Year 3, April 18th-19th, 2018: CGS, Garbage Facility Field Trip

Wednesday was normal, so I'll share some of those pictures.  And then today we got to take Abishai to the garbage dump!  He was so excited!  I didn't have any expectations about how it will go, but I think we saw and understand enough to think twice about putting things in the garbage.  Actually, the guy who went through a power point presentation about how they put together a "cell" in the landfill, wasn't terribly exciting and didn't focus on a whole lot of reduce/reuse/recycle, thank goodness.  No fancy songs or sayings.  He did emphasize safety of the water table and how they collect any run off from landfill so that the water can be properly treated (more on that below).  We already do as much as we can to reduce waste in our house.  We could start a compost pile easily though, we have tons of space to do that.  We got to watch the power point, and then went out next to the landfill and wow is it tall!  But even after 45 years of operation at this CGS facility in Morristown, IN, they still have plenty of room and provisions to keep it going.  Still, it's kind of sad that we do this to our earth.  Not only is it better for the earth for us to not use plastic bottles, it's better for our bodies.  Today was a good reminder for us to keep transitioning to more sustainable methods of living, like getting rid of throwaway tupperware and replacing it with glass. I've been hesitant to do that because of the kids being young and potential for breaking it.  And yes, I'm constantly pulling the guys' empty drink bottles out of the trash, although I know it takes energy for them to be recycled.  Even Justin knows now to put the paper in the paper trash bin next to my desk.  We try out best around here.  But it was great information and they were able to share it with Daddy over the phone during dinner.

Jared and Benaiah stayed at church because he's playing drums on the big stage during rehearsal tonight.  He won't be playing on Sunday, though.  The actual drummer just couldn't make it to rehearsal.  He's pretty nervous about it though.  Rehearsal runs from 7-10pm, so I'm off to handle kids and bedtime.  A friend needed a babysitter for her twin 3 yr old boys, so they are here hanging out with us.  Her older son had a skating party.  Abishai is telling one of them, "Aw, don't cry anymore, it's ok.  Mommy be here soon."  He's so very gentle with his friends.  Both he and Benaiah I think have the gift of caring for people.  Benaiah is often involved in breaking up fights and handling negotiations between friends.  He really cares about how people treat others.  Abishai is also very caring and loving, and bossy, of course, because he's three.  They both are people watchers and do something about it.  It's adorable and makes me proud.  Jared has become more and more a people person, and it's cute to see also.  Yes, I said, "cute," because well, he's still cute to me, lol.  The other two and I like to hide and avoid people or watch them from afar.  We need our space away from others for the most part, with just a handful of close friends.

Keturah was working on her handstand to forward rolls yesterday.  I also saw them learning how to do turns ("pirouettes").  Her stunts are coming along quite nicely at gymnastics.  I'm not sure if we are going to take a break this summer or not.  It's up to Mrs. Christy.  And it also depends on if Keturah wants to do another sport in the fall (see below).

Handstand (above)...tuck (here).. and roll (also here)....

Now stand up without putting your hands on the floor!  It's harder than it seems!  She needs a lot more momentum to make it happen.  And she giggled the whole time!

Abishai really likes the other little boy there and today, they did a great job sharing the other little guys' books.  And then since that family also went on the field trip, they shared the books again!  Note to self: put some books in our bag to share, too.  One of the books had bats in them for the "black" color page and Abishai was fascinated by it.  He kept calling it "Halloween."  Although we don't do Halloween, he still sees it on some of his TV shows.  Usually he sees it and runs to us saying "scary!"  But then again, he turns around and plays "ghost."  Interesting.

It turned awfully cold again, but Abishai insisted on going outside, without a jacket and without socks and shoes.  He also wanted to play near the entrance to the crawlspace because the dirt was already exposed and loose.  Don't worry, I did not leave his side because I did not want him accidentally falling into the hole!  Eeek!  But his excavator ride on toy was perfect for this.

We recently brought in the bucket with all the play kitchen stuff, baby doll stuff, and other misc. pretend stuff like tools (mostly for boys, but yes girls, too.)  He's loving all the tools!  He just might be a handyman.  We'll see!

He found a spot for his tools in his truck.

Carry case is supposed to hold some soft, plush tools, but I carefully let him use it for these for a just a big.  I don't want it too dirty because I can't clean it.

Ready to work!  I'm covering up a huge hole in the middle of the patio because he could easily fit all those tools down there and we have no way of retrieving them.

So,...this happened!  Keturah sort of taught herself some basketball and now she wants to play it next winter! I told her that she can't just take a month off of gymnastics whenever she wants to, because the season has it's own schedule.  I'm sure I can find her a Christian/homeschool program to try.

I'm not sure how many misses she had, but she worked pretty diligently for an hour to get 42 baskets!

The anamtoy of a preschooler's backpack: cars, tools, water cup, blankie, microphone, light up stick, socks and shoes.

Benaiah was pretty unhappy when we barged in on him when he was practicing after Bible Bowl, but I don't get to see him play that often so I was taking advantage of the moment.  I hadn't anticipated the others to follow me.  But he's behind that glass!  Way to go, Benaiah!

Spring sunsets!  This one looks darker than the one below because of aperture.  You can tap on the iPhone's screen and it will open or close the lens to adjust how much light goes into the camera.  If I tap on the dark areas, the whole picture gets brighter, so I have to play around with it until I get what I want.

This one didn't need as much adjustment.

New trick!  Jared had flipped how the paci holder is put on the paci, so now the loop is at the bottom.  Abishai can now hook that loop over his big toe and pull the paci to his mouth.  Then he pulls the paci out by extending his leg.

Funny trick!

Sad day.  I finally got my Young Living order and because of the cold and snow on it's journey from Utah to Indiana, one of the bottles broke.  These things are a little more expensive than cheap wine.  I could have upgraded the shipping but I don't think it would have mattered because of the big winter storm the west got.

I had bought a bigger package deal of the Ningxia Red so I could use it more frequently and it would be cheaper per ounce.  Well, most of my savings is now contaminating the big box the shipment came in.  Not the company's fault.  It's just the nature of the transportation business.

I bought the Copaiba.  The other 4 bottles were free because of my big order and because I've had consecutive orders the last few months.  Yeah!

This kid can not only lock the doors from the locking side, but can also unlock them using an adult screwdriver.  Needless to say, I've hidden all the screwdrivers now.  His mind goes a gazillion miles a minute figuring this stuff out!

This is the pipe that siphons off the wastewater from underneath the landfill.  There's a huge procedure for preparing a cell.  They have to dig down to the previous cell's (hill's) liner and tie them with the new one.  But underneath the liner is 3 ft of clay carefully compacted down so that nothing gets to the water table.  The clay has to be 10 ft or above the water table.  After the liner is put in, then they add gravel.  And  I think more dirt.  Abishai was ancy at this point in the slide show, so I couldn't pay attention as well.  Finally, they start layering and compacting the garbage and the dirt.  Dirt helps to keep rodents and smell at bay.

Driving along the landfill.

Tanker truck for the wastewater from the garbage (which is on top of the liner which protects the soil and the water table underneath).  Then the wastewater is transported to the waste water plant to be processed.

They are not currently digging a new cell, but might be soon.  They can also add another layer or two to the top of the current cells.

Bulldozer making sure the garbage gets compacted down where it needs to go.  Actually, this is the dirt layer.  They had a dirty layer every day.  The lady also said that they keep a log as to where each load is dumped and how heavy that load is just in case someone has to come dig it up for a crime scene or something.  Taking care of the trash is a complicated business!

If they hadn't been so busy, we could have gone up to the top.  Oh well.

There's a truck and trailer up there ready to dump a load.

This pipe is used to check on the methane gas build up.  This facility is pretty small and young so there's not enough buildup of methane to use to fuel buildings or trucks yet.  Again, they regularly test these things and are very responsible about it.  Not all waste companies are like that.

Next we drove over to the recycling facility.  They don't sort the plastic and glass and aluminum here at this facility because it's not cost effective.  But they do have separate areas for cardboard, paper, and these other things.

Abishai has a little vehicle just like this one!  A frontloader with a claw attachment on top!

Then the cardbaord at least, and maybe the other things, are compacted and baled.

Here's the compactor.  She said they have 3 men that work here.  They also gather up the bigger items like electronics, couches, appliances, etc and try to recycle what they can.  They do not handle any hazardous materials at this site though.  Morristown is a small country town in a county way out in the country.  I'm not sure of it's service area, but it would probably be to the other small surrounding towns.  I.e. it doesn't have as much volume as the big city of Indianapolis.

Oh, this building used to be a factory, so it's huge!  But they only use this end near the main highway for the recycling stuff and then use the other far end for fixing trucks.  Signs of the times.  Morristown (I think, it might also be the town just west of it) also has a bread/pastry main office, maybe where they make the bread/pastry?  Don't know but we always both of them on our way to gymnastics.

TRAIN! Actually, we were on our way to the Morristown park because we thought others were going there.  This is the Morristown train stop next to the grain silos that are still in operation.  I'm not sure what the train with one car on it was doing though.  We heard it a couple of times when we were out at the landfill, and then it was coming down the track as we were approaching the tracks.  I sped up so Abishai could see it.  It was still there when we drove back over the tracks an hour later.

"Viking child" wanted to immediately go run and play without eating his lunch (he had had two granola bars during the slideshow to keep him quiet) on this cold, windy spring day.  Because the park is remote and there was no one else there, I didn't think twice about him running over there by himself.  Then it dawned on me that I still need to make sure he's not falling off the high ledges or slipping through the metal ladders.  Whoops.  He survived just fine.  Actually, I put Justin partly on duty while I sat in the warmer vehicle for a 5 minutes at a time. I watched how Abishai tested things and figured out if he could do it or not.  I think we might have just reached the stage where I don't have to shadow him every second!  Hm,.....

Then we had a picnic lunch in the vehicle with the doors closed because brrrrrr it was cold!

I've never seen a playground with rock, paper, scissors before!

We took off his coat when he came into the van for lunch but he didn't want it back on when he went to go play again.  He does get very hot sometimes.  And the heavy winter coat is pretty restricting.  Did I mention that it was like 45-50 degrees and all he has on is this shirt? It's a little heavier than other ones, but still, I'm like, he's fine, he'll come to me when he's cold.  He never got cold, but he has come back to me in the past if he is.

And this is why he isn't cold.  Run, big boy, run!  He was playing chase with the other two, as in he was chasing them!

That's pretty neat!  Official Soap Box Derby Wheel for steering wheels in the metal cars.

Bossy Abishai told Justin to get in the car.  Justin decided to be the engine!  He made all kinds of noises and motions like he was the pistons and all that.  It was pretty inventive.

This one looked like a truck!

Cutest brothers ever!  Now if only big brother had his chin resting on middle brother's head....oh well, these two are pretty cute!

Ruffians!

Keturah's turn to drive.

Meanwhile....Benaiah and his friends were playing a mean game of chalkboard eraser toss in the hallway outside of Mrs. McCollum's room.  #teeangers are the new #toddlers and just want to have fun, too!  She said there was a ton of giggling!

Awww, Abishai only left the playground so he could come back to his doggy.  And he put a pillow under Socks' head.  How cute!

"Mommy, I fix your van!"  This is sponsored by all the TV shows he watches about cars getting fixed in the 'pair shop and/or his truck and car book he reads with Daddy every night.  It really looked like he knew what he was doing!

Sharing ride ons with his buddy Nate.  These two spent most of the evening together.

Donovan was sad Mommy left and played mostly on his own.  The boys only fought at the very end of the 2 hrs I watched them.

They mostly played right here among all the cars and trucks.  They had a snack of string cheese, animal crackers and water.  And they were all changed for bed with fresh diapers.  Pajama party!  But the boys were super excited to see their Daddy when he came to get them.  Come again, boys!

Abishai just walked into the bedroom with a bowl of popcorn Keturah made and stated he was going to eat it in my bed.  Ok, let's see how this goes.  So I let him!  He was watching himself eat popcorn in the mirror at the foot of our bed.  "Mmmm, crunchy! All gone! (then he stuck out his tongue).  He even told Daddy about it over the phone when we called to say good night.  #fourthkid  He didn't eat much popcorn and it was over in a few minutes.  He did fall asleep in his own bed by 9 pm because I made Justin go to bed at the same time.  Justin usually stays up later, but we have an early morning haircut tomorrow and it's been hard getting Justin up as of late.  And it also helps when Socks settles in for the night with Abishai at bedtime.  The last two times I had to do bedtime, Abishai fell asleep in my bed after much coaxing, so I'm relieved to know he can sleep in his own bed right off the bat.

Leah doesn't add salt to pre fabricated microwave popcorn (which she doesn't eat anyway, she makes it fresh on the stove top).  However, it's true that Leah likes a lot of salty foods (and some sweet things).  I prefer sweet over salty any day and I don't usually salt my foods, especially vegetables.  #justlikegrandma