Monday, July 07, 2008

A Very Crunchy Moment

Do you know how to exercise, help the environment, get your teenager to practice driving and make a tiny bit of cash all at the same time? Huh, huh? Do ya?

I do.

You clean out your barn and load up all the metals that are laying around like twisted fences, odd poles, screens, broken basketball goals and so on and so forth and then you jump in the truck with all your kids and head to the recycling place. Then on the way you see lots and lots of cans that people have thrown in the ditches.

This bothers you on many levels.

You make your oldest two kids get out and walk along the ditches retrieving the cans and tossing them in the truck while you drive very slowly with them. Then you think what a great way to get some exercise.

So you pull over and make your daughter drive while you walk the ditches.

You do this on your way into town and the kids are hot and sweaty and so are you. You earn $17 for your metals and go spend it on corn dogs and milkshakes.

Then you go home a different way and make the kids walk the ditches again collecting more and more and more cans.

You may not get wealthy, but you will feel better about yourself and the road you live on.

9 comments:

jean said...

My first thought was, I can't believe your daughter is old enough to drive. Then I remembered how old you were when you "borrowed" your parents car. So never mind.

Trisha said...

Sounds like good exercise and a super way to teach your kiddos to be eco friendly and to recycle. You might not earn too much but the experience . . . priceless!

Jenni said...

My exercise plan is to do a few hours of weeding/weed eating/trash pickup each morning. I'm not getting very far with getting into shape because after all that work I feel I deserve a bowl of ice cream.

Hope4Grace said...

That is freaking awesome! However, it would take an electric cattle prod to get me out of the vehicle and into the ditch to actually accomplish this. Wanta borrow my girls for a weekend? I bet they'll help out a lot!

Anonymous said...

What a great idea! We recycle, but the way people drive around here I don't dare let my 6 year old walk the ditches to help pick anything up -- people are nuts! Thank you for continuing to inspire me with ways to "clean up" my act. ;)

Casa De Galletti said...

Way to go! I wish that I could do the same but the 7 yr old is still too young to start driving.

Jean Martha said...

The Grey Gardens contest is up...and yes you CAN vote for yourself.

;)

iloveupstate.com

Leah said...

My Granny used to make us walk along the road and pick up cans when I was little...
Brings back memories :)

jennifer h said...

Way to spend that $17! That's exactly what my kids would have begged to do with the money, too.