DID YOU THINK I GAVE UP?

 

Did you think I gave up?  Not at all, but I haven't been able to get out for 13 days!  

Wow!  The longest I've gone before was 5 days.  The darkness at 5:00, the rain, snow and cold windy days have kept me inside.  

But today, I hurried out to pick up trash when I saw the sunshine!

The first area I went to was Main & Waterloo, and it was almost as messy as it was a few weeks ago when I picked up 1,700 pieces of trash.  Today I picked up 1,219, so it wasn't as bad, but it looked horrible to me.

I promised the nice couple who own the house in the background that I would keep it cleaned up along their fence.  But wow!  Where does all this trash come from?

I stuffed my 40-gallon trash bag, and headed for the dumpster . . .

The dumpster was also stuffed!  I couldn't get anything more in there, so I continued around the block, and there was so much drama!  Way more than I was in the mood for.

A woman started talking to me from her car.  She said something about her dog having to go potty.  She let it out, and it pooped right where I just picked up all the trash!  She didn't even think about cleaning up after her dog!  (I think I hate dog poop more than trash!)

Then her husband let their other dog loose.  It was a pit bull, and it went running like it had someplace important to go.  Typically, I'm not fond of pit bulls, but I felt so bad for the owner.  The dog was like trying to catch a greased pig!  Not that I've ever tried to do that, but this puppy was very slippery!  I could touch him, but I couldn't hold on to him.

He was running all around me, down the street, and onto the main road.  A very busy main road.  I was so afraid he was going to get hit.  Then, for absolutely no reason at all, he laid down and rolled over, and just smiled!  His owner put his collar back on him, and I told him he needed a choker for that slippery little guy.

I found some crazy things today.  

I've never seen a tennis shoe bonfire before, have you?  

I found this sneaker that had been lit on fire, and close by, there was a can of ravioli.  I'm guessing somebody wanted to heat up their food.  

Not sure there was much of a flame with a rubber tennis shoe.  It probably just melted.

Then I found this bottle, almost full of pills.  The label said they were "Lamotrigine."  I never heard of that before, so I googled it, and found out it's to treat epilepsy and bipolar disorder.  Oh no!  Somebody is going to be in a lot of trouble without their medicine!

A little while later, I was at the Family Dollar and saw a man cussing up a storm as he stomped down the sidewalk.  I wondered if it was his medicine.

Then I watched a man pull into the parking lot, get out of his car, put on his hood, and go into the store.  This store had been robbed recently, and I wondered if he was up to no good.  

Who puts their hood on when they go into a store?

I found this thing on the sidewalk.  I have no idea what it is, but it's metal and very heavy.  I carried it to the dumpster and threw it away.

Then I found this.  No idea what it is either.  I started to throw it away, but then I put it back where it was.  It looked like something important.

I picked up 3,317 pieces of trash today in five different areas.  What a great day!  The sun was shining, and all five areas needed cleaned pretty bad.

I was picking trash out from under these bushes, and I saw the burdocks begging me to get closer.  They were leaning toward me.

I was careful to keep a distance, but still, I had them all over my sweater.  The thing is, I had on two long sleeved tops under my sweater, and the tiny hooks went through all three layers of clothing!  They were biting at my skin, and I had to come home and get out of those clothes!

It's a slow process in the winter, but I'm at 827,760, only 172,240 pieces to reach my one-million-piece goal!  

If I can have more nice days like today, I'll reach my goal in the spring.