I Have to Put a Headline Here. I Just Did.

(Editor's note: The following post roams and rambles and follows my footsteps to the sparkling sands of Stockton deserted. And all around me , a voice was sounding, (which I later recognized as a trial of XM satellite radio), and may be of interest only to the author.)

I just returned from a recycling run. California is Green (no, not that green! That would require water!) and as such, they require a recycling deposit on certain blends of fruit juices, which stand cheek to jowl on the shelves with identical plastic bottles from the same manufacturer, containing a different percentage of juice, which require no deposit. The State of California extorts requires I loan them a small amount of cash for each bottle until I return it...somewhere! Caveat emptor. Up until recently, it was relatively easy to find neighborhood recycling centers - a trailer, a scale and some guy working for presumably minimum wage, nearby grocery stores, etc. These have apparently not proven economical, as they have been disappearing like Nancy Pelosi's IQ. Yes. Really that hard to find!

So, instead of recycling a couple of bags every few visits to the grocery, the recycling has been piling up. For months. Maybe a year. Tempus fugit. Yesterday, I loaded up my small SUV with glass and plastic bottles and aluminum cans and set off this AM for one of the few honest recycling centers around. It was on a side of town I hadn't visited lately, about 22 miles round trip. Figure about twenty five cents a mile for gas, and it cost me about five and a half dollars to collect on my temporary, involuntary loan to the State of California. Not sure how burning five dollars worth of gas makes the state any greener, but who am I to question my betters?

The good news is, the Tucson will hold about eighty dollars worth of recyclables, if you don't mind not being able to see out the back window. On the way over and back, I noticed a few new businesses had sprung up, apparently prospering. I happened to see a Radio Shack I used to frequent. "Look at that! They're still open", thought I, until my eyes traveled down to the "Store Closing" banner below the sign. Oh, well. Look at that!

Well, that's Thursday for you. Half of it anyway. Ulysses S. Grant in my pocket with a few friends. A year's worth of recycling out where it will do somebody good. Bookmark this page, y'all. It might make a great substitute for Sominex some sleepless night.

I tried to warn you! Even tried to class it up with some Latin, but that's about all I know!

"Everything changes a little, and it should. The good ain't forever and the bad ain't for good."

-Roger Miller