THIS IS A VERY SAD MESS ON THE PLAYGROUND . . .

 

I was cleaning up a playground and I saw crayons thrown on the ground.

I'm talking thousands of crayons!

I started picking them up, thinking that they would make an awful mess when the sun melted them.

But there were too many!  Who would do something like this?  Where did they get all the crayons to destroy?

I wish there was a camera so they could find the kids that did this, and have them pick every last piece up!  My guess is they'd never do it again!

Last night, I cleaned Arlington & Archwood.  I have cleaned this intersection before.  It was delightful to clean it again.  

There's a shop on every corner:  a smoke shop, a dollar store, an auto parts store, and a Circle K.  As people waited at the light, they rolled their windows down and thanked me.  It was amazing!  I told a man getting gas at the Circle K that I picked up 22 nails the last time I cleaned this area, and I looked down, and there was a nail by his car!  I picked it up and showed him, and he cringed at the idea that he could have gotten a flat tire.

At the corner where the dollar store is, there was debris from an accident.  I cleaned all that up.  And at the corner where the auto parts store is, I filled an entire bag and had to drive my car over to pick it up.  It was one of the most disgusting areas I've cleaned up.  I had to be careful not to step in poop, and it wasn't dog poop.  Ick!

In spite of the gross factor, I am afraid I'm not going to pick up a million pieces before the end of summer.  I think I'll still pick up a million pieces eventually, but I have to slow down.  Squeezing on the trash grabber up to 10,000 times a day is hurting my hand and my arm.  I thought I had a pinched nerve when I went to the chiropractor.  I thought I needed a new mattress.  Now I know that I'm causing nerve damage by overdoing it.  

I'm going to take days off, and I'm going to pick up trash for an hour or two.  I won't be able to make the impact I'm making in the City of Akron if I slow down that much, but I have no choice.  I don't think the human body is designed to pick up as much trash as I've been picking up.

Wish me luck!  Slowing down is not something I'm good at.