Tuesday, September 01, 2009

Trashy

There is a street that runs behind our house. It's only about a block long. People like to drive down this street en route to (or from) a much bigger street. There's nothing on this street except for vacant lots and the fences that line the backyards of the houses on our street. People love to throw trash out of their windows as they drive down this street. Who knows, they may even love to throw trash out of their hands while walking down this street. It's always lined with trash!

Every few months I reach my breaking point and spend an hour or so picking up trash. On Sunday, the monkeys decided to help me. I put them in charge of recyclables. They were actually super enthusiastic about this and had a competition to see who could get the most stuff. (I also think they liked playing in the street.) Satchel's favorite part was pouring out mystery liquids. (Ew!) When we were done, he said, "I accidentally poured beer on my shirt." Nice. Hey, at least it was Heineken.


As you can see from the photo (Warren was nice enough to snap one after his afternoon motorcycle ride), they had no trouble filling up their buckets. And I had no trouble filling up a 50 gallon garbage bag. Ninety-nine percent of the trash was food related. Chip bags, fast food remnants, etc. We found some other fun stuff--a diaper, a pie tin, tires, and even a suitcase.

It was a totally gross activity and we all needed a bath when we were done, but now the street looks so much nicer. I hope it lasts just a little while.

Littering is totally lame, by the way.

11 comments:

Stephanie said...

It really is lame. I just can't fathom it! You are totally awesome for cleaning up.

Wendy Sumner-Winter said...

wooohooo! great post. Littering is totally IN.FURY.ATEING!

A. CHRISTOPHER DROWN said...

Very good for you, Stacey. And, well, us. Thanks.

Ginger said...

I'm one of those who drive down this street en route to another street many times a week. I never throw out trash ('cause that is lame indeed), but today I almost hit a goat in the middle of the street right around the corner from the spot you're standing in the picture. I kid you not.

Stacey Greenberg said...

a goat? see, that's exactly what we need! if i see it, i'm going to put it in my backyard. lol

Sassy Molassy said...

So what you're saying is that Warren didn't help? ;-)

Stacey Greenberg said...

haha--nope. well after taking the pic, he did pick up a little trash.

warren said...

Whenever I cut the grass, prune the rose bushes, or tend to the apple trees on our little strip along the alley, I always pick up trash. I just happened to return at the tail end of their clean-up. Satchel even made me crawl through the brush to retrieve some recyclables. If I knew the cleanup was going to take that long, I would have taken my time coming home hehe.

Poopie said...

a shower!?!?! I am horrified that all 3 of you were not wearing any gloves. That is way too scary. I mean, seriously. seeeeeriously!! do they know not to touch hypodermic needles or rabid goats? shocking.

Mel Spillman artwork said...

That rocks! You are a great Mom and you are teaching them to have a lifelong sense of pride for their community.

Anonymous said...

I run down that street 3 mornings a week plus use it to get to Overton! I live a few blocks away on Hale, and it's nice to know someone is keeping it clean. Now if only someone would buy those two houses

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