We did the hazardous materials disposal thing this morning. We had old paint and miscellaneous jugs of anti-freeze and some mysterious stuff in cans that have long since lost the labels. Lots of it came with the house - my father was big on stuff like industrial strength paints and cleaners. He needed it for the stuff he built and the machinery he maintained. We have changed the color scheme here - no need for gray deck enamel or dark brown stain. There was an inch thick skin on top of the paint and sludge like tar in the bottom of the pails of stain. We added some more up to date items such as old batteries and energy efficient light bulbs gone bad. Actually, it was a surprise when the light bulbs failed. They were well over 10 years old, some of the first that came out, I think, and they just gave out this winter. There were some containers of old oil and other suspicious fluids we've been waiting to dump, so we had a pretty good load to go.

We found the dump site in Hardwick - opposite the town garage on Creamery Street. The folks working there were friendly and helpful - it was all handled very efficiently, and for $10 we got rid of a lot of stuff before it successfully ate through containers and did serious damage, and now we have more room in the garage for our wood.

On our way home, the cattle out by Bricketts Crossing Road were grazing in the field and we stopped to take a picture. They were more interested in eating than bawling this morning, but one or two did sound off. While Fred was taking pictures, Pat Rubalcaba and Mary Jo Dunleavy came walking by, so we had a nice chat with them. Pat came up with a cool idea we are going to try to incorporate into the web site. I'll let you know if/when it works out.

This afternoon a friend sent me a reminder about the primary vote coming up on Tuesday. Polls are open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the Cabot gym.