One Man's Trash is Another Man's Garbage

I'm delighted that the television show Hoarders is back for a third season and the first episode did not disappoint.

Meet Gordon and Gaye. They live in a cluttered, crumbling home in Washington state with their two adult children, ages 39 and 38. Oh, and their cats. Let's not forget the felines. Seven cats were found in the yard in filthy cages and were removed by Animal Control.

Stupid, clumsy Gaye started the trouble by falling in the garbage and not being able to get up for eleven hours. The fire department had to come in and hoist her out of the debris so she could be taken to the hospital. That's when they spotted the cats and, well, it's been downhill from there.

The only thing worse than the decaying house is the attitude of its occupants. They're not just hoarders, they're nasty hoarders. A psychiatrist would be occupied with them and their issues for the rest of their lives, but we were told at the end that the family had declined mental health care.

Ultimately, the house was condemned by the town because it was unsafe for humans and the quartet are now living in an apartment with four of their cats. One wonders how long it will take for them to fill their new residence with garbage. Probably not long at all, I'd reckon.

The other spotlighted hoarder was a little old man with dyed red hair named Sir Patrick who referred to himself as a leprechaun. He had woven a fanciful story of his past and filled his house with thousands of knickknacks that made him happy. Now facing bankruptcy, he's decided to try to sell most of his junque.

He was in serious denial about the cockroaches in his refrigerator, but all in all he was a sweet hoarder. We were informed at the end of the program that he'd suffered a heart attack. Get better soon, Sir Patrick!