Dear Ryden,
This morning was nice and sunny and we went to the park near here. The park has a big street in front and a smaller street on the north side. We went to the small street, and look what was there. On Thursday mornings there are three trash collections. A big blue truck came and took all the big bags that are under the blue net. That is burnable trash and garbage. The net is to keep the crows from opening the bags and spreading garbage in the street. There are folding green and red bins. The trash made of metal ... tin cans ... goes in the red, and glass bottles go in the green. Then there is a big mesh bag for pet bottles. The people are supposed to squash those bottles and put them in the blue mesh bag, but many of the bottles are left in plastic bags. Different trucks come for cans and glass and pet bottles.
We took a big bag to the park because Baba likes to pull the young weeds before they get big and have seeds. This park used to be a water park. The place I am standing in the second picture is where the water came out. The water came out and ran down a small rock stream to a pool at the bottom, where it went in a drain and got pumped back to the top of the hill.
You can see me standing in the middle of the path, halfway up the hill.
In the 4th picture I am sitting on a statue at the pond end. there are some stepping stones across the pond. The stream used to come through a tunnel made by a toilet with the girl's room on the right and the boy's room on the left. I wanted to see inside the building, but Baba couldn't take me to the boy's side, and children are allowed in the girl's side. What d you think I saw?
This is an old style toilet. Some train stations have this kind too. You have to squat facing the back with a foot on each side. No sitting here! Baba said in the old days, all toilets were like this except that there was no flush, Just a big hole . You have to be very careful if you have something in your pockets.
Well, I enjoyed the view from the horse, but i wondered about the water. The story is, that the water only ran for about a year, In that time little kids fell in and got wet and their parents were not happy. Finally they turned off the water. actually, the water is still there, if you look through the grate at the bottom, you can see the water standing there. Since it is not running anymore, the mosquitoes like to lay their eggs in the standing water and in a few weeks, this park will be so full of mosquitoes that you will get eaten up just walking through. No one visits the park except to use the toilets.
We ended up with a big bag of weeds. This is the bag that we used on Monday to deliver onigiri. Now it is heavy with weeds, Baba says three years ago, this spot where I am standing had tall weeds all the way up to the bottom of the sign. The cub scouts came and helped to pull almost all the weeds in the winter. The grass turns brown and all the weeds are green, so easy to see and young enough to pull. This part of the park looks very nice.
The other side of the gate is where the trash used to be piled. It had tall knee-high weeds too, and when Baba pulled the weeds, she planted runners from the nice grass. There are a few flower bulbs here too and it is looking much better, I think, than with bags of trash in the weeds.
So, that was my Thursday morning. It must be bedtime in Oregon. A big wind came, and I had to go home before it picked me up and blew me away. I saw something on the way home that I will write about next.
Love, your friend, Flat Stanley
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