Cleaning not Posting

I have not posted for Matt in a while, but believe me he has still been cleaning. Our other camera has died and he hasn't dared take mine yet. I plan to go with him this weekend. Last week we met a pair of conservationists, locals. They were at the dump themselves and Matt being the chatty person he is started up a conversation. Tony and Herschel offered Matt replacement tools for the ones recently stolen from his truck. They were acknowledging the work he puts in and were enthusiastic to help out in a way that they could. We followed them home and Matt walked back to the truck with 2 shovels and a rake, and a huge grin. He is planning to attend a meeting at their house sometime soon. He feels appreciated and has a new drive to continue his efforts. More before and after pictures to follow!

Saturday 6/20/09

Matt took this picture at 5:23am. He started with some more concrete (people don't want to pay by the lb so they drop it in the desert).

I am honestly not even sure what this all is:

He uncovered the motherload when he lifted some branches, there was disgusting carpet padding and an old retail refrigerator (the little ones that have soft drinks like the ones at grocery ckeck-out).

Matt has a pretty hearty stomach and even he was revolted by this load.

He picked up the horizontal blinds and cabinet corner as a last minute effort and hit over 850lbs. total for the morning. All of this he dumped for FREE as a Boulder City resident.

This last picture was taken at 6:53am. He spent about 2 hours and made a big impact.

Sunday 6/14/09

Most of this days' haul was organic. There were a ton of tree trimmings and branches, which pose a fire hazard. The road here is close to power lines and less than a half-mile from residences. There were also more blocks of conrete and some carpet padding. The pictures will enlarge if you click on them, but the difference before and after is astonishing. Pictures just don't do justice. This load was less than 700lbs. but over 600.

Top pictures are before, bottom picture is after.

Wednesday 6/10/09

Matt didn't have a whole lot of time this week. There were some personal things going on with my family and he was home with the kids. So he decided just to pick up concrete from one particular area. Just this much was 720lbs. He had to break a lot of it up with his sledge hammer.

Saturday 6/06/2009

The first set of bags was just stuff from within a mile of our house. We live right by the schools and not many people seem to be teaching their kids what a trash can is, or what it's purpose is. The beer bottles are probably from adults, or teenagers at least.

This is the first dump site of the morning drive. It does not look like much, it is quite spread out. Matt cleaned up and down this ravine and along the road.

The tire was all the way at the bottom of the ravine. It wasn't easy to roll up the hill, but getting it on top of the pile in the truck was harder. He had to "Iron Man" flip this thing in there.

We don't have a short cab, or a small truck. This load was about 700lbs. and consisted of a lot of concrete, tiles, general rubbish and the tire.

Saturday, May 30th, 2009

This morning was like most Saturday mornings recently. I woke up in an empty bed. Normally this might bother me, but I am married to a man on a mission. Matt has been out in the desert surrounding this wonderful little town we live in collecting trash. It is sad that this is even required, but some people are just so inconsiderate of anything or anyone they feel entitled to drop their crap anywhere they please. I am sure these are the same people I see throwing trash into Lake Mead, or out the window on the highway. I for one am outspoken enough to say something, but I see people just walk past oblivious to it all.



OK, so I got sidetracked. Today Matt collected 840lbs. of trash. Yes, you read that right 8-4-0 eight hundred forty pounds of trash. He filled the back of our truck up twice. He is becoming a regular at the BC dump.

Just beginning the first load, mostly organic palm clippings, also carpet and other debris.

He even rakes over the area to try and get ALL the little fibers than DO NOT belong.

Full to the top and beginning to overflow

At the dump (which is open all hours--we wish these people would utilize it!)

If you've ever seen one of these containers, you know how large they are and this one was empty before Matt made the first deposit.

He did make another run, but the batteries on the camera went dead (which he handed to a worker to be disposed of properly). He has promised to take the camera with him so I can post before and after pictures of the areas he has cleaned as well. I am in awe, he takes a great deal of pride in the area where he grew up. We just wish more of the several million in the valley did too.

P.S. If you would like to help one day, or would like your clean up story posted here, please email me at: Katie81Matt73@aol.com include pictures if you have them.