The Annual

Visit #1222, Saturday 23 November 19, 7:00-9:30AM, 1.7miles, 84.4lbs. of litter.
Temps in the 20's to start, quickly rising to comfortable levels, sunny.

Thanks to the New Yorker magazine, and an alert coworker, for the pertinent cartoon.

Once a year I will clean up the slope behind the playscape, which rises up to I-691. People will park along the fencing and toss their trash over the fence. I do this in the late fall when it's too cold for snakes. Unfortunately, the fallen leaves can hide the trash, requiring an extra keen eye.

While the morning started off chilly, climbing up and down the slope does warm you up and I soon took off my appropriately named sweatshirt.

When I filled a bag, I'd drop it over the fence and start another.

 My Find of the Week was this sign, which belongs to the Meriden Parks Department and was formerly mounted on an adjacent post or the gate.

This sign was going to be my bargaining chip. The parks crews were busy in Hubbard Park putting up the Christmas display lights. I was going to jokingly approach them with a deal; I'd give back their sign if they would pick up the bags of litter I collected.

I didn't need to bargain with them; they eagerly agreed to pick up the bags and refused my help to assist. Thanks!

And they got their sign back.

My haul would have measured much more than 84lbs. had I included the weight of the steel posts!