I'M OVER 700,000 PIECES!!!

 

Today was such a great day!  Way hotter than I was expecting, especially at 3:30 in the afternoon.  

I called my friend, Tom, when I got on the freeway this morning and told him the underpass had some glass bottles laying there, and if he couldn't make it there today, I would start there.  Didn't hear from him, so I headed to Wilbeth & Arlington.

Tom asked me if I was okay, because he didn't see a blog post since Wednesday.  I only post to my blog if something happens I think you would want to see.  Thursday, nothing unusual happened.  I took Friday night off, and I'll take tomorrow off.  I need to rest my hand.

So I cleaned all around the pizza shop, the chicken place, and then I saw all this trash.

It didn't take very long to clean it, but the sun was so hot on my face.  A pickup truck waiting at the light laid on his horn and when I looked that way, he yelled, "THANK YOU!!!"  

Isn't that funny?  It always makes me laugh when people are so grateful, but the idea of helping doesn't really occur to them.  Someday, they will all join in.  I know they will.  They will get so used to seeing it crisp and clean, they will want to keep it that way.

What a huge impact I make in one night!  I cleaned Wilbeth, Arlington, Donald, Sylvan and ended back on Wilbeth.  

I picked up 2,363 pieces of trash and now this area looks beautiful again.

This is how much trash I picked up in that one little spot!  (My bucket is under all that stuff, and it was full.)

I pick up hundreds of these little clear wrappers.  My guess is they are the cigar wrappers that people peel off and toss into the air, thinking they are clear, so who cares, right?

Well, these little suckers shine in the sunlight.  You can see them everywhere.

So I filled my trash bag, and I needed to empty it.  I typically empty my trash bag about every 500 pieces.  The main reason is because it gets too heavy to empty if I don't.  But also, stuff blows out if I let it get too full.

I read that we should empty our trash bags, instead of using new ones.  That reduces the amount of trash bag waste in the landfill.  

But the main reason I do it, is because the homeless people pull trash bags out of dumpsters and carry them a safe distance away, go through them, and leave all that laying there for me to pick up again!  

Plus, it saves a lot of money on trash bags.  I use the really heavy 45-gallon construction bags so they don't break.

This dumpster at Palmetto & Arlington was completely stuffed full.  There was only a little space in the corners after I emptied my trash bag.  A boy was walking by with some of his friends, and he had a fast food bag of trash squished into a ball.  He was on the sidewalk, and he jumped into the air, like he had a basketball, and it landed in the corner!  I couldn't believe it!  I screamed, "Three points!"  They all laughed!  

I have to wonder if he would have thrown his trash in the dumpster if I hadn't been there.  My guess is no.  So it was a good thing I was there.  Now he feels really good about what he did, AND about his great shot.

I was almost halfway around the three blocks I was trying to cover, and I saw this.  Ick!  How can there be so much trash in the parking lot?  I don't have that much trash in a week!

My guess is they were cleaning out their car.  "The dumpster is right there!  Seriously!  You don't have to throw stuff on the ground!" 

I walked two more blocks and I saw a really nice man I have seen several times before.  He lives at Sylvan & Palmetto.  His yard is clean all the time.  He works hard at keeping it looking nice, and he always thanks me for what I'm doing.  He asked me what number I was at.  I told him I was over 700,000.  Then he said, "Do you want a water?"

Oh my goodness, the heat must have dehydrated me again! I told him yes, and I drank it while I was standing there with him on the sidewalk.  He actually brought two bottles for me, but I told him I had water in the car.  I just didn't realize it was so hot.

There are so many nice people out there.  He is at the top of my list.

What a great day!