Good News-Bad News

My last cash in was for $14.20. The beer and soda drinking season is giving way to the coffee and hot coco season. Mush more paper litter than redeemable bottles and cans. I confirmed this experience with a scavenger I know who forages for his own ways and means. His totals in bottles and cans have begun to drop off. The bad news comes from the "now I've seen it all" department. Last week I picked up a can of Twisted Tea to find a mouse inside. The can acted like a "harve-a-heart" trap. The flap allowed the critter in but did not allow him out. I pried the lid open and set the fearfull creature, still inside the can back away from the roadside in a stand of bushes. I hope he makes it to a safe and sheltered life.

Nor'Easter

Other than being the recycling cyclist I create and repair bikes for the indigent, homeless and migrant farm workers- all no charge. I am also associated with Little City Cycles in vergennes, Vermont and the owner Tim Mathewson and I responded to a request for a 'hunting bicycle' to use where ATV are banned we created the Nor'Easter. Its a human powered electric assist twp wheel drive bike. The rear wheel is a Shamano 8 speed internally gearesd hub and the front wheel has the e-Bike electronic kit installed- a water proof hub motor and associated electronics. Here is a photo of our first prototype- it's being field tested the weekend.

Tour De Farms

An annual Addison County event and this was the first time I participated. I had my trailer decked out like a parade flot to advertise Recycle Cycling. I do not know that it was an effort worth the time. I did collect 35 returnable bottles and cans so from that standpoint- I was glad I participated.

Contact Me!

Electronic contact through the regular blog channels can be frustrating. I have not figured out how to contact my own son through his blog "second'n short" about college football. So I will make this simple. I am at normreuss@hotmail.com. I would be very interested in cyclisits who decide to participate in charity efforts of their own choosing or pick up on the idea of taking the caseoffs of the 'well to do" and donating them to the 'no so well to do". I am also interested in cyclists who repair bikes for those who can not afford bikes when this is done outside of the regular charitable organizations. I confess I do not know the politically correct terms for rich and poor!

Bonus!

Not only did I cross the $35 limit today, I also found a nice- (read new LLBean back) pack tossed by the side of the road, fillerdwith unopened cans of Bud. No ID in any of the many utility pockets.I of cource,poured out all the beer and took the back pack home for a good washing on the small load cycle.

Closer to $35

Today (9/13/2010) I cashed in over 200 bottles for 13.95. That is the highest single cash in so far and puts me at $28 in the coffee cup. Getting closer to my next donation- which this is all about anyway!

Home town hits a home run

"Home town hits a home run". Is that even proper when speaking of littering. My home town and its two neighbors, Williston and South Burlington combined for a 68 bottle day with four 40 ouncers in the mix just to make it interesting. Though all this littering by those who can't be bothered with a nickle return does help my personal charity to give to those who can't spare a dime; I don't think it says anything complimentary about my home state and it's 'tradition' of being green.

Props to Vermont's Northeast Kingdom

Were it not for the towns of Lowell, Eden and Morrisville this self made charity might be dead in the water. This past weekend, after a 20 bottle week around Hinesburg and Vergennes, I collected over 100 bottles and cans in two days over the Labor Day weekend on the roads of my northern neighbors. Said with a note of sarcasm; "Keep up the good work!" $8.05 added to the coffee cup (works better than a piggy bank).

They say you want a revolution

I've read them all, cycling manifestos from Amy Babich's Age of the Bicycle  to the current piece in the lastest issue of Bicycle Times. All share the prospective that gas is soon gone and human powered transportation will be the only way from point A to point B. We already have a revolution. The last time I visited my son in NYC I was overwhelmed at the number of bicycles in use for every purpose immaginable. My own closest city, Burlington, VT is a cornocopia of bicycle traffic from college students to shelter dwellers who carry their worlds posessions between the handlebars and impovised rear rack of a bicycle. I am not Robin Hood is this revolution. I do not rob from the rich and give to the poor. I mearly roam the roads looking for the nickles some can't be bothered with and convert their litter into cash donations to some who can not afford to spare a dime. Though I like to think of myself as a warrior in the front lines of change, fixing bikes for the have not's and collecting cans to convert to cash will not ever get my face on a t-shirt.