Keeping It Clean

I’ve been sick the past couple day. No, wait. Scratch that. I’ve been sick since September 22^nd. First the stomach flu, then some general unpleasantness until I transitioned into the wonderful cold I have now. I do feel better today than I did yesterday though. I thought I wasn’t going to survive the last four hours of work last night but I pulled through! I’m lucky enough to have a job where I can wrap myself in some blankets and cuddle with some pups while I recover.

Today I feel much better. The 12 hours of sleep I got last night probably helped. I don’t remember the last time I slept that long! I felt like a grandma going to bed at 7:30 but apparently I really needed it. Other than a killer headache, I don’t feel too bad. Today I woke up with a mission. I had received a bunch of cleaning gear from Partners in Parks the other day so now that I was feeling less like a pile of crap and more like a human being, I decided that I was going to clean up my dog walking route. Even with me picking up a few pieces of garbage while I walk some days, it feels like ten more pieces replace it. I've noticed this to be especially true down where they are building new million dollar houses. Earlier in the spring I had to call city services because I couldn't keep up with how much trash they were letting blow down into the river. Luckily they are almost done the last two houses and soon maybe they will be gone and it will be easier to keep clean.

It took me about 25 minutes to get through the first hundred meters of our walk because there was so much trash! I had seen this all before but on Wednesday the parks crew came through and cut down all the tall grass so even more garbage was exposed to the world. Gross. Amongst the candy wrappers, travel cups and general trash, I found computer cables, an old basketball and a flat iron! What? How does one lose a straightening iron in the middle of a field by a farm? Wtf.

Zoey happily zipped up and down the gravel as I cleaned the trail. Toby, who has to be on leash, was less than impressed with my ecological efforts. A few people I met on my walk, however, gave me genuine thanks and appreciation for what I was doing. That felt nice. What also was nice was seeing how clean the trail was on my walk back. Success! In the end I think I picked up close to ten pounds of garbage if not more (I’m not good with estimates).

Here’s to hoping that the trail stays clean for a while.