Damn if it's not still there!

June 6, 2013 I think is the date I originally mentioned this piece of litter.  I was amazed as the weeks went by not only by the fact that no one picked it up but it never disintegrated.

It got rained on and baked in the sun.

Then it got snowed on and frozen.

And it pretty much never altered at all.  Yeah, sometimes it moved around a little - perhaps a passing car made enough wind to move it or maybe a gully washer of a rain storm actually floated if a few feet.

But it never changed.

And now....it's still there.  Hell, guys, we're talking almost 2 years here!  And whoever threw it out of their car for whatever reason probably doesn't even have the same damn car any more!

I haven't been able to walk my dog up that way since probably last November.  Too much snow, not enough edge of the road and too many people in cars who don't pay any attention to the rest of the world.  So I've been restricted to the dead end road I live on.

Today was the first time I've been up that hill and there it was:  THE TRASH FROM HELL!  Still looking about the same as 2 years ago...who knew?

As I said the last time around, I'm sure that none of us go around throwing trash out our car windows.  But do we do all that we can to avoid adding to the trashing of America?  In other words, do we avoid buying/using plastic whenever we can or do we at least recycle everything we possibly can?

Not just plastic - how about cans and bottles (glass ones) and how about things like toilet paper tubes & cardboard boxes - or even making the choice to buy our eggs in a cardboard (recyclable) container rather than the cute ones you can see through (but that are NOT recyclable)?

Do any of us think ahead to disposing of packaging before we buy an item and at least look to see if there is something comparable in recyclable packaging?

Our oceans are full of trash - most of it plastic if not all of it.  Everywhere we look there is plastic - probably never going to get rid of it all but at least we, as individuals, can do our best to avoid it.

There is a place just outside of Bangor, Maine that I refer to as Mount Bangor - it's a huge manicured grass covered pile of  garbage/trash/whatever you want to call it.

And I bring it to you using the wonder of the Internet:

And I can tell you it's a lot bigger now than when this picture was taken.

So along with remembering to keep out gas tanks at least half full, how about see what we can all do to cut our "plastic footprint". 

P.S.  If you follow the link to the Sunshine Guerrilla blog on the side of my page, my niece Barbara has a ton more good ways to go green.

Even though this year....

Here it is spring again.  At least the calendar says so.  I find it hard to remember a colder more miserable March and April myself.  After the lying promise of February with it's warm weather and sunny skies, it's pretty much your basic cruel hoax to see what the weather has turned into these past few weeks.

I admit to being a Weather Channel junkie - every morning when I am down on the floor trying to convince myself that somehow these stretches and bends and so forth are actually going to miraculously fine tune my body into a lean, mean flexible machine, I watch my buddies on the TV try to convince me that they are actually in the know for at least the next 24 hours. 

(By the way, how's that for a run on sentence?)

Anyhow, it's spring no matter what the weather - the days are getting longer if not that much better and although I swore that this year I would not "garden" with as much enthusiasm as I normally do, I find myself planning where things would grow the best.

Looked at last year's calendar and find that apparently this urge to plant strikes me at about the same time each year.

So, sometime today I will plant at least the peas.  I have a lot of seeds left from last year so the germination may not be all that great.  That just means I'll plant extra and probably end up with too many plants in a small space!

On the other hand, I may plant the beets too - maybe not carrots this year although they've done so well the past couple of years it's worth the extra effort to thin the plants.

And I'll probably make a stab at some greens.  After all, otherwise that little planter will just sit there alone and lonely with nothing growing in it.

And I know that small area will produce almost more greens than I can eat up as they grow.

So, here's your spring nudge:  if you have a little bit of dirt or a couple of big pots, you too could be thinking about where to plant at least a few things.  The seeds are relatively inexpensive considering you end up with actual food that you know (hopefully) isn't covered with pesticides.  Container gardening particularly takes very little effort compared to plowing up the back 40 (even if you have a back 40) so why not take a little while now and make a plan.

I might (later) plant some hot pepper plants out in front of the greenhouse after all.  Shame to let those gardens go to waste.

And pickled peppers are really easy to do....

At any rate, you see how it goes - during the winter I swear I will be more sensible in my gardening - come spring?  Not so much!  So how about take a few minutes to think about an easy place that you can grow a few things to enjoy - be it a small plot of dirt or a couple of pots. 

And don't forget to keep your gas tank at least half full - just sayin!