Garbage collection day

Today is garbage collection day in our little community, and since we live very quiet lives, it sometimes takes on an air of drama and even dismay. First comes the chore of emptying out all of the wastebaskets and collecting all of the papers and depositing them in the recycle bin. Then the bin is dragged out to the end of the driveway and placed in position to be picked up by the garbage truck. Since my husband is a devout believer in recycling he monitors my efforts closely and will not tolerate a can or bottle going into the garbage bin. Since the garbage truck very often deposits both the recyclables and the garbage into the same truck, I feel no great compulsion to be fastidious about it. But it is easier to follow his dictates than to have a family row about it.
The garbage is then collected and deposited into the garbage bin. Where does it all come from? I empty out the refrigerator and the freezer and the receptical under the sink. We have no garbage disposer, so we really do have a lot of left-overs to throw out. Last but not least comes the garden bin, which holds garden clippings and small twigs and small limbs of trees.
Finished! We are ready. This is done the night before collection day.
The drama comes when we hear the huge automated garbage trucks come down the hill above us and house after house pick up all three of the bins waiting for them there. These trucks have a huge arm which comes down, grasps the bin and raises it high into the air, turning it upside down. at which point the lid falls open and the contents fall down into the truck. Then the arm comes back down, deposits the bin at the side of the street. If the driver has followed protocol, he will leave the other two bins where they are for the next trucks to follow. The drama comes if the driver fails to orchestrate the operation correctly and the bin falls on its side and rolls along the street. Then someone has to run out and pull it back into its place in the driveway. Dismay is generated on those instances when the truck breaks a tree limb or bangs into a fence.
Householders follow a strict code of behavior with these garbage bins. No one is supposed to deposit anything into another's bin without first asking permission. It is considered bad form to sneak out in the middle of the night to put bags into one's neighbor's bin. Many a time my husband has leaped out of bed to peer out of the window to see if the noise he heard was a poacher on his bins. Fairly often raccoons will manage to get into the bins with horrific results.
Today all went well. One by one, my husband brought in the bins and put them back into their places beside the garage wall. There they will stay for a week and then it is all to be done again.