A few days ago,
I predicted a huge stranding of wood and trash at the beach, washed down by Irene and Lee. We arrived at the beach this morning to discover that it had washed in sometime while we were up in Pennsylvania,
occupied with other things.
Mostly, it's just woody debris that has fallen into streams and lakes along the drainage, but a fair amount of human trash is mixed in too. Lots of ruined buckets, motor oil jars, etc.
A little fishing tackle is in the mix, too. I picked up a couple of bobbers, and this Jitterbug, which will be usable after I bend the lip back into shape, and hang a couple of new treble hooks off it.
There are several large logs bobbing around in the surf. These are serious boating hazards, especially when you are running at night, and can't see them clearly.
Georgia picked up a few tennis balls. This is what she collected over about a quarter mile of beach. Now imagine extrapolating that to all the many miles of shore between here and the Susquehanna River, and even the shoreline farther south. Where do all those lost tennis balls come from?
It was so difficult to walk through the trash around the corner above, that we came back on the road. I got this picture of a small butterfly in the weeds. I don't have a clue what type it is...
Talk about a mess. One of our owners called me last night to ask what we're going to do about the trash on the beach. She didn't tell me how much trash or what kind was there. When I walked out there this morning, I was shocked. That's the biggest mess I've seen in the nine years I've lived here. And it's being made worse by 1.5' higher than normal tides with east winds, pushing the trash high on the beach. I see a very long bonfire in the future.
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