Seeing the trash mountains can be overwhelming. It feels like there is always more trash. But load by load, they shrink and change. After a few days of chipping away at them, I missed Thanksgiving in the US, and made a special dinner: stuffing.

After driving off two of the piles, I spent an afternoon breaking down the wood. Everything has to fit into my trunk, so I took apart the larger stuff.

The dump was closed for the day, so I prepared instead. I made a pile with furniture which is free to dump, and one with wood I’ll have to pay to get rid of. Some of this furniture was way too easy to break apart. The already cheap, old furniture had been sitting in the rain and wind for weeks.

The mini chain saw made quick work of more stable items like the rotting pallets.

I just spent a few hours taking apart wooden pallets and furniture and all the stuff on the trash heaps. And, I’ve made really good progress. Now Pepper is cold, so we are going to go home.

The sun is setting over there. But, I’ve made good progress. Let me show you. So, there’s just a few last pieces there. It’s just one piece of fence and a bunch of smaller stuff that I’ll just get a wheel barrow and just move that around.

Three pallets that I need to saw apart, but that should be rather quick. And then there’s all of this wood, but it’s all in smaller pieces that will fit my trunk. So yeah, there we go. And then here, there’s furniture pieces, because I don’t have to pay to get rid of those so, I’ve separated them. Yeah, progress.

I’ve already made a lot of progress getting rid of the trash, and there’s a lot of rounds driven to the dump. But there is still all the wood and the metal left. So… I’m going to the next town today anyway for an appointment, and there is no way I am going there with an empty trunk.

So, it’s time to get the soil out of my trunk, so I can get more wood into my trunk.

The wood is covered in rusting nails and splinters. With gloves and boots, I went to work. The pieces are heavy, and even after a summer of roof work, I’m still a tiny person. I am getting stronger with each day spent here.

It was great to see the piles shrink slowly with every step I took. It took a lot longer to load the wood than previous loads, because I had to play a lot of Tetris with it.

There has been a fire in the main hall of the dump, so things are a little improvised here. Even I was glad to be wearing thick boots.

I’m having a lot of fun throwing trash each time I go, though. Oddly satisfying. Again, I had to break for their lunch, but did another round in the afternoon.

I was getting closer to the bottom of the pile. The wood was more and more rotten. The gray tarp has been great, but, boy, will my car need a cleaning when this is done.

The trunk is filled with trash! One more round done. I’m excited to get this out of here. There is still some wood left. I won’t get this done today, but I have made progress. So, let me get to the dump, and get rid of this.

By the time I was done, it was dark and cold.

Sunset is before 4 PM by now, so bad lighting in the kitchen is the norm now. As we currently live in Germany, Thanksgiving isn’t a thing here. It’s something I miss here.

I decided to use some stale bread rolls to make stuffing. Though, calling it stuffing when I’m not using it to stuff feels wrong. I also didn’t follow a recipe, so it’s more “stuffing-inspired.”

There was still some broth and fat left from the duck I’d taken apart. I used mushrooms instead of celery, different spices, and there was no meat in sight for this meal. I didn’t miss the turkey. I missed the company.

My husband and I enjoyed the stuffing a lot. None of it made it through the night. There is something special about a table filled with loved ones. With friends and family far away, this is the next best thing.

So long, and thanks for being here.