12/04/10, I-95 Ramp to Route 31, #21

I only got halfway down one side of the exit ramp heading towards Pennington before I had to turn back because my bag was stuffed full.  If my car had been parked closer, I almost would've gone back to fill another bag.  Almost.  It was quite cold.  Plus, my iPod wasn't working.  Sadly, I know there is still litter there, even where I cleaned up, hidden under the leaves.  It all looks tidier in the fall until the wind blows the leaves away.

11/14/10, E. Delaware Avenue - #20

I went out early in the morning to clean up along the sides of E. Delaware Avenue heading out of the boro, with the hope of avoiding a stream of traffic.  The trade off was wet feet from the leaves covering the sides of the road.  It was a nice way to wake up, with the sun streaming down and plenty of litter to pick up.  Did I just say that like it is a good thing?  This time of year it is a bit like a scavenger hunt, with squished plastic bottles and mangled cardboard drink cups laying in wait amongst the colorful leaves.

11/13/10, Shop Rite - #19

This was without question the biggest haul of litter ever collected by two people in one hour.  Sympathetic to my solo status what with Julie off in Africa, Ted came out to support me, and what a contribution. He cleared out a cache of waterlogged cartons piled in the fringe of weeds next to the parking lot, right near the entrance of the store. There was a styrofoam cooler, foil catering pans, and several toxic looking containers.  We had to drag everything the long way around the front of the store to get to the dumpster.  I followed behind Ted with a full grocery cart piled precariously with rotting boxes that kept tipping over and dropping debris that I had to pick up again.  Apparently the guy at the liquor store spotted Ted carrying his armload of trash around the back of the store in broad daylight.  I know this guy, he is the manager of the liquor store, and we have arranged for bartenders through him several times.  He always seemed nice enough.  But instead of questioning Ted directly, he called the manager of the store, who met us in the back and angrily accused us of bringing our own trash to their dumpster.  It felt surreal, and made me question my intentions.  Am I wrong to go around cleaning up litter?  The manager clearly was not at all happy about the unsolicited help.  He indignantly challenged my observation that there seems to be an enormous amount of litter around his store that never stops appearing.  I know that he sends his cart guys out to clean up, but the mess is bigger than that.  This was my SIXTH clean-up around Shop Rite, and, sadly, it will have to be my last.  I don't want or need thanks or appreciation... but I don't want to be arrested either!        

10/24/10, I-95 Ramp off Route 31 - #18

This facelift was another site identified by Julie on her way to work.  We went over on a Sunday morning, so the traffic was pretty light.  However, when cars did zip by, they went very fast.  Both sides of the road were thick with litter.  Unfortunately, much of it was shredded by a recent mow, which made it more difficult to collect.  There was also a fair amount of glass, and much of it was broken as well.  Hence, my first on-the-facelift cut.  We came away with a flattened traffic cone and two large bags filled to capacity.  We only really completed half of 1 of the 4 entryways onto 95.  That means it will take 8 pickups to adequately clean up this area, which is daunting.  What about our other high-litter locations that need constant attention?  And the worst news is that Julie leaves for Africa on October 31st for 6 weeks.  That leaves me ... alone!  

10/17/10, Mystic, Connecticut - #17

This weekend, Ted, Julie and I had a super time visiting Audrey for our first Parents Weekend at Connecticut College.  It was great to see our Dreezy happy and totally immersed in the college scene.  

Besides seeing Audrey, a real highlight of the weekend was doing a facelift with Sally.  She is such a great friend.  She picked me up at the Mystic Marriott on Sunday morning at 7:20 a.m.  for an hour long facelift.  We drove about 1 mile down Route 113 towards Groton Long Point, parked, and immediately started picking and gabbing.  We cleared both sides of a pretty long stretch of road.  Luckily we had an extra-heavy-duty and very large bag, because there was a lot to pick up.  I left Sally with a promise to return for another facelift, next time on the beach. 

10/10/10, Rt. 31 - First Assembly Church, #16

This morning, Jules and I decided to continue cleaning up Rt. 31 South from where we left off yesterday.  Once again, the area along the guard rail was heavily littered with packaging material from fast food restaurants and empty beverage containers.  I wish we could've reached further under and behind the guard rail but the prickers were more of an obstacle than we were prepared to confront.  

10/09/10, Rt. 31 - Motion Gymnastics, #15

A rare photo of Julie mid-facelift.

Julie identified this facelift site while traveling home from work.  The side of the road held a deceptively large amount of litter, mostly fast food wrappers and beverage containers.  There was also a shredded truck tire, which was very satisfying to remove.  Julie chastised me later in the day for obsessively noticing litter while we were walking in front of stores at the Wegman's shopping center.  It was an inner struggle to not just bend over and begin picking it up.  Perhaps in the future when I am older and can chalk it up to eccentricity I will just walk around with a hefty bag tied permanently to my belt so that I am always prepared to tidy up.