Sh** happens!
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Quite literally here at Chez Green it would appear.
Little Miss Green hotfooted it to our local farm park last week with a friend of ours. She had a great time bouncing, swinging, sliding and climbing in an indoor adventure playground and then went outside to see the animals.
They’ve just had some gorgeous jersey calves born there at the farm park. They are very cute. When I went to pick Little Miss Green up our friend apologised that they were all covered in pig poo! (I’ll save you the scratch and sniff photograph of that one)
No one really knows how it happened. One minute they were admiring the piggies and the next there was a stamp, a snort, a sniff and a showering of you-know-what.
It was emergency bath time as soon as we got back to the house. Little Miss Green put on her goggles, as nine year olds are wont to do, and got on with the task of cleansing herself underwater.
Later on she went out to feed the compost heap. She came upstairs later with a “Mum; would you be really angry if I had broken something?”
Coming closer and hiding something behind her back, she began to tell a tale of woe. She had fallen whilst carrying the plastic box back from the compost heap. She put her hands down to break her fall and landed half inside the box.
It had broken of course.
It’s a recycling code 5, which means it’s either going to have to come on holiday to Devon with us and be put into mixed plastics recycling or it’s going to have to be packed up and posted to GHS.
To top it all off, LMG was covered in mud this time.
Ho hum.
As Mr Green’s mantra goes “Life’s messy!”
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Poor LMG! Sounds like she had a messy day. We live in the country, so my kids have their fair share of two bath days. 🙂
Absolutely, Life happens!
The important thing is LMG wasn’t hurt during her farm adventure or after her fall. Stuff can be replaced – kids can’t.
Could you mend the box or use it for something else? We’re forever mending things at our house and also finding other uses for them……good luck and glad you daughter’s okay xxxx
Thanks Ladies; LMG is fine and dandy thank you. Not sure about mending it, Sandie – I’ll get my resident Robinson Crusoe to take a look. 🙂
I re-sewed a seam on the outlaws recycling bag (for carrying down from flat to recycling bins) this weekend. (“Oh, it’s only an old thing” – but just a few stitches and the handle doesn’t fall out any more so it’s perfectly serviceable.) This has reminded me that plates used to be mended with staples – presumably before there were specialist glues. Fishing line makes a useful thread too. Maybe you needn’t give up on it yet!
well at least lmg is ok.
We’re thankful she wasn’t cut on the box when she fell – they do get jagged! Most plastics will become brittle afte a while, especially if they get any UV exposure. I used to use an antique “combinet” for my compost. That’s an enameled metal bucket, with sturdy handle, and a cover, used in days before there were indoor toilets. The contents of the gussunder (the ceramic pot under the bed, get it?) were emptied into it for transportation. It makes an excellent compost bucket. Much to my sorrow, it got left behind in a move. I’m always on the lookout for another one at flea markets and rummage sales.
Unexpected rubbish seems to appear in our house too. This past couple of weeks has probably been the worst case because the cooker broke and couldn’t be fixed. It had done well, it was from the 1970s, but the company who made it went out of business many years ago and spares couldn’t be found. No sooner had we sent a big double built in gas oven (bigger than most 240l wheelie bins) off to landfill, we were pulling a shiny new one out the box, and with it two huge bits of polystyrene packing that sneaked their way in when we weren’t expecting them. I managed to break them up and squash them in our 120l wheelie bin, which is now stuffed full, but considering it all fitted with two weeks of our normal rubbish (from four people) in there too, it does show how much the everyday stuff has been reduced now we’re composting and buying less non-recyclable packaging. The card box went in the recycle bin.
Then, to top it all off we had old shoes. Not the type you give to charity stores, the type you say “ugh” and throw in the landfill bin. So, for the first time in months, we’ve actually filled the bin.
@Jane: Plates with staples? Hmmm, not so sure about that one. We do, however, have a hammock fashioned out of old fishing nets we found washed up on the beach – it’s provided hours of fun for many local children and our own LMG 🙂 Well done on mending the bag; it’s a very satisfying thing to do.
@Magdalena: The enamelled metal bucket sounds amazing; what a shame it got left behind. I hope you find another one 🙂
@Ben: Oh no! I hate it when you get weeks like that. Still, a new cooker isn’t a regular occurrence 😉
As you said though, it shows how little waste you are now creating. Mr g has done something very creative and practical with a stash of polystyrene this week – I’ll write about it soon.
@Mrs Green: Polystyrene is almost impossible to recycle, but it does have a few uses. Some people use it for drainage in the bottom of plant pots instead of stones (saves weight in big pots too). I’ve done this in the past, but really had no use for it this time. I’m now wondering what you’ve been turning it in to?
As for unexpected waste, the bad luck continued with the arm breaking off the washing line the next week. A lot of stuff in this house is quite old, it’s only to be expected that the occasional items will break, but household fixtures and appliances are very difficult to dispose of anywhere other than the landfill. I had to throw out a record player about this time last year because it was broken (not worth repairing, it was a fairly cheap ITT model from 1965), but then I did end up buying a refurbished record player to replace it so that at least was very resource efficient and saved it from landfill.
@Ben: Hi Ben, ah yes, the polystyrene; all will be revealed! We have an old house where things break and drop off too; one of the bad bits, but not one I would give up for a modern house 😉