Composting Toilet

We got our composting toilet today and amazingly my children had to go to the bathroom WAY more than usual.  Something tells me they will be a bit less excited when it's their chore to take the compost out ;).

We decided to go with the Sunfrost composting toilet.  It's a super simple design: toilet base with 5 gallon bucket, fan and vent hole to provide air circulation and toilet base lid with toilet seat.  The kit also included the insulation, lids and instructions for 55 gallon drums to be used for the compost.  After I opened the boxes and checked out the kit, I went in search of pine shavings and 55 gallon steel drums.  The local feed store had the pine shavings but didn't know where to get the drums.  I asked Siri to find "55 gallon steel drums in.....".  Siri didn't know much but did direct me to the online yellow pages where I got some numbers for places that might have steel.  One of the places I called directed me to Wilcox and Flegel but the ones they had were brand new and close to $50 a drum.  I knew I could get them used for around $25 so I kept looking.  I decided to drive through the industrial area and see if any businesses had steel drums sitting around.  An electric company had one in their back lot so I waltzed in there and asked if they knew where I could get a used 55 gallon steel drum.  They didn't seem to know where I could get one.  Thankfully, one of the customer's overheard me and suggested I try Pacific Pride next door.  Pacific Pride ended up being run by Wilcox and Flegel and they do sell used drums but they didn't have any today.  The kind receptionist suggested I try LineX next door.  The gentleman at LineX was more than helpful in giving me 2 used 55 gallon steel drums they had.  Yes, gave them, free of charge!  I was really thankful.  I am really thankful.  Despite the fact that I had to drain out the nasty black oil substance at the bottoms of them, I am thankful.  I will continue to be thankful while I try to figure out how to finish cleaning out the residue on the insides of the drums tomorrow.  As thankful as I am, the thought did cross my mind that maybe, just maybe, the gentleman at LineX gave them to me because he didn't want to have to clean them himself...just a thought.  Either way I AM thankful that I didn't have to pay the $50-100 I would have had to pay elsewhere.