Pen in a pinch until day is done...
On Saturday, I got up at the crack of dawn to collect bottles at The Celebration of Running 5K. I had a great time chatting with runners, and met one delightful woman who told me about Black Girls Run which had over 100 runners at the event. I sighed that I used to run in high school and college and would like to get back into it, if only I qualified for their organization. She told me that anyone is welcome and that she has found the organization to be the most supportive group of women she has encountered in her quest to get back into running. I am excited to meet up with them in the future.
I spent most of my time picking through the bins designated for plastic bottles and removing trash that didn't belong, or fishing plastic bottles out of the regular trash cans. The main culprits in the plastic bottle only bin: paper cups, peach pits, banana peels, beer, and an occasional wad of chewing gum.
I stood guard by the recycle truck, lest my treasure be crushed and hauled away! The driver interested in the project, and 
diverted the bags of trash the volunteers were bringing, allowing me to inspect them before they were loaded into the truck.
When I came to load up my van, I showed him part of a panel I happened to have with me. He was amazed that it was made out of recycled plastic, then asked, "How are you going to get that to Michigan?" Unfortunately, I have yet to figure that out.
Once I was home, all of those beer bathed bottles needed a good rinsing off which took most of the day. Plastic fencing around a ladder to created a fab Mac Gyver inspired drying bin, though I am sure that by the end of the day I accumulated more bad luck than I should have dared, walking in and out under the ladder. But I had a dog nearby, even though I didn't have my fingers crossed and I didn't know about spitting three times on the rungs. (More on metaphysical ladder safety.) Though naive to the folklore remedies, my only bad luck was a knocking my head on the rungs a few times. Now, not only am I better informed on the history of ladder superstitions, I can build a pen in a pinch should my dogs misbehave more than they already do.
As I removed the caps and rinsed the bottles, I came across an occasional crushed bottle or one with a paper napkin rolled up and tucked inside. I imagine the bottle crushers are also, like me, cough drop crunchers. And the napkin stuffers are my compadres too, since I am ever cleaning up meals and snacks by wadding up trash and stuffing it into coffee cups, much to the dismay of anyone else doing dishes. (There were surprisingly few bottles that fell into either of these two categories so I conclude that we are a rare breed.)
Wanting to finish washing all of my loot, I worked well into the evening and watched the sky wink a vibrant orange, waving goodnight as the purples emerged to calm the night. My second panel reminds me of sky, and I was happy for the inspirational light show at day's end.
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