Snow Day

I was shoveling snow this afternoon, and two neighbors who live in the building next door were shoveling also. One of them -- I'll call her Tree (she has an equally non-gender-specific, organic-sounding name) -- was talking to the other guy about the excess of garbage cans that, as my landlord, who lives above me, and I know only too well, belong to their building. They rarely take them in; the cans sit on the sidewalk of our otherwise pleasant street for days, sometimes weeks on end.

To their credit, they seemed to be talking about finally taking the trash cans in. But then I heard Tree (who is perfectly nice, if a bit odd) say, "I think I'll leave this one out because look how full it is -- people walking by can put trash in it! It's probably good to leave it out."

I don't know what got into me, since I'm usually shy about confrontations with neighbors, which is why I still have said nothing to a resident of the building on the other side of me about the fact that I routinely clean up his dog's poop. He doesn't seem to realize that (1) it's easy for people getting out of their cars to step in his dog's poop, as I have done more than once; (2) some dogs -- like one of my own, unfortunately -- like to try to eat other dogs' poop; yes, that's not something I brag about, but life isn't always composed of things you'd be inclined to brag about; (3) dog poop that's left on the sidewalk attracts flies in warm weather and rats year-round; and (4) it's against the law in DC not to clean up after your dog.

Anyway, when I overheard Tree say she was going to leave one trash can out, I said, "You don't want to do that."

She said, "Why not?"

I said, "Because it's really ugly and it attracts rats."

Of my two arguments, I admit the one that holds the most water is the one about how ugly it looks. Truthfully, I don't know that it attracts more rats than any other single element on the street (such as dog poop), and of course rats can be attracted to it whether it's on the sidewalk or tucked away out of view.

She said, "But the sidewalk would be littered with trash if it wasn't here. People can put stuff in it!"

Yes, we do get a fair amount of foot traffic to and from the center of Adams-Morgan's nightlife on weekends, but no sidewalk anywhere on our street or in the immediate vicinity is ever "littered with trash."

I said, "The people who litter on the sidewalk don't tend to be the type of people who put stuff in trash cans if they come across one."

She said, "Well, maybe."

She and the other guy finished shoveling. I finished shoveling. The trash can is still out there.

***

It was lovely walking in the snow early this morning as it was still coming down.