A Rant to End the Week

So I recycle stuff. I’m not one of these “save the planet” true believers but if something can be used again, why not. I figure it can’t hurt. Now I don’t do the curbside thing because I think you have to pay money for a bin and, like I said, I’m not that dedicated. Besides, the city sets up huge bins at various spots, so I can just collect enough to toss in my trunk and drive it to one of those bins.

Except when you get there and see what other people’s definition of “recycling” is. People! These bins are not for trash. There are signs all over the place telling you this and you continue to dump stuff in that CAN’T be recycled. What do you think some magical recycling fairy is going to wave a magic wand and make it all better?

Oh and I love those who just decide that the bins are too full or it isn’t worth the effort or something like that and just dump stuff on the ground. I’m sure the thinking is – well they send people out to pick it up so what’s the problem. The problem is that it makes the driver get out of the truck to pick up your mess and it gums up the whole process. I get that it is a bummer to drive to the bins and find them full but dumping your junk doesn’t make the situation better.

I knew someone who did this and they had all kinds of justifications and that it didn’t really matter anyway. Well it kind of does. See if you disrupt the process so that someone has to sort out and remove your junk that can’t be recycled or if the driver has to get out to collect all the stuff you were too lazy to put in the bin, then all it does is drive up the cost of recycling. And if the cost is too high, then you lose any benefit to it at all. Part of me just thinks that the city takes all these bins to a landfill because it is just too much work to correct the issues created by stupid people who can’t read the many signs telling you what you can and can’t recycle.

To sum up, if you think you are “saving the planet” by recycling but aren’t doing it correctly, then you are part of the problem and not the solution and you should just stop.

End Rant.

On to a couple of other random but happier topics. We have owls that live around us. Barred Owls to be specific. Here’s what they look like.

I love owls. I’ll admit to not being a fan when they start calling at odd hours in the morning but that’s a small price for being able to see these wonderful creatures so often. I’m pretty sure that our owls live in a giant beech tree that has some hollowed out parts. If you haven’t seen a beech tree, they have light grey bark. Wait, here’s a picture.

Barred owls aren’t strictly nocturnal so you will see them out during the day. The one living near us seems to like perching on a branch midway up this large beech tree. On sunny days, the light grey bark tends to nicely camouflage the mostly grey owl. Not totally but it makes them harder to see.

Today, it is rainy. In my part of the country, on rainy days in the winter, everyone says “this would be a lot worse if this were snow”. Well not everyone because some people love snow but, trust me, if you are out and about in my part of the country on a rainy day in January, you’ll hear someone say this.

Well when the beech tree gets wet, the light grey bark turns a much darker grey. So, today, when the owl was sitting in his usual perch, he stood out like a sore thumb. Not really sure that he realized that his cover was blown and that everyone could easily see him. I’m not entirely sure why he was sitting in the rain but I don’t read owl minds so I can’t say. Since I like owls, it was nice to see him stand out.

Last night was the first party of the new year at the Famous Franchise studio. I think a whole bunch of people made resolutions about dancing more because the place was packed. Maybe it was a whole bunch of new students deciding that it was time to try a group class and party because the beginning bronze group was overflowing.

It made for an interesting party. I ended up dancing more than usual because, for some reason, the balance between men and women was more off than normal. It also made for some treacherous conditions on the dance floor. I was dancing with one lady and she was talking about how her husband never pays attention and how he should be wearing pads because he keeps running into people. Ironically, he collided with us later in the dance. Still, it was nice to see. A dance studio is a better place when it is alive with people and energy. (Well unless you have a lesson in a dance like Quickstep that moves – then you want the place to be empty). We shall see how it holds up over the year.

And, with that, I’ll wrap up the week. Since it is raining here and likely to rain most of today and tomorrow, I’ll leave you with this quote.