Trashy Part of Town

I took a walk yesterday by the expensive sailboats in the harbor nearby.  The boats are gorgeous.  Checking out the water, I was excited to see a slew of fish swimming at the surface.  Most of them were dark and kind of boring, but there were light, striped ones, a puffer fish, and one that would've been too big for me to hold in both arms. 

My walk took a very sad turn when I rounded a corner and noticed that the fish were difficult to find due to the huge amounts of trash floating in the water.

 I was sicked by the items I saw, the quantity, the fish swimming in and out of plastic cups, getting caught in plastic bags.  The worst part is the feeling that I didn't do anything about it.  The easy answer is that I couldn't do anything about it, but that's a cop out.  With enough determination I could've done something, couldn't I? 

I realized that if I had the tools needed to clean this junk out of the water, it would take hours to scoop and cart it away.  Most likely, more trash would collect here.  Has anyone or organization cleaned this in the past?  Is it always like this?

 

In the mix: a glue stick, Dodgers baseball, Halloween pumpkin bucket, liquor bottles, plastic caps, shoes, ball caps, plastic shopping bags, lotion containers, soda cups from fast food restaurants.

The majority of the junk is actually recyclable.  Jeff teases me for the lengths I go to to recycle things we go through at home.  Pretty sure this walk has only added to my motivation to be more environmentally conscious. 

Photography Challenge - Day Thirteen - Myself with Thirteen Things

I'm astounded by the experiences I have had in Hawaii.  The short list includes surfing, snorkeling, coconut syrup, hiking, flying, hula, mai tai, spinner dolphins, shave ice, paddle boarding, llama, and ukulele.  I am thankful for the freedom and means to create memories, expand my perspective, and enrich my understanding of the world.

Photography Challenge - Day Twelve - Sunset

Took a quick walk to Ala Moana beach park near our condo.  The calm waters draw a lot of locals, and events happen here nearly every weekend. 

Photography Challenge - Day Eleven - Something Blue

Hanging out on a ridiculously sunny day on our favorite beach in Hawaii, Waimanalo Beach, I was able to snap Jeff as my 'something blue.'  The sand here is so soft and fine, almost powder.  The surf break is pretty close to shore, so the waves are very fun for easy body boarding.  The downside to that fine sand is its ability to wash into nooks and crannies while in the water so that, days later, we're still shaking out of washed rash guards and swimsuits.  There are so few people on this beach, absolutely shocking.  The epitome of paradise, it is surprising that there are hoards of people camped out.

Jeff and I love this tiny piece of heaven.

Photography Challenge - Day Ten - A Childhood Memory

Summer in Fowlerville was usually hot and mostly boring.  Growing up, our early nineteenth century house never had air conditioning.  My younger brother, Ryan, and I had bedrooms upstairs, where there was no air circulation due to only one window opening a crack.  We played outside pretty much all the time, making up games and playing in trees.  Ryan had the most amazing imagination, so we kept ourselves pretty busy with milk crates, the small woods nearby, a lone baseball bat, and the half-above-ground-half-below-ground pool.

Things changed the summer I got my driver's license because that meant we could escape the heat and hours of trying to outdo each other on the Lara Croft Tomb Raider game that we had going on the upstairs computer.  Ryan and I went to movies.  LOTS of movies.  We'd loved going to movies prior to this summer, but the difference was that we could go whenever we wanted.  So we pretty much did, as long as we had $20. 

We mostly went to the cheaper daytime shows, but we'd occasionally go to Williamston in the evening for the super cheap, $2.50 show.  Heading west two towns over only occurred on cool nights since there wasn't air conditioning there either.  Most of the time we drove 20 minutes east on the expressway to Brighton whose phone number we both knew by heart (810-227-4700). Actually, we knew Brighton's number, Williamston's number, and Okemos' number by heart.

After squaring away which movie and at what time, Ryan and I would arrive at the theater at least 15 minutes early in order to go to the concession stand.  Depending on the day, we'd get a hot dog, a pretzel, popcorn, and/or nachos.  We always got frozen Pepsis and Sour Patch Kids.  I love how the Sour Patch Kids get kind of bubbly and fizzy after drinking the frozen Pepsi.

There were a couple of years when we had seen all or almost all of the movies currently in theaters, some of which two or three times.  We definitely saw She's All That three times. I think we saw Never Been Kissed twice and The Mummy two or three times, along with many, many others.

Nowadays, I only get to the movie theater a few times a year, though Ryan is still an avid moviegoer and critic.  I go mostly to movies I'm positive I will like since it's so expensive.  And for the popcorn, frozen Pepsi, and occasional Sour Patch Kids treat.

Photography Challenge - Day Nine - Someone You Love

It just so happens that there is only one person in the entire state that I love, and it just so happens to be the person I love the most.  Jeff is loving the iPad 2 we bought a couple of months ago, unwinding after a long day of work and dinner on the lanai.

Zoo Volunteer - Llamapalooza

Fun quotes from last Tuesday at the zoo:

If a child eats any goat poop, just tell the parents to call the family doctor when they get home.
Have you groomed a llama before?
Do you know how to harness a llama?
Please clean the windows inside the blue tongue skink/bearded dragon exhibit, and be careful not to disrupt their eating.

It seems peculiar that, after growing up in Fowlerville surrounded by corn fields, hogs, milk cows, and the fair, my first experiences holding a chicken, picking up horse poop, and harnessing an animal would be in Hawaii.  Yet, here I sit writing about it.

The highlight of my last shift at the Keiki Zoo was not getting spit on by Lorenzo, the llama.  The second best part of the day was getting to walk him around the zoo. 

After the cleaning and first feeding of the day were complete, it was only 11am, plenty of time to learn how to harness, groom, and walk Lorenzo.  I had already met Lorenzo a couple of times, since I've cleaned out his and Gracie's romp.  Gracie is the sheep who shares living quarters with Lorenzo.  She has never been a problem.  Lorenzo can be ornery and has many more expressions than most of the other animals in the petting zoo section, keeping me on alert every time I'm in their romp.  I try to act very brave and nonchalant when I'm near Lorenzo for fear of being spit on.  So far, I've stayed clean.

Around 11am, Kendall, one of the keepers, asked if I wanted to learn how to take Lorenzo for a walk.  Of course I did!!  He explained how to put the harness on, what the animals expect, and what's expected of them.  He warned that Lorenzo was most likely going to grunt and look at me sideways the first time I tried to harness him.  Kendall said to take him on his bluff, and continue with my job no matter what, as to maintain a level of respect and authority.  Easy for the keeper to say.

Kendall first showed me how to put the harness on Lorenzo and walk him around the romp.  As we switched places, it began to rain quite heavily.  Half of the romp is covered, but I could tell that Lorenzo was uninterested in getting wet.  Our area for moving and walking was now only about 10' by 6' with a pole on one side.  Tight quarters for an irritable llama and new zoo volunteer.

I stepped into the romp, walked up to Lorenzo's left side, managed to get the harness on with nothing more than a quint and ear flick, and breathed a silent sigh of relief.  Since the rain continued, Kendall asked me to hang tight with Lorenzo while he went to get the grooming tools.  A small group of people crowded around the romp, eager to see what I was going to do, since I obviously had some special skills with the llama.  So, I walked Lorenzo in a small circle, only having to use some force on the rope once when we neared the wet side of the romp. Then we stood, since those are the only special skills I have. 

It's funny how excited people get when a person is near any animal in the zoo.  Just opening the guinea pig house, people rush over saying, "Look!  There's a lady in there.  Come watch!  Nathan, Brian, get over here quick!  Oh wow!  She just set down the water bowl." I'll admit, that I pay extra attention when there are humans interacting with the critters.  But, the guinea pigs?  The chickens?  Nothing to see here, folks.

Kendall returned with the brushes, secured Lorenzo to the pole, and demonstrated how to brush Lorenzo's coarse fur.  He didn't seem to like the feeling, though Kendall told me he never usually minded much.  Well, today was a different day.  Lorenzo was less than thrilled about being groomed.  He started spitting up a storm while stomping a bit in place.  Kendall stayed near his head, keeping the rope secured to the post while I continued brushing.  It seemed to help when I kept one hand on his back while the other brushed.  He looked very handsome when we were all through.

I was so glad when the rain let up just as I was finishing with the brush.  Off we went on a short stroll through the zoo.  Kendall showed me the large loop to take to avoid the tiger and the savannah section, as those animals will consider Lorenzo their lunch and cause a raucous.  I was happy to avoid that.  Lorenzo was alert and fairly easy to lead around.  Many visitors stopped to look, take a picture, and say hello to Lorenzo, calling him by name.  Ten minutes later I led my new llama acquaintance back to his romp where Gracie was bleating loudly, obviously distraught that her pack mate was gone.  Once reunited, all was quiet again.

Maybe next time I'll get to help clean Hoku, the miniature horse's, hooves!