10/15/2007 - Monday
I'm in the second week of my downsizing project and feel okay that I've done what I set out to do during week one. I'm learning that the very visible clutter is much easier to dispose of than the "hidden" stuff, some of which at least at one time in my life was considered important to save. But, today I'm going to consider our environment -- the environment that is larger than my own private home.
I usually try to walk with my dog, a blue standard poodle, for at least 3 miles every day. When I first started doing this with him almost four years ago, I noticed papers, cans, bottles, and other trash strewn at the side of the road. After observing this for several weeks, I began collecting as much as I could comfortably carry along with me on our walks and disposing of it properly. This keeps the road ways looking nicer, and I was contributing most of the "trash" to recycling. An added benefit was that many items were deposit bottles and cans that I could redeem. At first, I would stuff my pockets with the items but could not carry many and if they were somewhat larger than my pockets, they'd fall out. And, I looked a bit weird with cans, bottles and other trash protruding from the various openings in my clothing. One day while at a Dick's sporting goods shop, I saw fishing vests featured. After inspecting them and noticing that they have a full-back pouch, I bought one and have been wearing it on my walks ever since. I'm tall, but not too large, and the S-M size I bought fits over a tank top in the warmer weather as well as over a parka in the coldest weather. The fishing vest has many pockets that work well for holding various items such as an mp3 player to listen to while walking and dog treats. Of course, it’s also great to carry bags for collecting dog droppings and even the collected droppings themselves. Back to the point, the full-back pouch is large enough to carry 10 to 12 regular-sized soda or beer cans and bottles, or 3 to 4 larger-sized ones. One more aside, I’m not the first to find fishing vests useful for walking with dogs; when I stopped just west of Toronto at a dog park one afternoon, I saw pictures of the members of the dog park wearing similar fishing vests!
Now, mind you, I won’t get rich on collecting other people’s trash or even collect enough for a simple meal most days. But, once in a while I can collect 10 to 12 items that yield enough to buy a bag of legumes with which I can cook a hearty soup and feed a small family for two days. My typical daily find, after the first few days of picking up what had been on the roadsides on my usual path, is now 3 to 4 items a day. So, after collecting for a week or so, I can buy a bag of dried legumes or even a treat like my favorite candy bar. There are still always more items on the roadsides after I've been gone for a while. On several occasions I've found discarded music CDs, I suppose thrown out by students riding the school buses or by people driving by. Most of the CDs are damaged or ones I’m not really interest in, but some are okay. I have added CDs of Blondie, The Phenomenauts, and Nine Inch Nails to my collection to enjoy.
This morning, I picked up a jacket that had been lying on the roadside for a few days. If an item seems not to have been deliberately thrown away, I will usually try to make it visible to the person who may have lost it by hanging it over a tree branch or draping it over a mail box. This particular jacket did not appear to be in great shape and after three days I claimed it. I need to see if it's still good enough to wear and could be donated to a charity or if it should be relocated to a rag pile to be used for cleaning.
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