The Trash Collector
1. He tells me I’m sweet like the Princess in Aladdin. I say thank you because I figure it’s a compliment.
2. Strolling along Morning Dew, the dirt road I named after the Grateful Dead song, we picked up litter. “Do you see anything red?” he asks. “No,” I answer. I point to an old flattened Dr. Pepper can and say, “I think this used to be red, but now it’s faded into pink.”
3. “People should know better,” he says examining an abandoned plastic green bottle.
4. When the weather was warmer and he called me Mary Poppins, we walked along the Parkway waving at motorcycles going by. But not now. The weather is cold. I don’t think I saw a single car the whole time we walked.
5. The trash collector is also a good dog trainer. Before heading back to the house, he whistled for the dog to come out of the woods, and she did.
Note: When I’m not writing or being supposedly retired, I provide respite for foster care provider families that offer live-in care to adults with disabilities, something I used to do full time. MINUTE POST UPDATE: Hit comments and see # 9.
Comments
He gives you such lovely compliments.
I love that you pick up litter. I have done that on the beach here with Nelson. What are people thinking??!!
Posted by: Sherry | February 1, 2008 10:12 AM
What ARE people thinking when they litter? That their momma is going to come behind them and pick up after them? We pick up litter when we beach walk, or anywhere we walk for that matter.
Posted by: kacey | February 1, 2008 10:21 AM
my niece took her dog for a romp in the woods in Wva Sat and lost all 4 - so happy to be free, She waited 4 hours for them . They kept going further into the mountains. She rescued all of them,,sk
Posted by: sandy kessler | February 1, 2008 11:13 AM
Who knows what they're thinking? I have slowly accepted the fact that there are litterers and there are picker-uppers. They throw it down, we pick it up. I would have a different world but whether I choose to accept it or not, it's the yin and yang of the Universe. I'm just glad that God so graciously created me to be a picker-upper; I like being what what I was meant to be.
Posted by: Rick Parrish | February 1, 2008 11:23 AM
The Trash Collector should be wearing a Patriots hat, GO PATS!!
Posted by: Tanner | February 1, 2008 1:16 PM
It is so good of you to pick up the trash, Colleen, and to take him with you.
Posted by: kenju | February 1, 2008 6:10 PM
This was a great way to make use of your time together. What makes me go off the deep end is when I'm traveling in a car and the person in the car in front of me throws something out the window. I just wish I could reach out and throw it back in his/her car.
Posted by: SunnySchlenger | February 1, 2008 8:06 PM
IT looks like you guys are coming up our driveway! Not the litter part but the look itself. I hate litter bugs. I am for very very expensive fines! When Caleb and I went to Hanging Rock park this summer I was just disgusted with how people had thrown water bottles off into the little streams. What kind of person does that? I would never be friends with them, I can tell you that. And I would confront anyone I saw litter like that.
Posted by: Deana | February 2, 2008 9:26 AM
We got the trash picked up just in time. By the next morning the place was covered in ice, trees downed on every road, no power for us. It went out yesterday (Friday at 11 a.m.) and is still down. I went 29 hours without being online and am now ever so briefly, borrowing wifi power from Sally at Cafe Del Sol. So this is my little mintue post. Ice photos to follow.
Posted by: colleen | February 2, 2008 4:11 PM
How people can litter and ruin such a lovely area amazes me. How hard is it to put your empty can in the trash can.
Michele sent me.
Posted by: Mike | February 2, 2008 9:09 PM
Wow, sure looks cold out there!!
I'm in Melbourne Australia, so a fair few thousand miles away, yes!
Posted by: Girl About Town | February 2, 2008 9:53 PM