There were four of us on a very long road trip to Texas from Nevada. The second day we drove over 700 miles and were more than punchy when we pulled into a buffet restaurant in a small Texas town at around 7 p.m. 

We gathered around the table with our plates full of food which included crawdads (Nevada word) aka crayfish (Texas word) and cat fish, things we Nevadans were not accustomed to having at a buffet but when in Rome. Well, you know. As we all got situated forks at the ready, out of nowhere my other half said to the rest of us, “You know what you call fish without any eyes?” we laughed at his attempt at humor even though we hadn’t heard any punch line yet-we were really tired. We may have laughed a little too much as the Texans in the establishment looked as though they were about to call the local white coat brigade to take us back across their western border. Of course we didn’t know what you call fish without eyes and we said so and with baited breath we asked what fish without any eyes are called. 

He says—now go with me here as it is more of a verbal answer rather than a typewritten answer. With a straight face he says, “You call it a fsh!” and he accentuated the f and drew out the sh making this fsshhh slobbery noise. Go on try it. Say fish without the “i”!  And that is what you call a fish without any eyes. Come on now. It’s kinda funny. I know you are going to use this joke at some time. Just make sure your fsssh is real slobbery. 

Anyway here is where I am going with this story. 

I recently got an e-mail reminding me that Earth day is coming up. It is on the 22nd of April and if you have the opportunity, stop and just take a good look around you. Appreciate this ole planet wherever you are. If you ever wondered what art is like you can stop wondering because Earth is art in every form imaginable. From the sculpted mountains right down to the flowing painted waters of rivers and creeks-or are they cricks? 

I have to admit though, as grateful as I am to be alive on this rock I do not—I am almost ashamed to say this—I do not recycle. There it is. I do not recycle. I just took my trash out to the dumpster and gave this some thought. Oh swell huh? She’s been thinking again! 

I have seen the recent photos posted on my newsy homepage, of the huge floating islands of plastic bottles and waste found swirling somewhere out in the ocean and it really did get to me. I have taken a few cruises and have seen firsthand the beautiful blue waters of the Caribbean dotted with a plastic bag or a bottle floating and other unrecognizable items clouding what should have been a pristine view. But I still don’t recycle. Why, I wonder?

Must it always come down to money? Yep, sadly it does. I remember when I was a kid and soda pop came in bottles. Real glass bottles. The kind that you took back to the store and traded in for money, cash, change that jingle jangled in your pocket. That was my first shot at recycling. Then bottles were replaced by cans and those kinda got recycled because you could turn them in for cash too. You still can recycle cans but can you carry enough cans to get enough “chook” to buy can–dy? Probably not. So not as many cans are smashed with can smashers – uh one of which is mounted in my garage. Yes I also recycled cans because of the cash they were worth. But, yep another but… 

But cans reverted back to bottles. Not the pretty glass bottles, plastic bottles. Why plastic? Because of money silly! Money again rears its ugly head. One of my favorite little sayings which concerns money is. “If we just didn’t need food, clothing or shelter we wouldn’t need money!” But we do need food, clothing and shelter so we need money and that leads to gathering up enough of the green stuff to live and that means work or some other mode of money gathering and that leads me right back to—ready? Recycling. Well that was quite a ride. 

Even though I don’t recycle as recycling is commonly thought of, I guess I do recycle somewhat. I try not to make a huge carbon footprint. I use less plastic and I reuse as much reusable stuff as I can reuse. I really believed this ole gal we call home is a true art form and I care about her. As the poster claimed in that Earth Day e-mail—               

                                           EARTH without ART is just “eh!”

                                                    Like fish with no “i” is fsh!

Trina lives in Eureka, Nevada. Share with her at itybytrina@yahoo.com Really!