5/22/11, Denow Road Shopping Center, #35

It was a day of little scraps, which I find can be more of an eyesore than larger pieces.  Although I worked steadily for 56 minutes, I only collected about half a bag of trash. I also only was able to clear about 3/4 of the parking lot.

As always, anthropologic musings kept me happily absorbed in my work.  A trail of "Thank you" mint wrappers flowed into the parking lot from the trattoria.  Could mints be made with wrappers made out of birdseed or something?  Since they are all ending up on the ground, that may be nicer for the birds and the environment.  Peculiarly, there were a lot of q-tips ... I am still perplexed about what they are being used for in the middle of a parking lot.  Cash register generated coupons were the winning  discard in front of Stop & Shop.  Isn't there a way to keep that information on-line instead of printing them all out?  Imagine all of the paper and ink that could be saved if coupon information could be electronically attached to a customer's store card account.
I am so full of great ideas!  Just call me an idea abyss.

5/07/11, Route 31 North, near Baseball Field, #34

Julie and I finished up the area along Route 31 N. that we started last week.  It was perilous going, not because of the traffic, which naturally is always a mild concern, but because of the scourges of Spring.  I am just crossing my fingers that neither of us will end up with a telltale rash of any type.  Despite the perils, our commitment to my pledge will continue!

Scourges of Spring

5/01/11, Route 31 North, near Baseball Field, #33

May Day was a very exciting pickup.  Dare I label it auspicious?  First of all, the location was scouted out and suggested by my friend Benji.  This stretch of road is one that she travels often, and it is always satisfying to improve the quality of a friend's life by making her world a cleaner place!  Anyhow, Benji was particularly annoyed by a piece of white styrofoam that had apparently been lodged into a bush on the side of the road for a long time.  

Good news, Benji - You will never be bothered
by this piece of white styrofoam again!

One very exciting thing that occurred was that Julie hit pay dirt!  Or at least she hit a dirty dollar!  We felt like she won the lottery.  Honestly, we don't do this for any sort of payment... but that made finding cash even more exciting!

Thanks again for the location tip, Benji!
It really paid off for us!

In addition to the cash, we received a loud "thank you!" from a passing car.  That made us smile!  We found a jackpot of exciting items to pick up that were a welcome change of pace from the usual haul.  We found several long pieces of old fire hose.  We found a tennis ball, and several softballs.  Well I can't remember anything else specific, but we didn't even finish this location - we only got through half of the strip before our bags were heavy and full to bursting.  Honestly, we were ready to leave, because we kept finding ticks on us and that was creepy.

Don't worry, Benji, Julie and I promise 

that we will be back to finish the job.

4/24/11, S. Main Street near circle, #32

Easter morning Ted, Julie and I all got up early and decided to do a family facelift.  We tackled the strip of S. Main Street from the circle to where it meets Pennington-Lawrenceville Road.  It looked like an easy plan, but all three of us filled our bags and Julie's actually split open it was so full!  We felt great when we were finished.  

What was in your Easter basket?
Ours was overflowing!

Sadly, when I drove by that stretch today, I noticed some new trash - a paper cup - had already appeared.

4/10/11, Shop Rite, #31

     I know we weren't going to do Shop Rite again, but when Julie and I drove by and saw the parking lot, we couldn't help ourselves.  As usual, the north side of the parking lot was heavily dotted with trash along the grass and woven into the treeline.  Julie expressed frustration at not being able to reach a lot of the debris, which is protected by a barrier of pricker bushes.  Even without the use of a rake, we managed to gather two full bags without venturing away from the area.  Suffice it to say that with a rake we could have filled a box of bags.  Most of the garbage is newspaper circulars, receipts, and the usual assortment of grocery lists, whipped cream cans emptied of nitrous oxide, plastic drink bottles and empty food containers and plastic bags.

3/27/11, Misquamicut Beach, Westerly, Rhode Island, #29 & 30

I drove Audrey back to Connecticut College after enjoying her for two weeks of spring break, and we spent the night with my good friend Sally at her new house in Ct.


Sally joined me on a facelift (her third!) at Misquamicut Beach in Westerly, Rhode Island.  We did a circular route that included beach and parking lot.

Sunny, windy, and nippy!

It was a beautiful morning. The beach was empty except for some cawing seagulls and a passing jogger named Danny who was kind enough to snap our photo to document our haul.  Not a ton of litter, which was nice, but enough to keep us cheerfully occupied.   

3/20/11, Jacob's Creek Road, #27 & #28

Sunday was the epitome of spring, an invitation to Julie and me for a double pick-up.  Ted and I had both separately noticed the huge amount of trash strewn along the sides of Jacob's Creek Road, so we headed towards that.  We geared up extra hefty bags, and two pairs of gloves on our hands.


As usual, what looked to be a lot of trash from a drive-by was in reality even more.  There is always something hidden under a pile of leaves, and in this case, it was bottles and cans.  Left as we were with only increasingly heavy bags of refuse and no explanation for how it appeared on the side of the road, Julie and I amused ourselves with our favorite pick-up conversation... a round of litter forensics.


Apparently, after dark, Jacob's Creek Road turns into one big party.  We picked up what seemed like a hundred pounds plus of liquor bottles, beer bottles, energy drink containers, empty and partially full packs of cigarettes, and empty party food packaging.  There was one shoe.  There was a sodden blinged out, bedraggled purple leather purse that held a barren faux Tory Burch wallet.  I found long bleached bones with an attached webbed foot... the leg of a duck?


What does go on at night on that road?  Any guesses as to how long it will take the trash to re-accumulate?  

An absolutely beautiful setting, all tidied up for spring.