Mom and Dad burned most of our household trash in a 55-gallon drum behind our house. We lived out in the country where trash pick-up was something you saw on TV or read about in a book. There was a dumpster or two in Star, but it was much easier to take it out back and burn whatever could be burned. At least it was easier for everyone except my parents.

Mom and Dad did a pretty good job of sorting through the trash before it was ever taken out to the burn barrel. Leftovers were taken care of by the dogs. Vegetable peelings and the like were collected in a separate bucket and tossed between rows in the garden as organic fertilizer. Large, indestructible items like non-working lawnmowers we...

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