MY REALTOR TOLD ME WHERE TO PICK UP TRASH TONIGHT

 

My good friend, Ryan Carter, texted me this morning and said, "If you're still cleaning Firestone Park, there's a ton of debris where I walk my dog, right off Archwood.  I filled two bags on Girard."

I told him I'd head over there after work today, but on my way home from seeing customers, I drove by.  I didn't see much trash.  Of course, you don't see trash driving by in a car like you do when you walk, especially when you are watching out for your dog.

Ryan is the Firestone Park area specialist, and I met him when he sold a house to me ten years ago! Hard to believe I've lived here for ten years!  I love my house more every day.  He did good.

So I parked my car, got out my trash cart, and picked up typical trash, bottles and cans and cups.  I wondered what he was thinking.

I found a piece of styrofoam and an aluminum foil lid.  Maybe that was it.

I looked across Archwood and saw a trash can stuffed, and two Keep Akron Beautiful bags.  Somebody has obviously been picking up trash on the other side of the street.

I opened the lid of the trash can and put them in so they wouldn't get broken before the city picks up trash here. 

Then I went back across the street and continued down the sidewalk, looking for the mess that Ryan texted me about.

An old lady pushing a walker was coming the other way, and I moved my trash cart into the grass to let her pass.  She said, "My goodness, I should have moved over for you!"

I couldn't believe it!  She was having so much trouble pushing the walker that had she moved over, she might have gotten stuck!  

Poor thing.  It has to be so hard to take a walk when walking is so hard.  What a sweetheart she was! 

Just beyond there, I saw what Ryan texted me about.  Broken glass!

There was so much broken glass on the sidewalk.  The slivery, sharp kind that cut my Henry's nose two years ago.  

I got that all swept up, and continued down the next street, and went into the alley.  More broken glass and cans and plastic bags.

I picked up 841 pieces of trash around two blocks!  

I'm so proud of Ryan for picking up trash when he walks his dog, but he never could have picked up all this trash, and you definitely can't walk your dog on sidewalks covered with broken glass!

I filled two 45-gallon bags, and even though I still had time left to pick up trash, I was tired.  So I called it a night.

I didn't pick up as much as I usually do, but what I picked up made a huge difference to Ryan and to the people in this neighborhood.