CITO - Geocaching Style

CITO, in geocaching terms, means: Cache In, Trash Out. This is when geocachers schedule an event in order to clean up the environment where a cache is, or has been, located. This event was scheduled right after work for about an hour so that a park near our house could be cleaned. Since Luann was stuck at work and Dad didn't feel like going, Katrina decided to go along with me and meet our geocaching friends.

To begin with, this is the pile of junk we picked up within the hour we were there. You can see it really was worth the effort.

We had everybody going everywhere, holding trash bags. We've got "Bumper" in the blue shirt heading into the treeline while "Bottle Boy" scours the shrubbery. The white T-shirt Bottle Boy is wearing was given to us workers by the county's "Help Keep Our Parks Clean" division.

Of course, when you start cleaning out a park, you're bound to spot some flora and fauna. This fine specimen of a lizard seems to be saying, "Get off my turf!"

Seems like all of the rain we have had recently has kicked the growing season into high gear.

SuzyBell here, had to take off work early and re-arrange her personal schedule in order to be here. It really is something to be with people who care that much about our environment.

And here's Florida Sandpiper. He is 73 years old, lives near us and is one of our leading competitors when it comes to discovering brand-new caches that have been posted (which is called: FTF - First To Find).

Well, even in a junk-strewn park, you can still find some of Nature's handiwork. I don't know what this plant is, but "I Know's Whut I Likes"...

We're piling stuff we picked up at the pavilion, and the pile is starting to grow.

Yes, those are 3, very toxic automotive-style lead/acid batteries. If the people who dumped these into this park only knew about the poisons and leachants they are dropping in their own back yard. This could kill pets and children.

We were pulling a little of everything out of the woods. Mr's Bottle Boy found several sheets of rusty steel.

One of our group (sorry, the name excapes me), even went to the trouble of policing the grounds around the playground area, picking up broken glass and sharp metals. Good job!

Here's Cusmith bringing in the last item that was found, a car seat.

And CSI Crue brought in the last bag of trash from cleaning up around the entrance.

Now, it's time to take an accounting of the materials bagged and stacked so the county parks department will know what size truck to send for the junk. Yuzawa Kat (seated by the cooler) organized the event and put the tally sheet together. All-in-all, I would say we did well, making this park a better place for the neighborhood kids to play.