Motivation killer

My friend Joe and I have a standing appointment to paddle together each Tuesday, but yesterday he had to go to the dentist and couldn't make it.  So I went down there myself, planning to do another easy paddle for an hour or less.

Some heavy thunderstorms had passed through here overnight.  We'd barely had any rain since the remnants of Hurricane Harvey came through here in early September, so this rain was welcome.  But when I got down to the riverfront I saw the downside: the harbor, already very low as I've reported here before, was choked with litter that had washed in from the storm drains and tributary creeks.

I am constantly defending our riverfront against the myth that it's nothing but a big open sewer with no possible recreational value whatsoever.  People who believe that are typically longtime Memphians (and therefore self-proclaimed experts on all things Mississippi River) whose only contact with the river is the occasional trip downtown for the nightlife or a music festival or some such thing.

I'm not going to sit here and try to tell you that the river is pristine.  In fact, it faces constant pollution threats that require ongoing vigilance among those to whom the river belongs (that would be me, you, and every other human being).  But it's not a place where you have to hold your nose, either.  I would say that nine days out of ten it's no less appealing than the waterfront of any other large city in the world.

But there's always that tenth day out of ten, and that's what I found yesterday.  Because of the rain, along with the low water and the prevailing wind and the barometric pressure and who knows what other variables, the harbor surface was as unappealing as I've ever seen it.

If Joe had been there I'd have gone ahead and paddled with him.  And if there were competitions coming up, I'd have done my work.  But standing there alone I thought, it's my offseason now, I'm tired, I'm ready for a break, and I really don't feel like hosing a bunch of scum off my boat when I'm done paddling.  I think I'll skip it today.

To make myself feel better, I picked up all the aluminum cans from the water that I could reach from the dock--well over a dozen of them--and carried them up to the collection bin outside the grocery store.  The proceeds from the redemption of those cans is supposed to benefit the Humane Society, and I can't imagine who would object to that.

I do want to get in my boat at least once a week for the next little while, and carry on some sort of strength routine, too.  But I doubt much will happen the rest of this week because the big annual crafts fair that I'm always involved in is this Friday through Sunday.  I'll start setting up for that this afternoon.

I guess I'll conclude this post with a moral: do not litter!  Seriously.  Once in a while I even see somebody I consider a good person drop something on the ground.  Stop doing that!  And if you see some litter, pick it up!  I can tell you exactly where it will end up if you don't.