was heading home with a 12' livingston and the banana tray.
jump to 2012 and things are very different at the dump. my shop is full of garbage bags, the heavy duty big bags filled with garbage and recycle. they're piled on top of dirtbikes, stuffed in corners 2-3 high. i keep a note board near my computer in the shop with a corner devoted to town dump hours/days open. i've had to change it so many times that that part of the noteboard is chaotic and illegible. the dump is rarely open when i hope it is. if i get lucky and the dump is open i try to be prepared with a snack, a laptop, coffee and patience. the overly elaborate multiple weigh-in/weigh-out is just one aspect of a depressing dump experience these days.
what happened at the dump? it's complicated and i don't have all the facts but i can tell you our local bureaucrats can claim very few victories in their efforts to help the dump thru a slow economy. did you know if you're lucky enough to have a truck with a dump-bed they won't let you use it to dump your trash at san juan solid waste? well you can bring the trash in the truck but they'll make you unload the trash by hand. that is so utterly stupid.