Today is trash day. That means that tomorrow our local streets will be filthy. It also means that during our morning walk I got to see the exact level of stupid some folks are about what goes in the recycling bin.

First, we are lucky in that they give us two bins, one for paper/cardboard and one for metal/glass/plastic.

• Putting a plastic oil jug in a cardboard box with a used tissue is not only not separating your recyclables, it's gross.
• No, your McDonald's soft-drink cup does not go in the recycle bin.
• I'm pretty sure they don't take plastic peanut butter jars, but if they do, they don't take them still half full of peanut butter (or whatever that oily substance is).
• The Entemann's donut box surely doesn't go in the metal/glass/plastic recycling bin.

It's not like this is hard. They even send us periodic reminders of what can and can't be recycled with clear instructions.
sigh.

As a follow-up to yesterday's rant, Karen posted a link to an article about the clean-up. The Trash was Historic Too: Workers pull an All-Nighter to Clear Spectators' Detritus. 100 volunteers and 300 Park service employees picked up trash. An average days trash is 3 tons, the 4th of July is 17 tons, this was 130 tons. Those people who left sleeping bags, hats, blankets and newspapers should be ashamed.

After watching the Inauguration, I kept checking in on the CNN live feed for a bit as folks departed and commentators commented. One of the things that struck me hard was the litter left behind. I've seen Kindergartners who knew better to clean up after themselves. If you were on the Mall and bought a program or newspaper or flag or even accepted a flyer from someones hand, it is your responsibility to deal with it.
Here are some images I gacked from various CNN videos. They didn't have any of the pure littered trash heap that was left behind, just these snippets of the clean up. I'm assuming those folks with the blue bags are volunteers picking up trash on the Mall. They could be paid, but then again, the folks who come collect my trash are paid. But they aren't paid to pick it up off my floor, they are paid to collect the bags that responsible adults have dropped their collective garbage in. In this interview over Colin Powell's shoulder you can barely see a corner of land littered with with papers and trash that the wind had blown around.

This makes me very sad. Didn't we learn in the 80's not to toss garbage out our car windows on the side of the road? Aren't there Don't Litter signs all over, sometimes with fines posted? Didn't our parents teach us to clean up our rooms and not leave trash everywhere when we were growing up? This is not a statement on one race or social demographic of people. There was a blessed variety of faces of all colors and ages and backgrounds all over the news in the crowds. The crowds looked happy and exhilarated. Why do we humans have to be pigs when gathered in groups?

I'm going to borrow a few lines from President Barack Obama's Inaugural Address:
....
We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things.
...
Our journey has never been one of shortcuts or settling for less. It has not been the path for the faint-hearted — for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame. Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things — some celebrated but more often men and women obscure in their labor, who have carried us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom.
...
We remain the most prosperous, powerful nation on Earth. ... But our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions — that time has surely passed.

For everywhere we look, there is work to be done.
...
To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds. And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to the suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the world's resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it.
...
As we consider the road that unfolds before us, we remember with humble gratitude those brave Americans who, at this very hour, patrol far-off deserts and distant mountains. ... We honor them not only because they are guardians of our liberty, but because they embody the spirit of service; a willingness to find meaning in something greater than themselves. And yet, at this moment — a moment that will define a generation — it is precisely this spirit that must inhabit us all.
...
What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility — a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.
--------------------------------

I don't understand how anyone could hear these words, these fine words, and then leave behind their trash on the ground where the winds will sweep the papers all over our streets. He talks of responsibility, service, hard-work, and a cleaner and better world. Start with picking up your trash, and let's move on from there. Besides, if you stuffed your coat with newspapers, it would insulate you from the cold.

This has been brought into sharper relief for me as I now take walks around the neighborhood twice a day. Even the nice neighborhood we live in (not counting the condos across the street) is littered with trash all over. I'm pulling Ladybug away from loose paper, McDonald's wrappers, broken glass bottles, and all manner of trash. Some of it was loosed during trash-day pick-up on Thursday, but some of it simply is. I'm feeling the need to take another baggie on my walk routes just to collect the trash others have left behind.

This isn't about making the place just look nice, it is more. It is removing trash that will go into our sewers, into our watershed, into the Bay, into the tires and shoes and doggie's stomachs. It is collecting the items that won't decompose and placing them in landfills so that nature can take place and breathe.

Everyone, young and old, rich and poor, of all colors, jobs and backgrounds. Pick up your damn trash, please.

Alan is cursed when it comes to buying printers. We don't print often, but by golly I like it to work when we do need to print. And we haven't had a reliable printer in our time together. Currently our HP Color LaserJet 2600n is giving me a paper jam error in tray 2. There is no jam. We buy the special custom HP paper that it thinks it likes. But you can't load too much, nor too little into the tray or apparently it thinks it is jammed. Stupid stupid printer. This is why I sometimes abuse the state and print at work. grumble...

And fighting with the printer is cutting into my embroidery time, or my packing time, or even my sleeping time.

At least one thing came out well. I has successful cheese tart for our little sideboard tomorrow. It's good warm or cold. And I was seduced to the side of using fresh herbs since I forgot to buy thyme and it was easier to cut it out of Theo's garden, with some fresh marjoram leaves, than go back to the store. Luckily I have plenty of fresh rosemary in my backyard. So the only dried spices were the savory and pepper. It smells good, and I'm just waiting for it to cool before I can toss it in the fridge until tomorrow.

I was gonna make gingerbread cookies, but I spent too much time chatting with Roland and Theo in the process of picking up thyme, and inspecting their house project, and checking out the new shop, and picking up Alan's old old (circa 1984) helmet, and fighting with the damn printer, to get to cookies.

sigh.
See folks tomorrow.

First: I don't care how good you think you are, no one should be looking down at their phone while driving. Most folks are bad enough simply talking on the phone while driving, add into that equation looking down at a text on your phone or an email on your Blackberry and the roads are screwed. I passed three "drivers" on my way into work who were weaving in their lane, driving significantly lower than the flow of traffic (not to mention the speed limit), and in general being a danger on the road. Three in less than 20 minutes. Put the phone aside, only use it at stop lights, or pull over if it is that important. Seriously! No wonder they won't give us flying cars, we're dangerous enough in two dimensions!

Even my Alan is somewhat guilty of this. If we are both in the vehicle and he takes a call, even with the bluetooth headset, he should pull over and let me drive. I don't care how good you think you are, you are NOT as good as you think you are.

Second: Ladies, keep your cold appendages to yourself. Your significant other usually believes that you are cold when you say you are cold. There is no need to stick your cold appendages on a piece of their warm anatomy to prove so. (I'm looking at you blondemuse ) Turn up the heat, put on some socks, grab an extra blanket, take responsibility for your own personal environment. Only if you are taunted for your behavior should you resort to proving the temperature of your hands.

Alan has taught me this and now I try to use convection instead of conduction to draw heat into my cold feet. They will warm up near him without me having to touch him with their iciness. Or I put on fluffy warm socks. If he didn't want to see me in fluffy socks, he'd turn up the heat. Besides, it is going to be cold in the winter as we all try to save on our heating bills. Socks and gloves are your friends.

So, one of my less than fond memories from Pennsic is the stranger who said "I see you are now working on your next project..." pointing to my abdomen.
Stunned and confused for a second, I was left to reply only with "I'm not pregnant, I'm just fat."

First of all, I was wearing an Italian gamurra with an apron on. Pic. Hello, high-waisted style with pleated skirt.
Second of all, who says that?!?!  To a stranger?@!? Unless the lady has announced that she is pregnant or you see the baby crowning, never congratulate a fat chick on being pregnant. sigh.

So, did you get insulted out of the blue at the war and wanna share? (This is a category I sincerely hope I am alone in, except the human race is, well, the human race.) You seriously have my sympathy.

I mean, aside from the Royalty who allied with the East at Opening Ceremonies...