Every Day Not Needed on the River Trail

May 19, 2014

I’ve been having trouble getting to doing all my favorite spots lately, what with starting my day walking Petey along the same stretch of riverfront, and doing extra spring work for gardening customers.  We’ve been finding so little trash along that walk that I decided to do it every other day or so and do White Rocks, Greenwood Dog Park or Schroeder Dog Park on the alternate days. 

Friday is my day of rest, and Petey and I both rest from gardening, long walks and litter cleaning on that day.  Like Sunday used to be, it is the one day that does not vary in that regard.  These Sundays, I do one of these litter walks, and then work on either my yard or my parents’ place, as customers don’t care for Sunday work.

Yesterday Sunday, I actually had to start the day making crackers, as the dough had been in the fridge for 32 hours; I was too tired the night before, after the Rogue River Cleanup (more on that later).  I didn’t get out to walk along the river with Petey until 9:00, and then found my car wouldn’t start.  Apparently I’d left the radio on.  So I called Dad for a jump and watered my potted plants while we waited. 

I drove down to the Harry and David parking lot, put up my sign, and decided to carry my litter grabber and small bucket, though I usually carry only bags when walking Petey.  I picked up the parking lot first, something I started because I don’t want to leave my truck in a dirty lot.  It doesn’t look good. 

But I still don’t like to wear the tunic while walking my dog.  A man asked me if I work for the city; I said that I work for the people of the city, and gave him a leaflet prize.

Do you see that glimpse of pink back there in the shadows? 

We went down to the river at two spots along the trail and found a small bucket full of trash along the river, mostly above the most recent high water in the blackberries, including several returnable cans.  Coming up from the second one and heading for the main trail, I saw color out of the corner of my eye about 50 feet away, along the edge of the mown area, behind a pine tree.  

We went to check it out, and found a pink piece of polyfoam about 18” x 36”, just big enough to lay the main part of one’s body on.  It had been run over with a lawn mower at least twice, getting about a quarter of it torn off and torn up the first time, because I found as I picked it up that a blackberry had grown over the torn portion and rooted; I had to break it to get it loose.  Nearby was a Wal-Mart bag torn and pushed into the blackberries.

I don’t blame the guy on the mower.  On a riding mower, one cannot see such things before hitting them, and he has a lot of mowing to do, and nowhere to put the litter.  He has every reason to expect that the city would send someone after him to pick up the trash he hits.  But the city apparently doesn’t assign anyone to litter pickup alone; it is part of other duties, and thus gets done mainly on the way to other places, along the paved trails.  Out-of-the-way spots don’t get cleaned except by unofficial volunteers.

Obviously, this trash wouldn’t fit in my little litter bucket; I had to go back to the truck for a litter bag that I’d just started the day before at the Rogue River Cleanup.  As I was walking back, I thought that maybe I should move it closer to the trash, and tried to start it.  It tried to turn over, but couldn’t do it.  I’d forgotten how short a drive it was to the park and hadn’t charged it sufficiently.  I decided to finish my walk and hope someone was around to help me start my truck when I got back, rather than have to call Dad again before I was done.

So we left the bucket in favor of the bag, and went back to get the trash.  The grabber made it far easier to pick up the torn pieces of foam.

We headed back to the truck and traded the bag for the bucket again, and headed out.  Forgot the bag with Petey’s balls and didn’t discover it for a hundred yards or so and went back and got it and headed out again.  Ran into a couple of ladies taking a rest on a bench.  Petey insisted on stopping with them and they invited me to set a spell and chat, which I did for a while, until we were all ready to move on. 

There was very little litter at the fishing block or the camping spot near it.  Frequent cleaning has been having a real effect, especially in the hiding spots.

The litter grabber came in handy at the dog park for picking up rocks and picking up and throwing balls; I am a lot more productive when I don’t have to bend over frequently.  I think I will keep taking the grabber.  Even without the tunic, it is easy to see that I am a litter cleaner when I carry a litter grabber.  I am only missing out on advertising my website away from the truck, except for those who get leaflets.

When Petey got two balls in his mouth and wouldn’t give one up, it was time to leave.  We hoofed it back to the truck as fast as we could go and still get the litter along the way.  As we approached the parking lot, there was another couple walking several dogs to their truck, and I asked if they could give me a jump, giving them a leaflet. 

It was quickly done, and I took Petey out of the truck for a walk around the Harry and David shelter, as the day before was Saturday, and I’d been picking up water balloons along the path.  Sure enough, there was a bunch around the shelter, along with other small litter.  Someone had picked up the big stuff and blown the little stuff into the grass, which saved me walking all over within the shelter.