Without the convenience of curbside pick-up, county-dwellers like us have to lug our trash to the dump, and for the last several years, Jack and I have used a small trailer Jack purchased secondhand shortly after we moved from McMinnville and needed a better way to transport bags of sometimes drippy, smelly bags of garbage than in the back compartment of our SUV.
The trailer has served us well, but it was looking AND getting rickety. The sides were in bad shape and susceptible to critter invasion, the lights no longer worked properly, and the frame was plagued by rusty patches.
After coming up with a plan, Jack launched into his project, carefully measuring and cutting two-by-fours and rabbit wire to build secure new side panels, painting the frame, and installing a new light kit.
His hard work resulted in a trailer that looks brand-new and is actually street-legal.
And all this time we'd been blaming raccoons for the infiltration of our garbage when the culprit is actually a healthy-looking opossum.
Jack used the "new" cart for the first time Tuesday, and while walking the dog that evening, he spied our visitor, perched on the side of the cart, looking sad because there were no garbage bags for him (or her) to rummage.
Neither of us have ever looked an opossum and thought, "how cute," before, but this one is kind of adorable with crinkly whiskers over his eyes and a perfectly pink nose.
His photos were a big hit on facebook.
