t-t-t-too much time on my hands

 I’m not gonna lie, I’ve got a bit of free time on my hands right now…and considering I’ve been off work for about 2 months, I’m trying to keep my cash outlay low. That said, what I’m about to reveal is not for financial gain, but more of trying to keep my community clean and get a bit of exercise at the same time. Here in Maine we have a bizarre littering problem. Every state has litter, but for some reason, my state feels the need to throw all of their recyclable cans and bottles out the car window. I can’t find the logic behind it (and even more disturbing is the fact that 80% of those cans and bottles are alcohol related). This is strange because we have a bottle deposit law here which means, you paid that .05 cent deposit when you bought the beverage so throwing it out the window is literally throwing away a nickel. (I know for a fact my fellow Mainers need those nickels which makes this all even stranger). Even if all those cans were bought down in New Hampshire (which has vehemently opposed a bottle bill for almost 35 years), there are recycling centers that will take them here (as opposed to places like Michigan and California where machines scan the bar code to make sure you bought the beverage in state. So in an effort to clean up my ‘hood, I’ve been taking 30-45 minute walks this week and bringing along a satchel (and my trusty Deluxe Grabber) to see what I could get. And wow. In just 3 days, I picked up the 2 bags in the photo here. I have a redemption center within a mile of my house so I headed over to see just what I’d get…that’s $5 going right into the #mainerscanbeidiots fund.

PPS: I almost forgot that during yesterday's walk, I found a working iPhone on the ground before I could attempt to figure out how I could find out who it belonged to, someone came up and claimed it. A very Maine thing to happen...but still surreal.