I spent a couple hours on a beautiful Saturday morning working with the Tulsa Area Geocachers in their project to clean up Centennial Park, close to downtown.
With assistance from the Tulsa Parks Department we picked up trash, trimmed shrubbery and pulled up dead plants from the planting beds.
I spent most of my time with a rake pulling up crap out of the pond. Beer cans, foam drinking cups and food containers, wine boxes, all sorts of stuff. I worked around this turtle for quite a while and he only got in the water when I left.
This chattery guy was barking and shaking his tail at me. If I wasn’t going to feed him then I just needed to move on I think.
I pulled a lot of stuff out of the shrubs as well. Despite the many trash cans it looks like some office workers bring their lunches, eat and then just leave the trash. I used to work with people like that. They would walk off with a trash can just thirty feet away and say “Oh, they have people who do that.” Not how I was raised is what I have to say.
And here is one of the best kept secrets in Tulsa. Not one person I have talked to about this has ever heard about it. A Centennial Time Capsule.
There is a car in the time capsule. It is not going to opened until 2048. If I am still around I’ll be too old attend. I got an alternate plan though, are you in? It’s right by a street. What say we hire a contractor to go open up. We’ll make it look all official, open it up, pull the car out, put it on a truck and drive off and have the contractor put everything back together. We’ll do it in the middle of the day. Nobody will care. Lets do it!!
And here is another mystery about people. You’ve seen these things right. Bags for picking up doggy doo. Well guess what, lots of people use the bags and throw them to the side of the walk, or worse, there were lots of them in the pond!! Will garbage cans literally no further than a hundred feet anywhere in the park! What up folks!
A good time was had by all. I got to meet many geocachers and say hello to others I already knew.
The event was an official geocache and with almost all geocaches you have to sign the log to be counted. This one was a cake that you could sign. Sorry, in these pandemic times, and after picking up all the stuff I did for two hours, and no place to properly clean my hands, nope, didn’t sign the log and didn’t have a piece of cake either.
We hauled out a mountain of stuff though. All for a good cause.
I’m linking with Our World Tuesday
glad 2 visit …it has been 2 long. hope u r well. thank you kindly for the visit …that red barn is one of my faves that we have ever seen. it will hold that greatness in my memory forever. hope this week is great for you and yours. take care. ( ;
Kudos to you for this great act of responsible citizenship. It really is a cause for dismay that people are so irresponsible but this problem of trash is a worldwide issue. I clean up a couple of favourite birding spots periodically, but it doesn’t take long for the garbage to start accumulating again. It is pretty sad and discouraging too.
Good for you to help with this cleanup. I can’t abide people who litter or think “let someone else pick it up”. At our public ski entrance down the street there is a lot of litter which neighbors periodically pick up and put out with their trash. The park was looking pristine when you were finished.
All credit to you for doing your bit for the community. I just don’t understand why it is so difficult to put the rubbish into a bin. It’s the same here. With or without Covid I don’t think I would have taken some cake knowing what job you had all been doing. Nice gesture though.
What a fun day and so beneficial to all ~ lovely photos too ~ Xo
Living moment to moment,
A ShutterBug Explores,
aka (A Creative Harbor)
No matter where I live you have to do clean-up – Michigan, Tennessee and Florida. There are always folks who do not think they have to clean up after themselves. They didn’t grow up with my mother for sure.
That is my pet peeve, people who don’t carry their trash with them – just litterbugs. I especially hate (I’ve witnessed it more than once) those who drive in the mall parking lot and open their car door and leave bags of empty fast food containers – in the middle of the parking lot.
Thank you. Litter is a pet peave. What kind of car?
Great and much needed initiative! I don’t understand why people can’t use litter bins…
Nice area too!
Your time capsule shenanigans sound like a lot of fun! But seriously, how do people throw trash so carelessly out into the environments where they walk and live? It’s baffling … and then there are those of good will who clean up their messes. Bravo to those people … like you!
Good job, brother! I’m always grateful for the volunteers who keep the parks clean and our trails maintained. I can’t understand people who leave their trash behind. When we take Maisy for a hike and she poops we tie the bag to her harness so that she has to carry it out. I wouldn’t have touched that cake either.
Well done!! High five….there should be more like you…me included.
Giving back for the enjoyment of our parks is a wonderful thing to do, and a great clean up project. Applauding here! The chattery guy was so cute! Thank you for sharing all the photos.
Good work. I spent a couple of hours ditch diving this month. More to do, but I feel better.
Adventurous and challenging activities geocaching. Wonderful pictures of lakes. Amazing post
I don’t know what to tell you about people, other than Mark Twain once quipped, “The more I learn about people, the more I like my dog.” I don’t know how you impress upon folks that the park is not a restaurant and there are no people to clean up immediately after you leave. Think in terms of McDonald’s, not Longhorn steaks. I have always carried my own doggie bags and will carry them home with me if there is no disposal place in sight. Have a blessed week.
A much-needed initiative. Many people would use such a lesson. Maybe that would teach them that you have to clean up after yourself.