how could it not be? i mean, we went on a field trip at a biosolids plant at ten o'clock this morning. there is NOTHING to perk you up like seeing the many stages of purification of sewer water and how they turn it into "sludge cake" (which is a really, really nice term for dried out, compressed shit that does not smell like chocolate) and compost and sell it back to the public. i used to be amazed by the signs on the side of the road in a the rural-ish community i lived in that would say "lamb manure for sale"...i'd think, "wow, that's ballsy...your animal shits and you ask us to pay you for it." but really...where we went today, these guys are geniuses...selling our own shit back to us...wow.
seriously, i think it's an awesome thing. otherwise our shit would go into landfills. so putting it back to use is great. this place also gets all the tree debris the city and the rest of the population generates when trimming for power lines, etc., and they chop 'em up, mix 'em up with the "dewatered biosolids" (another tricky word for dried up, compressed shit), and sell 'em as nutrient enhanced mulch for our flower gardens. it was neat. but it did smell like shit...there's no denying that.
so yes, i pulled myself out of my funk by literally surrounding myself with shit. maybe the problem is the solution? not exactly what i had in mind, but i couldn't pass up the little connection.
now i think i will go to park day. maybe....
and tomorrow, i travel to pick up my packet for my half marathon. i am ready to be finished running in races for awhile. i am really, really busy, and committing to run only stresses me out instead of the outlet running is supposed to be and usually is.
yesterday i realized i had forgotten this field trip. i'm so glad i got reminded the day before instead of the day after, because i've had the latter happen as well and it sucks so much more than the first.
my fourteen year old is also asking to be enrolled in a dual enrollment college class at a technical college about thirty miles away. i am looking into it, and it definitely seems like something that can be done, but it is also challenging me, this whole "fruit of my looms" growing up thing...and i don't mean learning to use the potty or use his own fork, either...i'm talking hair in places i used to be in charge of cleaning, chest broader than father's, shaving, wearing adult sized clothing, and now, hey, how 'bout i go to college? growing up. it's not bad...i mean, it's really mostly pretty good...it's just weird.
ok, i don't want to put myself back in a funk. (and i swear i still kind of smell the biosolids plant, too...)
peace
Friday, November 14, 2008
yeah, today's better
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2 comments:
"Dewatered biosolids" - that's hilarious. Although it sounds a little like they've been violated. Okay, so you mulch your flowers with this stuff, then it rains and what? I'm not sure I want to know...
And those boys, growing up as if they just are not cooperating. LOL. It's sounds wonderful.
well, there's a lot of bioactivity that goes on. i thought they'd pump it full of stuff to kill all of the, what we were cutely calling, "bugs". but what they do is turn it over a lot to promote oxygen and natural decomposition of much of the "junk". they do treat the water with chlorine and then with sulfur dioxide to remove the chlorine...but the biosolids, no. they just "cook" it by composting it. the guy said by governmental standards, they can sell it unrestricted, but they still tell their purchasers to only use it on non-food beds.
so when it rains, the compost on the mulch dissolves, feeds your beds, and probably smells a hell of a lot better afterward...haha.
more than you ever wanted to know?... :)
(i actually figured you'd be the one to find this almost as fascinating as i did...i'm so glad we found each other! <3 )
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