Somebody's compost is another person's garbage

This is what the restaurant-owner down the road calls compost.  He carries his dirty paper towels (from the bathroom?) and other garbage mixed with food waste and dumps it in his field.

Bears, coyotes, turkey vultures and domestic dogs adore this "banquet" of treats that he puts out for them daily.  Oh, sorry, that he puts out to "compost" daily.  And my dogs just can't leave it alone -- and it sucks.

I've tried everything, put this dog out and not the other, those two but not that one, and there is no secret combination.  If the wind is just right and the pile just ripe, they head down.  At breakneck speed -- I've caught them en-route, the day I went down to take this picture.  They are single-minded in their pursuit of yummy yummy garbage.  And with the full moon the past few nights, they've been headed down at night too.

Today I realized something had to be done, so I called the owner and in the most genial tone I've got going, I said to him, Hi, this is your neighbor up the road and I was wondering if you would mind if I came down there with a shovel and some bags and got rid of that garbage for you in the field.

He said no.

I said, genially, soothingly, encouragingly, but why not?   You don't have to do a thing!  I will just come and remove it and take it to the dump.

He said no.

I said, but it's really a problem, there are wild animals traipsing through my property to go feed on your pile, not to mention my dogs.  And since it is just garbage, I don't see why you would mind ...

I said no, he said nastily.  How many times do I have to say it?  This is my property ... I pay $8,500 a year in taxes and it is my field and I can do whatever I want on it.

I said with a purr, I knnnnnow it's your property, I do not dispute that at all, and I agree, we should all be allowed to do as we wish with our own property, I am just asking if I can dispose of your garbage.

It's not garbage, he interrupted me, it's compost.  (please refer to picture here).

I was getting a little ticked off at this point -- clearly his agenda is I get to do whatever I want and no one is going to tell me otherwise -- I heard that loud and clear.  But that doesn't SOLVE MY PROBLEM.

I said no, it's not compost.

Yes it is, he said.

I said I hope that you don't actually use that in your garden ... in your food.

And he said "only on yours."

Nice, huh?

I took a deep breath and said, can't we just be neighborly about this?  Can't we come to some type of an agreement here.

I get visits from your dogs all the time, he said.

I know, I replied, and I would do anything to stop it.

Build a fence, he said.

Or, I said, I could take your garbage to the dump for you!  

It's not garbage, and this isn't Russia or Iran, I can do whatever I want, no one gets to tell me what I do with my property.

I said, but I bet that even in Russia or Iran there are people who wish to be good neighbors.

Then he got really nasty and I actually hung up, because I didn't want to lose my cool.

And then I reacted and wrote a letter to the N.H. Bureau of Food Protection and I think we all know I might just as well piss in the wind as to believe that anything will come of that, but it's better than going down there with gasoline and torching the pile, which has been my latest thought.  Though my dogs probably would appreciate BBQed garbage!

I have actually been avoiding this because to me it seems steeped in negativity and I didn't want to go there.  But the fact of the matter is that it's getting worse, not better, and I am so frustrated with the situation.  

I then watched the third installment of the Oprah videocast of A New Earth -- and it was speaking to me.

Whatever you fight, you strengthen -- and what you resist, persists.

Am I fighting this?  Well, ultimately I suppose, but my conscious thought today was how can I deal with this in a positive manner?   And my answer was to offer to rid us both of his garbage.  He didn't like it.  Then, I thought, well he is a very sad person, and I realize that it is his ego ranting and raving and I've known from meeting him in the past that he is abrupt and rude, so none of that was a big surprise.  I consciously understand this, I understand it is his ego holding on to his garbage pile for all it is worth -- and I understand that it is my ego trying to be a better person than he is!  I get all this.

But the damn pile is still there!

But in retrospect I can see that I was reactionary-- and this is very, very bad!  And here's the thing -- I am strapped with a honking ego AND a trigger ready reactionary response.  I have no problem ranting out emails and pushing the button.  I am doubly cursed and I know this.

But then ... Oprah said about dealing with irrational people -- that you had to be highly evolved to receive them as they were and ultimately bring them into your conscious state of awareness.  And I thought Ha!  I had it, I tried, but it's not easy.  And Eckhart Tolle said that people react automatically -- because there are thousands of years of such behavior hard wired into us.  But if you realize after an event has occurred what you did, then you are on your way to a harmonious state of consciousness and not resistance.

Well phew!  I don't want drama!  Truly!

I just want the pile of crap to dissolve.  And somehow my ego and my reactionary impulses must dissolve too.

 I am mellllllllllTing.