A Mess

As our Spring Break neared an end, two things happened on the same day…trash day and a big wind storm…always a bad combination. As I woke up, I heard the wind rattling the windows. I peeked out my bedroom window and saw that our garbage had tipped over. Unfortunately, I had chosen that week to fill the top of the trash can with the styrofoam that had been collecting, and it blew all over the hillside. More unfortunately, in this case, our hillside is covered with very prickly blackberry bushes that welcomed our styrofoam deep into the middle of their thorny arms. Let the fun begin.

It's never good when you hear wind on trash day! 

I was so excited to help clean up, but... 

…it's tricky when the garbage is surrounded by thorns! 

I decided I'd let me mom get poked by the bushes, and I would be the garbage bag holder. 

My mom found this Golden Retriever hook that Aunt Jennifer had gotten as a joke, and it came in handy to get some of the trash. I helped move the trash from the hook to the bag. 

I started to think the hook looked like fun, so... 

…I tried it. It worked well as a walking stick as I climbed the hill. 

It was harder than it looked to reach the garbage. Even when there aren't big bushes, there are usually strings of branches in between the bushes that stretch the thorns out everywhere. 

You had to plan carefully.

It was a slow going process, but... 

…I felt good every time I got some garbage.