Today was the Buffalo Niagara River Clean Up. I volunteered again at Squaw Island. This really awesome woman picked me up since it was raining and not a good bike riding day. She has hiked the entire Appalachian Trail and is part of the Women's League of Voters. She said she was in her early 70's but seemed ages younger. After she dropped me back at home she went on to volunteer at Tifft Nature Preserve.

We got one of those metal water bottles as a gift. it reads, "Drink Local. The Great Lakes provides drinking water to over 40 million people daily." I think that statement is so powerful. It really just screams look at what you are doing to our drinking water!!

I picked up a lot of plastic bottles and a lot of stuff from people fishing. So much of it was plastic bags that are for hooks and fishing line. So much Styrofoam from containers for night crawlers. I picked up probably 50 or so plastic tampon applicators. I got this huge long cable that took me and this woman to carry to shore.

There is still so much trash out there but for now the Island looks better. Last spring within days there was trash all over from the fisher people. It's a very daunting task, very discouraging really, but it feels so good at the same time to volunteer and to actually do something about it. Doing this today and meeting that wonderful woman makes me want to do more. I met other nice people too, it's like you know everyone is awesome and share a special bond almost.

When I got home I spent the rest of my day cleaning my apartment. After all this work nothing is perfect but my environment is a little bit nicer and I feel really good.

As Earth Day Approaches, Cleanups Abound

Rachel Kingston Reporting rkingston@entercom.com

Buffalo, NY (WBEN) -- Earth Day may not be until Friday, but that didn't keep literally thousands of volunteers across Western New York and across the state from heading out over the weekend and doing a little "cleaning and greening" of area parks and waterways.

Groups picked up trash and debris, planted new seedlings, trimmed back overgrowth, removed graffiti, the works - tending to messes both man- and nature-made.

Buffalo Niagara Riverkeeper is one of the local groups that organized cleanups. It recruited a record-setting 1,600 volunteers to focus on 40 sites, including the Buffalo River at the Ohio Street Boat Launch and the Scajacquada Creek trail this past weekend.

"Twice a year, we send volunteers out at 40 sites, along our Western New York waterways. If you added the shoreline up, it would total 77,000 linear feet," explains Kerri Li, the director of Citizen Action Programs for Buffalo Niagara Riverkeeper. "So we have legions of volunteers going out twice a year, and they basically are out there - like this weekend - they picked up tons and tons of trash. It could be anywhere from 30 to 50 tons of trash. And we find all sorts of things. Bottles, heavy things like pieces of scrap metal, propane tanks, shopping carts... all sorts of debris."

"We're down along the shoreline, removing this debris, for about three hours on a Saturday morning. We work up a sweat, we make a few friends, we make a difference. We do something good for Western New York water."

But Riverkeeper does more than just pick up trash, and it doesn't confine its debris-removal efforts to only the water.

"What's important to understand is, evne though you might see trash on the streets... when it rains, those streets are connected to our waterways through storm drains. So even though you may not see the connection, because the storm drain goes underneath the street, ultimately that trash and debris ends up going out into our rivers and our streams," says Li.

Over the weekend, while Riverkeeper's volunteers were at work, volunteers with other groups were doing similar work along the length of the Erie Canal, in the Niagara Gorge, and on the Lake Ontario and Erie shorelines.

The "Friends of Times Beach" got to work at the site from which they take their name beginning Friday.

They cleaned up debris from the trails at Times Beach, and this year, are getting some assistance from county workers, who are helping to rebuild boardwalks that were damaged during a 2008 storm.

"Earth Day just kind of focuses us on the fact that we've got these wonderful areas that need to be preserved, need to be taken care of," Erie County Environment and Planning Commissioner Kathy Konst remarks. "Various groups get together... Friends of Times Beach, our Environmental Management Council, Buffalo Riverkeeper... a lot of them 'adopt' [an area] and go out there on a regular basis, so that they kind of manage and take care of a property all year long."

Their work doesn't stop on the 364 days of the year that aren't Earth Day.

"It's being a steward to the environment, and taking care of it. You know, the birds that come out to Times Beach - there are over 243 species of birds that migrate there on an annual basis - they don't just come out for Earth Day," Konst says. "It's one of the most significant bird areas in the Great Lakes. We want to make sure that that ecosystem is protected."

Interested?

You can find literally dozens of cleanup groups in Western New York on Google. You can also start your search with Buffalo Niagara Riverkeeper or the Friends of Times Beach.

We moved to the country in the early 90's and we had to take a school bus for about a half hour each way. When I say it was a bus ride to Hell it was more like the ride and my life itself were Hell, not a destination. Besides being taunted for our Long Island accents I had to come to terms with a radio station called 98PXY, the only approved station the bus driver could play.

So here is a sampler of my bus ride. If your really want to relive my life, repeat 2x's daily for 6 years.

Arrested Development - Mr Wendal



Donna Lewis - I Love You Always Forever



Macarena - Los del Rio



Chumbawamba - Tubthumping



Haddaway - What Is Love



La Bouche Be my Lover



Culture Beat: Mr. Vain



Deep Blue Something - Breakfast At Tiffany's



Goo Goo Dolls - Slide



Seal - Crazy (Video)



Goo Goo Dolls - Iris



Spin Doctors - Little Miss Can't Be Wrong



Ace of Base - The Sign



Joan Osborne - One of us



Oasis - Champagne Supernova



Natalie Imbruglia - Torn



Savage Garden - Truly Madly Deeply



Paula Cole- I Don't Want To Wait



Rhythm is a dancer



Robin S - Show Me Love



Ace Of Base - All That She Wants



WHIGFIELD - SATURDAY NIGHT



No Mercy - Where Do You Go?



OMC - How Bizarre

Just want to share that the honey badger made it as a Yahoo feature!

Thanks (e:terry) for bringing us this



Your bad ass narration of the honey badger, aka, (e:lilho), was awesome.

(e:lilho) where are you? Do you really think you are going to stop being on the internet?

Thanks to sketchbunnies.failblog.org for the use of their stuff.

Remember Sketchy Santas?





The tootsie roll is just a little bit deeper.




Bunnies should not get an orange rocket around children!


I don't think this is a bunny, perhaps a demonic pig?






Last, but not least!!!

Thanks (e:metalpeter), I stole this from your Halloween journal journal from 2010.

I will leave you with preciousness, not sketchiness. Coco Conejo sends love to all!

I just found this awesome mug shot thing that shows full color photos of all the arrests in Chicago and what they were arrested for. It is really kind of fun when you are bored.

(e:flacidness) have you seen this? So far I haven't seen your mug shot but I am looking for you.

This is a continuation of my second to last journal, "Laundry nightmares turn to wet dreams." Basically, this girl with ugly bras just leaves her clothes in the washer for literally hours on end. When I go to do my laundry I have to wonder did these machines stop two minutes ago or two hours ago? So I wait not wanting to jump the gun if their cycle had just ended and end up wasting tons of time waiting.



If you read the comments on my last journal and what I wanted to do to ugly bra girl's stuff, this is way better. This is the second week in a row that I had taken her stuff out of the washer after waiting a half hour to see if she would remove them first. Both times when I had completely finished washing and drying three loads of laundry, she had not come down yet to remove her clothes from the washers.

Hey guys,

If you get a chance (it only takes a minute), please call your NYS Assembly Member today and ask them to fully fund the NYS Tobacco Control Program at 58.4 million. Please do so right away as they are voting on this withing the next 48 hours.

Working for the NYS Smokers' Quitline, I know how desperate people are in need of help quitting smoking. It is completely unfair that the government is taxing cigarettes at the levels they are while at the same time threatening to remove funding to help people quit.

Currently, for every dollar collected in taxes, less than a fraction of a penny is invested in smoking cessation. Tobacco dependence is a serious addiction and many people are unable to quit without support.

To find the number for your representative follow the link.

Thanks,

Libertad

P.S The NYS Smokers' Quitline helped me quit 4 years ago and I am still extremely greatful for their assistance. The money invested in these programs is not wasted.

I can't wait to one day have my own washer and dryer. I'm so sick of sharing the machines in our building with these nasty people who just leave their stuff in the machines for as long as they want. It really grosses me out when I have to touch other peoples nasty underwear and clothes because they leave their stuff in them. I set a timer to remind myself that the cycle is done.

Besides that I have little tiny holes in a bunch of shirts which I think are because of the machines. I'm a long ways away from having my own washer and dryer but hopefully not too long. First I have to move to somewhere with hookups. Gotta have the hookups.

My ultimate dream is to have laundry in my actual living space. I also really love the new style washers and dryers that save energy and water, they are so seXXXy.





This is a real magnet that's on my fridge.

I hardly ever do raffles but there was one at Roswell today for colon cancer and they had a lot of nice stuff. Instead of getting a sheet of tickets to put in various baskets I paid $5 for the drawing for the 42" TV. Chances seem better than winning the lottery and those TVs are expensive.

I really want a new one. Mine is so dinky and it is old so I have to have that stupid converter box since I don't have cable. This is my second converter box and this one doesn't work properly so I only have like two channels.

I was surprised to see many of the gift baskets with liquor in them. It sort of made me laugh to see the liquor bottles in the hospital like that, they even had tequila. The raffle is going on for three days I think so you could still enter if you want, just don't go for the TV!

I am on a blogging roll....