So, you ever hear the joke about the young boy who was given the job of cleaning out his granddad's horse stable of months of accumulated manure? The grandad thought it would be a good way to teach the boy of the reality of hard work with an unpleasant job. Imagine the old man's surprise when he stopped by the stable a couple hours later to find the boy happily digging away at the smelly pile with a smile of his face. When he asked the boy why he was so happy he replied "with all this horse s--- there has to be a pony in here somewhere!
For a couple months now the Missus and I have passed a spot along our walk that is in no man's land between some houses and a school which means no one take responsibility for the sidewalk and gutter. The gutter has filled with rotting, stinking, decaying vegetation that causes the water in the gutter to back up and flow onto the street. Meanwhile on the sidewalk giant weeds are growing up through the pavement scratching our legs as we walked by. Over the weekend I vowed a Citizen Grouch vow to clean this place up. Yesterday the Missus and I drove down to the mess towing a large trash can behind the Jeep. It did look pretty weird towing a trash can and the can (on wheels) rumbled along behind us attracting puzzled looks from our neighbors but this Grouch stopped caring what people think a long time ago. Someone told me once that I was fully 'self-actualized' whatever that meant. Anyway I hacked the weeds down and shoveled up the reeking, sloppy mess into the trash can. The Missus stood by looking encouraging and I had to warn her to step back so she didn't get splattered. As I dug down through the muck the Missus suddenly sprang to action and plucked something from the mess. A gift card from a local department store! I felt that possibly had been used and dropped in the gutter to be washed down the road and stuck in the mess but she took it back home and cleaned it off. A check with the store's website revealed that it had $35 on it! Yay!! We found the 2012 equivalent of the pony! Maybe someone placed it there to reward whomever may have been the good citizen to clean up the mess. Sort of like when my mother put money on top of the door frames to be found when they were dusted. Unfortunately no one found the money. In this case however we found the money. Sometimes virtue is rewarded!
For a couple months now the Missus and I have passed a spot along our walk that is in no man's land between some houses and a school which means no one take responsibility for the sidewalk and gutter. The gutter has filled with rotting, stinking, decaying vegetation that causes the water in the gutter to back up and flow onto the street. Meanwhile on the sidewalk giant weeds are growing up through the pavement scratching our legs as we walked by. Over the weekend I vowed a Citizen Grouch vow to clean this place up. Yesterday the Missus and I drove down to the mess towing a large trash can behind the Jeep. It did look pretty weird towing a trash can and the can (on wheels) rumbled along behind us attracting puzzled looks from our neighbors but this Grouch stopped caring what people think a long time ago. Someone told me once that I was fully 'self-actualized' whatever that meant. Anyway I hacked the weeds down and shoveled up the reeking, sloppy mess into the trash can. The Missus stood by looking encouraging and I had to warn her to step back so she didn't get splattered. As I dug down through the muck the Missus suddenly sprang to action and plucked something from the mess. A gift card from a local department store! I felt that possibly had been used and dropped in the gutter to be washed down the road and stuck in the mess but she took it back home and cleaned it off. A check with the store's website revealed that it had $35 on it! Yay!! We found the 2012 equivalent of the pony! Maybe someone placed it there to reward whomever may have been the good citizen to clean up the mess. Sort of like when my mother put money on top of the door frames to be found when they were dusted. Unfortunately no one found the money. In this case however we found the money. Sometimes virtue is rewarded!
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