Monday, December 7, 2009

Random Acts

Yesterday, I had finally had it. I knew the rain was supposed to be coming, and it need to be done, now! So, I headed out of the door armed with my clippers and a trash can, a 90 gallon trash can. You see, the street leading into our housing tract is VERY neglected. I have done battle with our city on this problem before. Most recently, the overgrown trees. It took almost a year to get someone out to trim them. Oh, they finally did come, but trim the trees....no. They pulled them out and planted newer ones that were smaller. This is where the problem lies. Suckers from the old trees are coming up through the cracks in the sidewalk.
In some spots the growth is now almost three feet high. The wind was really blowing a few days ago and an amazing amount of trash was caught in said growth. Luckily Jerry and my brother Tom joined in and helped me. It was too big of a job for me to do by myself, and not take all day. Seriously, it must be 1/8Th of a mile of sidewalk and gutter we cleaned! In the end we filled 4 - 90 gallon trash cans! We had several people stop and ask if we were being paid by the city to clean......NO, lets not even go there. My reply was more kind. I just told them that this needed to be done, and I could voluntarily do some community service without being asked. I also said that this was the entrance to our homes, and I didn't like what people saw when entering our neighborhood. Thanks to Jerry and Tom the job took less time that I thought it would take. Last night as we were on our way home from a dinner banquet, even in the dark, driving into our housing tract was awesome. It was clean and well kept looking! I like to use the days from Thanksgiving until Christmas, to really take notice and try to do random acts of kindness for people. Yesterday was one act of many that I have done this year. This one wasn't just for one person, but a whole neighborhood....and it feels good!!!

6 comments:

The Picketts said...

You are seriously a GREAT example of Random Acts of Kindness! I wish you would have done a before and after photo though...:o) I'm inspired...now, what can I do for someone today?.....

Crystal Hendrix said...

Good job for doing it!

Unknown said...

Jan, I love you. You are just like yout mom. When something needs to be done or some one needs to be taken care of, you just do it. We need more people like you

Laci said...

WOW!! Good for you (and Dad and Uncle Tom). Way to be motivated and get'er done!! I bet it looks great!! Remember when you and Grandma organized the clean up when we were little and we painted the entire block wall down the street. THAT was awesome too!! Good job Mom!!

The Hamilton Family said...

Way to go you three. There should be more people like three. You guys make the world a much better place.

Dana said...

I really like the page Laci created for you. The picture is really cute. Thank you again for the annual Christmas jammies for the kids. How cute!

P.S. Good job on the snow. I love it!