TONIGHT WAS REALLY HARD, BUT SATISFYING

 

Tonight, I started on Wilbeth Road, and this dumpster was surrounded by garbage bags . . . and a pallet . . . and a wooden platform of some kind.  

Ever wonder if you can do something really hard?  I looked at the plywood platform and thought, "There's no way I can lift that thing, let along hoist it up into the dumpster!"  But guess what?  I did it.

Then I saw a pallet and thought, "Well, if I could get the platform in, I can get this awful thing out of the way."  And I did.

My guess is people couldn't get close enough to the dumpster to throw their trash bags in, because of the platform and the pallet.  Now they can.

I turned around and saw so much trash in this field.  And a tree limb that had been there long enough for all the leaves to turn brown.  Ick!

I got all that cleaned up, but it was hard.  I've seen a lot of trash, but I saw things here that I've never seen before.

A poopy diaper 5 feet high in the trees?  Really?  Who would do something like that?  

I get that poopy diapers are awful, but throw it in the trash can!  For goodness sake!

And a big area rug that has a hole burned in it?  

I get that nobody would want that around either, but I don't think throwing it in your back yard is a good solution.

I watched "27 Dresses" over the weekend.  Have you seen that movie?  It's one of my favorite movies.

The two main characters couldn't stand each other until they both realized their favorite part of a wedding was seeing the groom look at his bride walking down the aisle.

When I got to Wilbeth Road, I turned around and looked at the area I had just cleaned.  I always try to do that.  It's such a wonderful feeling to know I did that.

I continued down past the football field, picking up beer bottles, and crossed the street.  The little picnic table had trash under it.  I guess the owner of this little convenience store doesn't think about picking up the trash.  It looks really bad driving by.

Isn't it funny how people can stop here, buy a can of pop and sit at the picnic table and chat, and then just toss the can under the table like "out of sight, out of mind?"  That's crazy!

It was a hard night, but very satisfying.  I cleaned four areas that used to take four days.  I picked up 1,746 pieces of trash and made a huge difference on Wilbeth Road.

As I was driving home, I was thinking about when I first started picking up trash.  I thought I'd pick up all the trash on 74 streets in Firestone Park and that would be it.  

The Mayor declared April 3, 2023, Debbie Miller Day, and it was probably the best day of my whole life!  

I had no idea that cleaning 74 streets was only the beginning.  When you get done, you have to do it all over again.  I might not have done it had I known it was temporary.

Now that I've been picking up trash in the same areas for a year and a half, I know it's temporary, and I'm thrilled when I can clean an area in one day that used to take five days.  Isn't that funny?