STALACTITES AND COFFEE CLUBS

The sun is out and it's 24º, but it somehow feels colder than yesterday. Wind seems to have more bite.

You know it's cold when the dog has stalactites of frozen slobber hanging from her mouth. Doesn't bother her in the least, but it's a good indicator of windchill.

Lousy day today in the woods. Too windy, too noisy. Had a couple of good squirrel chases, but that was about it for fauna today.

One thing did happen while we were gone. The trash guys dropped off an olive drab cart that we're supposed to use now for recyclables. Yes, Virginia, Camden Township is entering the modern age: we now have curbside recycling.

It'll be convenient, but in some ways it really sucks, because it's going to mean the end of our twice-monthly sessions at the township recycling center.

It's not exactly a recycling center per se. It used to be part of the old township school that was rehabbed into an all-purpose building mostly used for 4-H events, birthday parties and wedding showers. But they also used a recycling grant to buy an old straight truck that they back up to a freight door they installed. Inside the truck are big plastic bins where you drop off your glass, cans and plastic (#1 & #2 only, mind you). When the bins get full, Jim, the township road man, drives over to the landfill/recycling center and they empty everything out so we can fill it up again. It's a real low-rent, low-tech operation that suits us just fine.

Every second and fourth Saturday we go there to drop off our recyclables, and some of us old guys sit around telling lies, drinking coffee and, yes, I'll admit it, occasionally ripping off a good fart when there aren't any women around. It's the only place we have to gather around here.

We used to meet every day at Kipton city hall, but the new mayor and his council acolytes decided they didn't like that, so they kicked us out. Excuse was something about cost of heat and lights, but everybody knows that was a lie, because we didn't turn the heat up and we only turned on a couple of fluorescents and sometimes we sat in the semi-dark. No, they kicked us out because they didn't like the idea of us sitting in their village hall making fun of them. We definitely were guilty of that crime, but mostly we solved all the world's problems every day. We even paid for our own coffee. But they gave us the boot after Al, who was the town clerk, gave up his office.

Al started the coffee club, you see. He'd get there before 9 every morning and put on a pot of coffee and when it was ready, he'd tape a sign in the window that read "Coffee's On." The village hall used to be a little bank and it still has a drive-up window on one side and that's where he'd tape his sign.

They say all good things must end and to our chagrin, that good thing ended in '07. So since then the only opportunity we've had for socializing was the twice-monthly recycling Saturdays. Now even that is giving way to progress. I missed the recycling day after Thanksgiving because we were out of town, so I don't know when the new regime starts. I'm guessing it will be in January. Tomorrow is supposed to be a recycle Saturday so I suppose I'll get the poop then.

The only guy who will be happy with the new arrangement will be Jim. He really hates driving that old piece of shit truck, even though it's only like nine miles each way. Now I guess he won't be bothered with that chore anymore.