judifilksign (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
judifilksign) wrote2009-06-13 07:29 pm
judifilksign) wrote2009-06-13 07:29 pm
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My life can be a stream
Today, ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
braider and I went to the Hocking River cleanup in Logan, Ohio. The deal was, a canoe livery would let you use a canoe for free if you picked up trash in the river during your ride. We arrived, bright and early, to discover that we were in fact, too bright and early by an entire week. We ended up renting a canoe anyway and still picking up trash from the river, and got a refund of two dollars each for the two ginormous bags of trash we winnowed from the riverbanks and tree roots.
My partner steered a steady course for all the blockages and snags in the river. Well, I helped, because this of course, was where trash accumulated. We picked out:
Two buckets, in which we put the
glass bottles, such as the many whiskey, beer and scotch bottles.
Many plastic drink bottles of all sizes,
an old beach ball,
three golf balls (with many out of reach up the banks from us, near the golf course we passed along our course)
a tennis ball,
a dog water bowl, and a kitty litter pan.
Three light beer cans, unopened and presumably still filled with beer, all the same brand. We speculated a canoe capsized.
Many single flip-flop shoes, (like a dozen, two of which made a useless, broken pair,) a sneaker tangled by its laces in branches, swim socks, single men's sandals of different brands, and a torn up boot. It seemed like every time we shimmied into a group of tree branches to get foam cups or plastic bottles, there'd be another flip-flop sole or shoe in the worst of the muck.
We saw, but did not attempt to fish out: tires, chicken wire fences, four decaying cars and one decaying truck that had gone over the riverbank curves in the road above some time ago. There was an upside down flatbed rusted out rowboat, and corrugated metal roof parts. We also passed a refrigerator and a number of wooden boxes and pallets. There were cinderblocks and clay pipe pieces lining the riverbanks, but we left them alone because they looked heavy, and acted like rocks.
We passed by people doing zip lines through the canopies, whooping and having a great time.braider would call out cheerfully to them to "Don't fall!" and sang them songs as they whizzed by. Zip lines make a surprising amount of noise.
The river was full of many other canoes and people enjoying the day, and in some cases, over-enjoying the day with beer and yelling. We out-paddled them so we could have some peace.
There were huge turtles: we saw one or two that we thought were automobile hubcaps at first, they were so big! But we didn't see nearly so many as we saw on our trip down the Darby Creek on Mother's Day.
Towards the end of our journey, we found a bright blue croc-type children's foam shoe. We thought it was another beer can at first, and were surprised to see it was a little shoe floating like a little boat against the shore. When we found it,, I askedbraider to put it aside, because it looked new, like the ones sold at the canoe shop. I thought that if a child dumped one in the river, there was a good chance we'd find the other. And we did, within the next five minutes, on the other side of the river! Sparkle will have pool shoes once I clean them up. Finding a useful pair of shoes made me absurdly happy, and I sang barbershop-like: "Bluuuue shooooooes, we found them in Juuuuune, a little past noooooon, once in a blue moooooon, blue shoooooes!" and other such nonsensical verses, to which braider added harmony and other silly verses, like "We sing this tuuuune, we hope this trip ends soooon, paddling in Juuuune," etc.
braider noted that she had a new respect for the American Indians that travelled up and down rivers in canoes hauling stuff, because it got darn hard to maneuver the boat as it got heavier with the filling trash bags. I had to agree. We had to shift garbage in the bags to keep the canoe from listing to one side.
Still, it was a lovely day, with a lovely friend.braider is a joy to go out and do nature-y stuff with, because the company is so enjoyable, and she challenges me to do fun physical activities.
braider and I went to the Hocking River cleanup in Logan, Ohio. The deal was, a canoe livery would let you use a canoe for free if you picked up trash in the river during your ride. We arrived, bright and early, to discover that we were in fact, too bright and early by an entire week. We ended up renting a canoe anyway and still picking up trash from the river, and got a refund of two dollars each for the two ginormous bags of trash we winnowed from the riverbanks and tree roots.My partner steered a steady course for all the blockages and snags in the river. Well, I helped, because this of course, was where trash accumulated. We picked out:
Two buckets, in which we put the
glass bottles, such as the many whiskey, beer and scotch bottles.
Many plastic drink bottles of all sizes,
an old beach ball,
three golf balls (with many out of reach up the banks from us, near the golf course we passed along our course)
a tennis ball,
a dog water bowl, and a kitty litter pan.
Three light beer cans, unopened and presumably still filled with beer, all the same brand. We speculated a canoe capsized.
Many single flip-flop shoes, (like a dozen, two of which made a useless, broken pair,) a sneaker tangled by its laces in branches, swim socks, single men's sandals of different brands, and a torn up boot. It seemed like every time we shimmied into a group of tree branches to get foam cups or plastic bottles, there'd be another flip-flop sole or shoe in the worst of the muck.
We saw, but did not attempt to fish out: tires, chicken wire fences, four decaying cars and one decaying truck that had gone over the riverbank curves in the road above some time ago. There was an upside down flatbed rusted out rowboat, and corrugated metal roof parts. We also passed a refrigerator and a number of wooden boxes and pallets. There were cinderblocks and clay pipe pieces lining the riverbanks, but we left them alone because they looked heavy, and acted like rocks.
We passed by people doing zip lines through the canopies, whooping and having a great time.
braider would call out cheerfully to them to "Don't fall!" and sang them songs as they whizzed by. Zip lines make a surprising amount of noise.The river was full of many other canoes and people enjoying the day, and in some cases, over-enjoying the day with beer and yelling. We out-paddled them so we could have some peace.
There were huge turtles: we saw one or two that we thought were automobile hubcaps at first, they were so big! But we didn't see nearly so many as we saw on our trip down the Darby Creek on Mother's Day.
Towards the end of our journey, we found a bright blue croc-type children's foam shoe. We thought it was another beer can at first, and were surprised to see it was a little shoe floating like a little boat against the shore. When we found it,, I asked
braider to put it aside, because it looked new, like the ones sold at the canoe shop. I thought that if a child dumped one in the river, there was a good chance we'd find the other. And we did, within the next five minutes, on the other side of the river! Sparkle will have pool shoes once I clean them up. Finding a useful pair of shoes made me absurdly happy, and I sang barbershop-like: "Bluuuue shooooooes, we found them in Juuuuune, a little past noooooon, once in a blue moooooon, blue shoooooes!" and other such nonsensical verses, to which braider added harmony and other silly verses, like "We sing this tuuuune, we hope this trip ends soooon, paddling in Juuuune," etc.braider noted that she had a new respect for the American Indians that travelled up and down rivers in canoes hauling stuff, because it got darn hard to maneuver the boat as it got heavier with the filling trash bags. I had to agree. We had to shift garbage in the bags to keep the canoe from listing to one side.Still, it was a lovely day, with a lovely friend.
braider is a joy to go out and do nature-y stuff with, because the company is so enjoyable, and she challenges me to do fun physical activities.
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I did not tip the boat over, but I wouldn't let
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She's a genius.
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