Garbage Day

On a Saturday not so long ago, I decided to tackle cleaning up the garbage on and around my property - because as excited as I am about living in my new house, the constant sight of garbage was a total buzz-kill!

After spending my first weeks in the house picking all of the dime- to plate-sized pieces of roof shingles out of my lawn (at least three garbage bags full, because apparently the people who got this place ready to sell weren't aware that you can RENT A DUMPSTER rather than just tossing all of your garbage on the ground!!) I was tired of constantly glimpsing all the garbage in the woods and small ravine next to my house.

Technically, it's not even my property, but since no one else was going to do it, and I'm the one who has to look at it every day, it had to go!

Here's a shot of what I pulled out of the woods that day:


Notable 'finds' included two lawn chairs, hockey stick, scooter, computer, two garbage bags full of rusted out empty paint cans (!), aluminum pot, mop, picture frame, and more plastic plant pots than I could count.

I even managed to find a couple of 'freebies' I can actually use - a perfectly good garbage can (complete with cover), and a length of vinyl eaves trough. And let me just say that after the expense of buying a house, I'm happy not to have to buy a garbage can. Plus, it's at least a small compensation for hauling all of that stuff up out of the woods!

But here is my question, the one I kept asking myself the whole time I was amassing the large pile pictured above: What the heck is WRONG with people?!?!!? The city comes by and picks up our garbage every two weeks - all you have to do is take it to the curb. Why on EARTH would you throw it all into the woods?!? That's just gross.

BUT, now my view is neat and clean, so I'm glad I did it.