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The scene in my back yard Sunday morning. I made a wise decision to hike on Saturday.

Visit #1569, Saturday 13 December 25, 3:15-4:40PM, 4.0 miles, 5.7 lbs. of litter.

Temps in the 30s, darkly cloudy, with snow developing overnight.

Last week I performed an annual cleaning of the slope behind the playscape. Another annual cleaning I do is the slope below Castle Craig, where people strangely enough like to toss their cans, bottles, and whatnot. My Saturday schedule precluded my typical early morning jaunt so late afternoon, with dwindling daylight, would be all that was available. I also knew that if the forecast was accurate I wouldn't be able to see any litter on the slope if the snow stuck around so I had to take advantage of the ground while I could see it.

Down by Merimere Reservoir I found this jar.

What it says on the top is, "Take A Look- Leave a Remember (sic) Look In Gnome". What it says on the jar is, "Leave Me Something For Someone Else To Find".

Here are the contents.

The coupon was for a free taco from Taco Bell; The pink coin was for a free ice cream cone from Ryder's Ice Cream on West Main Street; the silver coin had the Ten Commandments printed on it, and the multi-colored thing on the upper left was the gnome.

I didn't collect much litter from the slope because I was pressed for daylight.

My keen eyes spotted a candy cane inked on a rock.

More of the endless stream of foam stickers mentioning me. This is just one of many removed today.

Season of the Missing Glove 2025/25, entry #6.

These religious tracts were protected from the impending snow and conveniently resting on a rock.

And I found not one, but TWO unopened cans of Mad Elf Ale. Sorry for the blurry photo. I wonder who they hire to design the can's artwork?

I returned to the parking lot at almost dark, and with the line of cars queueing up to view the Christmas lights extending quite far.

The Wr(e)ath of (Wo)Man

 Visit #1568, Sunday 7 December 25, 7:25-10:55AM, 3.7 miles, 77.0 lbs. of trash.

Temps in the low 30s to start and cloudy, rising quickly to the comfortable low 40s by end, sunny.

I love me a Jason Statham action movie, Wrath of Man being the most recent. He's coming out with a new movie in January 2026, Shelter. I'm in!

Wreath of (a) Woman - is slightly different.

I was contacted by a Hubbard Park visitor traumatized by the wreath on display above the fireplace at the bandshell. It nagged at her. She couldn't sleep because of it.

It didn't have a bow. Nothing. A plain wreath.

Well, leave Christmas decorations up to men and what do you expect?! You'll get beer cans for tree ornaments, a string of garland over the big screen TV, and a green and red condom in place of mistletoe.

She was afraid to freelance and put up a bow herself without permission. So I contacted the parks department overlord and was given the green light. I'm serious; the citizen was thrilled. She braved the cold rain earlier this week hoping to avoid scrutiny and completed her mission. I can report she is sleeping soundly now.

Today was my annual cleaning of the bank behind the playscape, adjacent to I-691.

I was surprised to find the state had taken a brush hog to the upper part of the bank making it easier to navigate and to pick up junk.

I worked left to right across the top, then dropped down and finished right to left.

Interesting finds:

I redacted the SSN number.

Bonus: The animal trap came complete with a dead animal!

I brought everything to the dumpster.

Almost forgot; I found Season of the Missing Glove 2025/26 Entries #3 and 4.

Finally, I'm a little late but I welcome new city councilors Diadette Hernandez, John Hauselt, Sarah Taylor, and Kirsten Misner to my blog. I hope I got their e-mail addresses right!