And this is why we can't have nice things.
Okay, so today was pretty cool and pretty annoying at the same time. I'll start with annoying so I leave this entry on a good note.
Background: I take near-daily walks on the beach, when the tide allows. If there is no low tide at the time when I'm able to walk, that means I am walking on millions and millions of averagely ostrich-egg-sized round basalt rocks. Which is by no means impossible, of course, but it gets rather tiring. The majority of the garbage I find is on the rocks (naturally, as that's where the high water line is), so it's VERY REFRESHING to walk on the sand and not find bucketfuls of garbage. We had a bunch of minus tides this week (read: low enough for there to be oodles of sand), so I didn't pick up much garbage. EXCEPT. There was this huge white thing I saw and had to go investigate. It turned out to be some sort of... styrofoam float? Who thinks styrofoam is a good material for a float, WTF. Anyway, it was cylindrical, covered in a net, about two feet across and three-ish feet high. It also had a large colony of (dead) mussels growing on it, which meant it stunk.
Okay, so, styrofoam is bane to me, second only to plastic film (bags, etc.), because it breaks down into little styrofoam balls, which are light enough to float all the hell over the place when the wind blows. Which, on the beach, is pretty much constantly. So I had to get rid of this thing. I carried it back about half a mile to the stairs, but I was carrying so much other stuff that I couldn't take it up the day that I found it. What? you say. Isn't styrofoam light? Why yes, I reply. When it is dry. When it is wet, it is the opposite of light. Namely, heavy.
But that's only half of the story.
So I had avoided taking it up to the house for a few days, leaving it near the stairs, high enough that the tide wouldn't try to steal it back. This part is important. With the tides we've been having, the water would not reach it. The only way it could move, in fact, was if someone picked it up. It was hemmed in by two large driftwood trees. Even if it had been dry, the wind wouldn't have gotten it over those trees, unless we'd had a hurricane.
Therefore, when I went down to the beach today and saw that it wasn't there, I was filled with joy. My faith in humanity was restored! Some kind soul, other than me, had taken it away and disposed of it! For once I wasn't the only person doing the beach some good by picking up trash. I wanted to do a little dance of joy.
And then I started climbing down the rocks.
My faith in humanity was dashed upon those very rocks, only seconds after I had regained it. There was the fucking float, halfway down to the sand. And near it were two crushed Sprite cans and an empty pack of Marlboros.
Now, let me be clear again. This was not the work of the water. The float was not at the high water line. Neither were the cans. I almost never run into garbage during a low tide that is lower on the rocks (on the sand is another story) than the high water line - and the stuff that I do run into is, without exception, iron or other metal. Someone moved the damn float - probably because they wanted to sit on the driftwood and it was in their way or they were offended by the smell - and threw it toward the ocean. And when they were done with their Sprite, they threw the cans down there too. And their empty cigarette pack.
WHO DOES THIS? And, evil person and/or people, could you at least not have smushed up your cans? I could have gotten your deposit back from them! YOU could have gotten your deposit back! ARRRRGH WHAT THE HELL WHAT ARE PEOPLE EVEN-
Okay, the cool things, which do not make nearly as interesting a story. There was a section of sand near a crab hole that had a bunch of what I call "shell litter" - crunched up bits of clam shells and sanddollars and stuff that often contains small whole shells. Baby scallop shells, baby sanddollars, snails, etc. I found one perfect baby sanddollar, and one beautiful baby jingle shell, which hopefully will match another one I have so I can finally make some earrings! Also, while walking back on the rocks, I found two exceptional (at least by my standards) agates - one yellow-orange that would make a nice necklace, and one red-orange and clear that is nearly the size of a chicken egg. It's rare to find them that big on this beach, so it was pretty amazing.
The moral of this post is: litter and you make me cry, and geology is awesome.
Background: I take near-daily walks on the beach, when the tide allows. If there is no low tide at the time when I'm able to walk, that means I am walking on millions and millions of averagely ostrich-egg-sized round basalt rocks. Which is by no means impossible, of course, but it gets rather tiring. The majority of the garbage I find is on the rocks (naturally, as that's where the high water line is), so it's VERY REFRESHING to walk on the sand and not find bucketfuls of garbage. We had a bunch of minus tides this week (read: low enough for there to be oodles of sand), so I didn't pick up much garbage. EXCEPT. There was this huge white thing I saw and had to go investigate. It turned out to be some sort of... styrofoam float? Who thinks styrofoam is a good material for a float, WTF. Anyway, it was cylindrical, covered in a net, about two feet across and three-ish feet high. It also had a large colony of (dead) mussels growing on it, which meant it stunk.
Okay, so, styrofoam is bane to me, second only to plastic film (bags, etc.), because it breaks down into little styrofoam balls, which are light enough to float all the hell over the place when the wind blows. Which, on the beach, is pretty much constantly. So I had to get rid of this thing. I carried it back about half a mile to the stairs, but I was carrying so much other stuff that I couldn't take it up the day that I found it. What? you say. Isn't styrofoam light? Why yes, I reply. When it is dry. When it is wet, it is the opposite of light. Namely, heavy.
But that's only half of the story.
So I had avoided taking it up to the house for a few days, leaving it near the stairs, high enough that the tide wouldn't try to steal it back. This part is important. With the tides we've been having, the water would not reach it. The only way it could move, in fact, was if someone picked it up. It was hemmed in by two large driftwood trees. Even if it had been dry, the wind wouldn't have gotten it over those trees, unless we'd had a hurricane.
Therefore, when I went down to the beach today and saw that it wasn't there, I was filled with joy. My faith in humanity was restored! Some kind soul, other than me, had taken it away and disposed of it! For once I wasn't the only person doing the beach some good by picking up trash. I wanted to do a little dance of joy.
And then I started climbing down the rocks.
My faith in humanity was dashed upon those very rocks, only seconds after I had regained it. There was the fucking float, halfway down to the sand. And near it were two crushed Sprite cans and an empty pack of Marlboros.
Now, let me be clear again. This was not the work of the water. The float was not at the high water line. Neither were the cans. I almost never run into garbage during a low tide that is lower on the rocks (on the sand is another story) than the high water line - and the stuff that I do run into is, without exception, iron or other metal. Someone moved the damn float - probably because they wanted to sit on the driftwood and it was in their way or they were offended by the smell - and threw it toward the ocean. And when they were done with their Sprite, they threw the cans down there too. And their empty cigarette pack.
WHO DOES THIS? And, evil person and/or people, could you at least not have smushed up your cans? I could have gotten your deposit back from them! YOU could have gotten your deposit back! ARRRRGH WHAT THE HELL WHAT ARE PEOPLE EVEN-
Okay, the cool things, which do not make nearly as interesting a story. There was a section of sand near a crab hole that had a bunch of what I call "shell litter" - crunched up bits of clam shells and sanddollars and stuff that often contains small whole shells. Baby scallop shells, baby sanddollars, snails, etc. I found one perfect baby sanddollar, and one beautiful baby jingle shell, which hopefully will match another one I have so I can finally make some earrings! Also, while walking back on the rocks, I found two exceptional (at least by my standards) agates - one yellow-orange that would make a nice necklace, and one red-orange and clear that is nearly the size of a chicken egg. It's rare to find them that big on this beach, so it was pretty amazing.
The moral of this post is: litter and you make me cry, and geology is awesome.