Beer and Bullets

In the places where I live and work, target shooting is a popular pastime.  There are a number of old dumps and gravel pits where gunfire can be heard most weekends.  And, as everyone knows, the thing that goes best with shooting is beer.  First, because it gives you something to drink; second, because the empties give you something at which to shoot.  Then, when you're done, you jump in your truck and roar back to town.

On Monday morning, when the gravel pit is cool and quiet, I like to go out there and listen to the canyon wrens.  As I walk, I pick up beer cans.  When I come to a pile of casings, I stoop down and put those in a bag.  Sometimes, when working, I'll come to an unexpected party place.  For a few minutes I'll put beer cans in my pack and casings in my pocket.  At the end of the month, when Valerie is heading to her parent's house in Cedar City, I'll throw all the trash in the truck and she'll cash it in at the recycling place.  Rifle brass is worth 90 cents a pound; aluminum about half that.

If you keep your eyes peeled for beer and bullets, you can make between $10 and $20 per month.  (I shouldn't put this on my blog because I may write myself out of a job.  On the other hand, who is going to spend their time picking up trash?  I hope my reader has better things to do with his time.)  But, there are a couple of rules to be observed.  First, be safe and be courteous.  The roadsides can be trashy, but it can also be dangerous to stop in traffic.  Also, you don't want to be going around at classy cocktail parties saying to people, "Ah, are you done with that?"  Second, don't go driving around looking for trash; pick it only when you're doing something else.  If you go driving up the hill looking for cans, you're going to spend more on fuel than you're going to earn.  Pick trash only when you've already invested in the trip for another reason.

The girls have picked up (no pun intended) on my habit, and we've let Ellen start her own trash collection to earn a little spare cash.  Now, when I'm driving down the road, she'll keep an eye in the ditch and start yelling out "CANS!"  If it is safe, I'll pull over and let her grab them.  She is, of course, required to be courteous:  No swiping the beer can from someone's hand.