jukebox3
Registered: December 2007
City/Town/Province: Yorktown
Posts: 1
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The woods behind the militaristic line of suburban houses had an almost dejected quality about it. The loam glittered with the metallic shimmer of empty, wasted Coors cans and slivers of shredded candy wrappers. A quick walk allowed one to discover used BB’s and spent paintballs, a testament to the still aura of fear emanating from the hidden creatures. The creek hidden nearby slowed to a choked glubbing sound as a few turtles tried desperately to swim through sodden plastic bags and used Taco Bell wrappers. It took just one look around for my cousin, my two sisters, and I to decide that something had to be done. Gathering multitudinous numbers of plastic trash bags, cotton gloves (not a good idea…go with latex) and two pairs of rubber waders, we grabbed our mascot – a turtle we rescued named Norman- and set to work. Within the space of a couple of hours we had managed to get soaking wet, gather 4 bags full of trash, including beer bottles, candy and food wrappers, random plastic….things, two sweaters, and some old and extremely moldy carpeting, not to mention the makings of a car bomb, of all things. (We still have the car battery in our garage.) The Stormin’ Normans are now in full effect and have to branches, one here in Virginia, and one with my cousin in Connecticut. I try to visit the woods at least once a month and have since found a fox’s warren, a nest of muskrats and had the pleasure of meeting a raccoon that has acquired the name Bandit because of his amazing thieving skills. Kids still play paintball and Air soft there, and there will FOREVER be “secret” parties of underage drinking, but no longer will the animals suffer quite as much as before. The two chapters reconvened at Christmas time to once again have a major cleanup. We were greeted by a couple of gentlemen walking a dog, who commented “We’ve been meaning to clean this place up forever! Good job.” To me, the difference between doing and meaning is what made all the difference.
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