Last spring when we closed on our property, I found that bags
of trash were dumped in our woods, way back in a small ravine. I was disgusted
and disappointed. I was angry. We put up a sign and the littering stopped.
However, several weeks ago when I went back there to pick up more bags,
although there was no new garbage, I noticed that the dumping had gone on,
apparently, for a long time. So far the pit is about six feet down and it
continues; how far I can only speculate. There are small saplings rooted into
this mess and even a couple trees, as evidence to how long this assault on
nature has been going on. There were glass bottles, metal, and some plastic. A
few scrappers picked up the metal that was set aside. I joked that if they
found an old car under it all, they could keep it. There was in fact, almost an
entire vehicle. Not sure if they ever found the engine, but there was a rotted
seat, a bumper and headlights. I joked that maybe Jimmy Hoffa was down there,
too. Within ten minutes they found shoes and underwear, rotted, but
recognizable. At that point, the joking
stopped. After that weekend, when I saw that there was broken glass in the
ravine I said, “no more.” I didn’t want any of the men that were collecting
scrap metal to wander in there and get hurt. We put up a no trespassing
sign.
That didn’t keep me out of the rubbish though. As I said before, I’m curious and blamed this bout on a need to feed the history monkey that’s been on my back as of late.
Since that time,
I’ve poked through the mucky artifacts with a shovel. It’s like some wicked
geology dig. The first layer was fairly recent junk. I tentatively prodded a
couple feet and saw cans from the 1980s, with so-called “collectable” logos.
The next week, after a storm, I found a small foot sticking out of the debris.
The toes were grimy, but recognizable. I cautiously reached out to them and
found cold plastic. It was a doll. I dug through this stratum to find toys from
the 1970s. There was a learning board - the kind parents used to put in play
pens, Fischer-Price toys, and even a huge Hasbro inch-worm riding scooter. It
was broken, or I would have tried to clean it up. There was a ceramic panda, a cracked mixing bowl,
too. Later, I found more dolls. They were intact, but their clothes were ragged
and their hair was rotted.
Yesterday, I got
all the way to a layer that is from the 1960s or maybe even the 1950s. At that
point I’d had enough. The sides of the ravine are taller than me and I don’t
want the slop to fall in and suffocate the life from my lungs. I hope the demo
crew will dig it out with a back hoe, and then they can haul it off. The men
can keep whatever they find that they think might be of value.
In that last band
of refuse that I was brave enough to burrow into, there was a perfect little
Anchor-Hocking milk glass flower vase with a lovely grape cluster pattern. I
took that home and cleaned it up. Turns out it’s worth some dough! An exact
artifact is on Etsy for a whopping $14.00.
Pizza’s on me guys.
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