Friday, June 24, 2011

You Find the Damndest Things

What is it about rivers that makes them magnets for trash?

I have fished the same two or three ditches every year for twenty odd years, and every season brings with it a fresh parade of yesterday's leftovers. Seriously ... what is it about the nature of running water that leads people to think, "Yeah. This looks like a good place to get rid of my old stove ... that dead car battery ... this bag of trash ... those canisters of used motor oil." Really? REALLY?

I suppose the more appropriate question might be, "What is it about people?" It's a simple enough question. What is it about people that allows them to think that once their refuse is carried away by running water, the problem disappears entirely and forever. The stuff inevitably ends up in someone's backyard, and one person's trash is not always another person's treasure.

If I come back in 50,000 years will I get to see what a fossilized Ideal Doll looks like? Creepy.
Not sure if this is a hub cap, a cereal bowl, or some sort of ceremonial breast plate. No idea how it climbed up on the log.
Tires are perhaps the most ubiquitous form of river trash, but whitewalls ... well now, there's something special.


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