I took out the trash Nov. 30. Scratch that. I was supposed to take out the trash. As usual, I got too busy working for the newspaper to do my domestic duty. So, my wife took out the trash. She often does, truth be told. (I made her lunch. I do most of the cooking. I am not useless. At least not totally.) Republic, the company that replaced Heartland earlier this year, has not done well handling our trash – anyone’s trash, really. I heard that from folks in Richmond, Excelsior Springs and Warrensburg. When first taking on the responsibility, Republic’s trash haulers often came a day or two late. After several weeks, the company seemed to get on track. We enjoyed a few weeks of on-time, or at least same-day, pickups. Then came Thanksgiving. After waiting from the holiday to the following Tuesday, our trash day, the carcass of a bird and other discarded food items went into the waste bin and out to the curb....