The woman who sold us this property in the 1970s had rented the farm out for years. The people who lived there didn't bother to take their garbage to the dump. It was too easy to toss it next to the house on the "old lady's" land.
When they moved on, others moved in and continued the practice.
Since Jilda and I have lived here, we've hauled off mountains of old bottles, cans tires, and other debris to the landfill.
Each time it rains for an extended period, it unearths things we've missed. This soda bottle has been hidden under the leaves for decades. If you look closely, you can see the shell of a snail in there. The snell probably died when Nixon was in the White House.
When Jilda and I married, there was no trash pickup, but it never occurred to me to simply toss the garbage in a hollow, or off of some deserted backroad. We always took our trash to a landfill.
I'm about to make an analogy here, so stick with me. One of the things I love about honey bees is that they are so tidy. I've only been stung a few times, but one time I'd been mowing grass and I was ripe if you know what I mean. I walked down close to the hives to watch them for a few minutes.
I sat on my folding chair under the peach tree, and a honey bee came up and hovered for a few seconds and then popped me on the neck. I wasn't happy, but I understood.
Bees are serious about keeping a clean hive. One job of a worker bee is to remove the dead bees from the hive. They only live four or five weeks, so when one dies, they drag her our and toss her off the entrance ramp.
A honey bee will die before it defecates in the hive.
So here's my point, I wish people were more like honey bees.
I wish people were more like a lot of the 'lesser' species. Their behaviour frequently puts us to shame.
ReplyDeleteMost people don't defecate in the hive either.
ReplyDeleteBased on what I’ve seen from people and industry from around our country, too many people do defecate in the hive.
DeleteOkay, I am a "ME TOO!" here also. I have the same problem, this area wasn't in the city for years and they had a back corner of the acre to dump, I am still digging also.
ReplyDeleteGood analogy. Neatness is next to Godliness mama said. Maybe that was cleanliness(?)
Sherry & jack
Hi Rick, Some times finding an old bottle could be a treasure. I remember when I was young and going fishing, walking down an embankment and seeing tons of old cans . So people used to haul trash to the country, or creek banks. Sad. Sadder still, there are people burning everything because they live in the country. We have always had trash pick-up. I am so grateful. I love bees and reading new things about them. Blessings, xoxo, Susie
ReplyDeleteI cannot imagine just tossing my rubbish any old place, as a child my dad drummed into us to dispose of our rubbish in bin not the ground
ReplyDelete