Spring Cleaning

 There are any number of valid reasons why our snow-park cleanup volunteer numbers were lower than normal this weekend -- there was the predicted zombie apocalypse traffic jam, and it's peak competition time for kids' sports teams so parents are coaching and cheering and shuttling -- but I'm going with the chicken metric.  For years Kare and Aase have put considerable time and effort into creating a grilled chicken feast as part of our annual post-clean-up potluck, for which we are deeply deeply grateful.  The prospect of the chicken has pulled in all kinds of volunteers and turned a run-of-the-mill potluck into a party, where we talk and laugh and eat and drink good things and tell stories about the ski season just past and make plans for the summer ahead.  But it's a lot of work; they're only human, and this year they just weren't up to it.  So our numbers were down.  Coincidence?  I think not.

But it turned out okay, because the amount of trash we found was also down from previous years, and to that I attribute the supply chain metric.  Supply chain problems this winter meant fewer trucks on the road, which meant fewer truck drivers throwing out garbage in the parking lots and on the freeway interchanges, where we tend to find the bulk of the trash we pick up. 

So it's all good, and many thanks to the members who did make it up!  As Doug said, there isn't anything bad about spending a fine spring morning walking along the trails and, if you find a little garbage, picking it up and bringing it back to the USFS truck to haul away.

As always, there was firewood to be moved, from over here to over there (notice the lonely unused barbecue in the background) ...

... and a tree sending many messages, that may or may not end up as firewood.

Of course, it wouldn't be a snow-park cleanup without one really egregiously bad piece of trash, and this year it was an old refrigerator that someone had shoved down the embankment, assuming some trail angel would magically come and haul it out.  Today, that was Joe, who had a chain, and Rainey, who had a truck, and together they pulled it back up the slope and dragged it down to the freeway interchange for the USFS ranger to take away.

So it was a successful day in the gorgeous sunshine, making the beautiful forest a little bit healthier.  Thanks, everyone!

But let's talk about that chicken.  It really did used to make the day into a party and a celebration, and was a highlight of the KSC social calendar.  We have so many members now, with such a diverse range of skills and interests, that it seems like there must be someone who could step up, pick up this mantle and carry it forward into the future.  It would be so awesome: you could apprentice with Kare and Aase and have them teach you their technique for grilling chicken for 50 people, or hey, you could make it your own, and decide how YOU want to create a celebration of this club and the work it does and the people it brings together!  Think about it?