THIS MAY BE A GLIMPSE OF WHAT'S AHEAD!

 

One of my friends asked me how far it was for me to drive to Barberton everyday.  I told her ten minutes.  (It's actually 4.8 miles, and it takes 11 minutes.)

I live in Firestone Park, and Barberton is the next city over to the west.  It's faster if I take the freeway, but sometimes I don't want to drive fast. 

Tonight, I went back to where I left off yesterday, behind the Wink's Drive In Restaurant.  They have some tall grasses at the south side of their parking lot.  They are pretty, but they collect all the trash blowing in the wind.  From a distance, they don't look bad, but close up, Ick!

I picked up 491 pieces of trash out of these grasses, and they were big pieces!  Potato chip bags, styrofoam cups, napkins, masks, 2 liter bottles . . . all kinds of lightweight trash. 

Now it looks nice, even close up. 

There is a dumpster in the parking lot, so I emptied my trash bag, and cleaned around the trees and bushes beside the dumpster.

When I got to the other side, I saw some kind of an opening, sorta like a cave.  Nobody was around, so I tip toed closer and peeked inside.

There was a whole lot of trash that had been there for a very long time, but something else that was interesting.  

There was a plate of what looked like cat food, a bowl of water, and a bowl of tuna.  So I'm guessing that somebody is trying to feed a stray cat.

Either they just filled the bowls, or the cat isn't interested.  But in either case, that's very sweet.  Most likely the person with the big heart doesn't have any food for themselves, but they are trying to take care of a stray kitty cat.  Wow. 

I left there, and drove north on 5th Street to Tuscora Park.  Clean.  I saw one water bottle.  That's all.

I got back on 5th and drove south past the Giant Eagle, and turned right on Snyder Avenue.  No trash at all.  (My grandparents lived off this street.  It was fun to drive by their old street.)

I drove all the way to 2nd Street & Hudson Run.  I saw a few pieces of trash, but nothing worth stopping for.  Then I saw this mess, and I whipped into a parking lot.  (The car tailgating me didn't see my sign that said, "I stop for trash," because I don't have one, but I should!) 

I picked up all this trash, went across the bridge on Hudson Run, and I've never seen so many cars!  Whew!  Everybody was watching me.  You'd think people would be used to seeing me by now.

It was worth the embarrassment of people staring at me.  There were broken tail lights and a liquor bottle waiting to be smashed on the bridge.  

I got that all cleaned up, and cleaned all around the rail road tracks, crossed the street, and walked north on 2nd Street.  I was about to turn around and go back to my car, and 

I saw trash around a fence.  Just a pocket of trash.  Clean everywhere else.  I got that all cleaned up, and I was thinking, "This may be a glimpse of what's ahead."

I will drive down a hundred streets in Barberton looking for trash.  When I see it, I'll clean it up.  With the Sanitation Department doing an excellent job, Main Street Barberton doing an excellent job, and me doing my best, the City of Barberton will be clean, no matter where you go.

I love that so much!

I picked up 1,082 pieces in two hours today.  

It was a great day!