Williamson Creek Clean-Up

Joke of the week: What car has four wheels and flies?
*Answer is below the pictures.

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by Theo Van Haren

My school, the Roving Learners, has been on many trips to Williamson Creek. Every time we go, we clean up hundreds of pieces of trash. The creek bottom has been improved to the extent that there is not much garbage left. We eat lunch near the creek and play games. The class usually finds interesting things among the trash. The last time we went, I found a pond of water. We will continue visiting Williamson Creek to do regular maintenance and clean up.
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Our teacher, John, lives next to the creek. We park at his place for our excursion. When we got to John’s house, we started eating lunch. After lunch we played Bananatag, which is a game where everybody is it. There is a field where we play tag and running games. The field was recently mowed, so we could play in it.

On this trip Kaysie came with us. Kaysie is the co-owner of the school, along with John. She helps run the school. Kaysie comes in on school picture days, and other times because we are doing something fun, and she has a lunch break.  

Once we got down to the creek, we started cleaning up trash. Charlie and I were picking up recycling, and the rest of the group was picking up trash. I found all sorts of rusty cans, like mango juice cans, beer cans, and paint cans. At one point I found a third of a manhole cover. The cover was rusty and l got red dust on my fingers and hands. I had to drop my bag off at a pillar that was supporting the bridge. I put it there because it was a landmark that I could easily remember, and I would not have to carry the bag to the end of the hike and back.  I filled up about a bag and a half.
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I discovered a place where water was flowing down the side of the slope of the support of the bridge above us. At the bottom of the waterfall there was a large pool that was really cold. The pool was full of mucky cans, algae covered plastic bottles and other disgusting stuff. The water was green, and dirty.

While we were picking up trash, John said that there was a dead dog somewhere around there. The dog was not where John had last seen it. He said the coyotes had moved it. He could figure that out because if it had been vultures, the grass would have been trampled and brown. The grass was not trampled and brown, but green and lush. When we found the dog, the flesh was torn away to reveal the white bones, which were stripped. The only fur left was on the snout and paws. The dog looked about the same size as Eudog.

While we walked back we talked and had fun. I picked up the bag I left behind bag and put it inside my half full bag. With all the trash on my back I could barely get out of there. Coming out, I stumbled at least twice.
Once we got back, we started loading up the trash from previous cleanups. We loaded up bags that were full of trash. With it we loaded up some wet, disgusting cardboard. The cardboard was covered in muck. Once the cardboard and trash bags were all loaded up we took a picture to record how much trash we hauled out of the creek bottom.

We have been on many trips to Williamson Creek. We end up cleaning out hundreds of pieces of trash. The section of the creek we have cleaned looks much better. We eat lunch near the creek and play games. The class usually finds interesting things, like the dog skeleton and a pond of water.  As we keep on going to the creek, we will keep maintaining the cleanliness of it.

Creek Trash

Nico Doing His Part

Filling Up Bags

Truck Load

Answer to the joke of the week: A garbage truck!