Trashcan full of dirt
I've heard this phrase: trashcan full of dirt as a description of a particular NFL lineman. Very colorful and descriptive: basically someone who is hard to move:
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| Jack Heflin - "trashcan full of dirt" |
https://sports.yahoo.com/packers-signing-dl-jack-heflin-170152227.html
But as the literalist let me say that I once did encounter an actual trash can (think it was a Roughneck) full of dirt. I worked at the Village of Fox Point during 3 summers in college. As I recall (in the mid 1970s) we got $2 per hour and there were no deductions, not even for Social Security.
One day, must have been a Friday or a Monday, I was working on the back of a packer (a garbage truck not a football team) picking up yard waste left by the homeowners at the side of the road. The actual household rubbish was picked up by 2 regular Village guys with little Cushman 3-wheelers. The packer was driven by another regular, Rich.
I was hanging on the back of the truck with another summer kid, Elliot. We come up to this one house, as I recall a dentist and his family lived there. There is a Roughneck at the side of the road. We take off the lid and it is full of mud. It takes both of us to muscle it across the road. But then even together we couldn't lift it up to the lip of the hopper at the back of the truck. Thinking about it now, 40 gallons of dirt would be even heavier than 40 gallons of water (320 pounds) so no wonder we couldn't lift it.
Finally Rich hops out of the truck and tells us to forget it, so we muscle the Roughneck back across the road and the truck takes off.
A few minutes later a big old 1970s Caddy pulls up in front of us and the dentist gets out wanting to know why we didn't take his yard waste. Rich very patiently explained that we weren't able to and took out the Village bulletin with the size/weight restrictions on yard waste. That shut the dentist up and he went back home.
The next Friday or Monday we pull up to the same house and there are a zillion little trash bags of dirt at the side of the road. We took them one by one and threw them into the hopper and then went on our way.
I'll never quite understand why people want to throw dirt away. But an NFL lineman could easily be 320 pounds, the trashcan equivalent. Anyhow, a trash can full of dirt can be moved, however it's just about impossible to dump into the back of a packer.
Best Regards,
Chuck, WB9KZY
http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm
