Sometimes I wish I were compulsive obsessive (for a super clean home) and other times I realize I may already be that way in certain strange areas.
There are no dumpsters around here for me to dive in looking for useful camping goods. But I pick up litter all over the park as a volunteer to nature. Amazingly, I actually find some interesting stuff once in awhile.
Among some of the items I found and kept these past 2 months of litter picking in this small park and along the public roads:
2 bungee cords
1 necklace with a cross
1 nearly new large life jacket vest in black and red
1 cell phone (returned to owner after numerous calls)
34 wiggly rubber fishing lures
1 fish net with handle
1 screw driver
1 red reflector
1 large foam football
3 toy shovels
2 promotional doughnut shaped discs
1 medium plastic turtle
1 small pink pig
53 quarters (25 cent coins)
43 dimes (10 cents coins)
29 nickles (5 cent coins)
148 pennies (1 cent coins)
1 key chain with fringed leather attachment but no keys
2 cigarette lighters (both working)
The stuff I find and relocate to the garbage cans:
Candy wrappers
cigarette wrappers
plastic cigar tips
foil wrappers
bottle tops
can tops
fishing line
junk food wrappers
fast food wrappers
drink cups
aluminum cans
fishing hooks
1 pair shoes
an amazing amount of mateless shoe singles
underwear
shorts
T-shirts
batteries
bolts, screws, washers, nuts
inflatable bed
carpet pieces
balloons
birth control
beer cans
soda cans
beer bottles
plastic bottles
way too many water bottles
rotten blanket
bait containers (some with fresh bait)
cigar butts
cigarette butts
cigarette packs
drink lids
drink straws
condiment packages (mustard etc.)
broken glass
parking tickets
I pick up so many cigarette butts that if I had a penny for each one I pick up, I could buy a new motorhome by now.
I found the devil once too! But OOPS, nope, that's just my crazy little monkey dog...
In my dreams I would love to make a public service video for TV and internet. In that video I would show open beautiful parks, in their pristine shape with lakes, rivers, waterfalls, beaches, oceans, mountains. Then I would show park entrances with CLOSED INDEFINITELY signs. At the closed park scene, I would build a huge wall of garbage blocking the entire entrance, out of the amazing detritus I commonly pick up each day in the park. Next I would show nature trails like a beautiful path to an unspoiled beach, then show the path blocked by a fifty foot high wall of garbage commonly found discarded around the beach and park areas. I guess I would end it with some sort of catchy phrase like "Be a part of the solution, not part of the problem." Maybe even show a fool like me walking a dog, carrying a bucket and a litter picker.
The way I figure it in my crazy brain, the dog gets exercise, I get exercise, and we clean up a piece of paradise, occasionally with eclectic tiny rewards.
Life is amazing. People are strange. I am trying to keep one tiny part of the world tidy and clean from human waste.
There are no dumpsters around here for me to dive in looking for useful camping goods. But I pick up litter all over the park as a volunteer to nature. Amazingly, I actually find some interesting stuff once in awhile.
Among some of the items I found and kept these past 2 months of litter picking in this small park and along the public roads:
2 bungee cords
1 necklace with a cross
1 nearly new large life jacket vest in black and red
1 cell phone (returned to owner after numerous calls)
34 wiggly rubber fishing lures
1 fish net with handle
1 screw driver
1 red reflector
1 large foam football
3 toy shovels
2 promotional doughnut shaped discs
1 medium plastic turtle
1 small pink pig
53 quarters (25 cent coins)
43 dimes (10 cents coins)
29 nickles (5 cent coins)
148 pennies (1 cent coins)
1 key chain with fringed leather attachment but no keys
2 cigarette lighters (both working)
The stuff I find and relocate to the garbage cans:
Candy wrappers
cigarette wrappers
plastic cigar tips
foil wrappers
bottle tops
can tops
fishing line
junk food wrappers
fast food wrappers
drink cups
aluminum cans
fishing hooks
1 pair shoes
an amazing amount of mateless shoe singles
underwear
shorts
T-shirts
batteries
bolts, screws, washers, nuts
inflatable bed
carpet pieces
balloons
birth control
beer cans
soda cans
beer bottles
plastic bottles
way too many water bottles
rotten blanket
bait containers (some with fresh bait)
cigar butts
cigarette butts
cigarette packs
drink lids
drink straws
condiment packages (mustard etc.)
broken glass
parking tickets
I pick up so many cigarette butts that if I had a penny for each one I pick up, I could buy a new motorhome by now.
I found the devil once too! But OOPS, nope, that's just my crazy little monkey dog...
In my dreams I would love to make a public service video for TV and internet. In that video I would show open beautiful parks, in their pristine shape with lakes, rivers, waterfalls, beaches, oceans, mountains. Then I would show park entrances with CLOSED INDEFINITELY signs. At the closed park scene, I would build a huge wall of garbage blocking the entire entrance, out of the amazing detritus I commonly pick up each day in the park. Next I would show nature trails like a beautiful path to an unspoiled beach, then show the path blocked by a fifty foot high wall of garbage commonly found discarded around the beach and park areas. I guess I would end it with some sort of catchy phrase like "Be a part of the solution, not part of the problem." Maybe even show a fool like me walking a dog, carrying a bucket and a litter picker.
The way I figure it in my crazy brain, the dog gets exercise, I get exercise, and we clean up a piece of paradise, occasionally with eclectic tiny rewards.
Life is amazing. People are strange. I am trying to keep one tiny part of the world tidy and clean from human waste.
Good for you! I save aluminum cans for my son to recycle. The cash adds up rapidly in NC. Does SC recycle in the parks?
ReplyDeleteEnjoy your blogs and check regularly for them.
The cross looks like one my husband wears. It's made with horse shoe nails.
ReplyDeleteThey really should pay you for your work.
I, too am disgusted with all the litter I encounter when I hike state park trails on my many camping trips. I've taken to carrying a small trash bag and frequently fill it on a 2-3 mile hike. I understand that sometimes things get lost (like the necklace you found), but other stuff is (at best) carelessness and (at worst) deliberate littering due to ignorance or laziness or something. Its not that hard to pack out your litter. But, there will always be people who don't care I guess.
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