THIS WAS A NIGHT OF ADORABLE LITTLE HELPERS!

 

My friend, Tom, told me the brand new exit ramp from Route 8 Southbound to Wilbeth Road was all trashed up again.  I told him I just drove by and it looked clean, but I thought I'd check it out anyway.

It looked clean, but it was a mess.  I picked up 403 pieces of trash on all four entrance and exit ramps and 73 pieces of glass on the bridge.  My poor little trash cart!  

It had a full bag of trash, plus two big car parts, one as tall as me, plus a windshield wiper, all of it, and a big metal pole.  It was so heavy!

And I'm sure I didn't get it all.  I couldn't get any more in my trash bag, and it was so hard to pull it to my car, parked a street away.

When people stop at the light, is that the time to unload all the hot sauce you didn't use with your Mexican food?

Can you imagine doing something like that?  Save it for later, for goodness sake!  Don't dump it on the brand new exit ramp!

Next time I see Tom, I'll let him know he was right.

I picked up 1,720 pieces of trash tonight, and I met up with so many little friends!

This tiny little person came running as fast as she could when she saw me.  I let her carry my bucket.  She found a weed and pretended it was a trash grabber.  She'll be using a trash grabber soon, I'm sure.

This little girl came running too.  She had the trash grabber and bucket I gave her last summer, and we cleaned all this trash up together.

Then, here came two more, and four more after that.  I can't tell you how happy it makes me feel when the kids are excited to pick up trash, like it's a treasure hunt.

These kids won't throw packets of hot sauce on the exit ramp when they grow up.  I know they won't!

This is my favorite area to clean.  The children are so respectful and fun.  One of these days, I'm going to go back and just play with the kids.  No counting.  It's hard for me to talk to them when I'm counting pieces.

What a great night!