UPDATE: Solid waste division workers finally made it to our neighborhood Wednesday. And for those who asked, we took our friend's beloved deceased dog to the emergency room at Gulf Coast Veterinary Center, where she made arrangements to have her precious pooch creamated.

-----------------------

Houston has an abysmal national reputation as a city that doesn't recycle, but my Montrose neighborhood is pretty good at it.

We save our junk mail, wash out tin and plastic and pick up occasional stray aluminum cans on the side of the road for recycling. Every other Monday, we faithfully put our green city of Houston bins full of recyclables out on the sidewalk for pickup.

This week, we're still waiting for them to be emptied.

On day three, the streets are looking unusually bedraggled with forlorn bins filled with soggy papers. Thankfully, some of the area's homeless have picked through the bins and removed the aluminum cans so they can earn a little loose change.

It's been reported to the city's 311 number, where the person who answered the phone said the solid waste division is probably just behind in their work and they'll probably get to it in a few days. A call to the mayor's liason for solid waste was not immediately returned Wednesday morning.

I guess it could be worse.

A friend's 70-pound dog died unexpectedly on Sunday at her home and her vet's office was closed. She called the city and was told to wrap the dog and leave it in front of her house and it would be picked up — in one to three days.