So don't do what I did - NO, REALLY!!!!

[Cat]

Somebody dropped a bunch of trash down the road, across from us and relatively close to the ditch. UGH. Stupid people.

 

The last couple of years, it's happened a couple of times. Somebody doesn't want to pay for trash pickup, so they just dump it somewhere for others to deal with. OK.

 

Well, our trash man comes tomorrow, it's supposed to rain a lot during the next few days, and DH was taking a nap. So I figured I'd take a trash bag down and clean it all up before winter hits, before the rain hits us hard, and just get it DONE.

 

I cleaned up everything I found across the road as I went down there. When I got to the main mess, it was two larger bags and some assorted other junk. I threw the bag of clothes (REALLY? ) in the bottom of the bag because it was heavier, then the other one on top. Looked like bottles & junk. Ugh

 

I saw our new neighbor was outside, so I went over and introduced myself and we talked a bit. She seems like a nice person.

 

Then I dragged the bag of junk to the other side of the road and picked up what I found on *that* side, until I got home.

 

What IS that stuff? Bits of charcoal in a bottle? I made the mistake of just taking the lid off, a bit of breeze hit it and I inhaled "just enough" to take my breath away. *Literally.* I couldn't breathe for 15-20 seconds. It scared me. I made myself cough HARD, then finally gasped enough to breathe better.

 

Then I looked at the other bottle that had its lid off, and saw that there was some kind of tube attached, and it hit me - METH LAB.

 

So I got into the house and told Hubby, and then I called the county police non-emergency number. They listened and then sent out local medics and a county sheriff.

 

Yup, I found a former meth lab. The sheriff pretty much just shrugged & said I could just throw it away. At least it's reported. The medics checked me out, offered to take me to the hospital if I needed, but my vitals were fine and I'm not scared. It was some kind of chemical smell, it filled my lungs, but Hubby will take me to the ER if anything changes. And it's been several hours, so I'm OK.

 

The meth, of course, was gone. I've heard of portable labs that blow up, but I didn't think there was much real "danger" from the leftover junk.

 

 

But I'm telling this on here so that *IF* any of you or your children or grandchildren find something similar - learn from my mistake. Call the police, if you want. That will at least alert them. But don't mess with it. It was a couple of 2-liter pop bottles, one juice bottle, other assorted junk

 

Stay safe, my friends.

[Mt_Rider]

Oh my GOSH, Cat! Who would have EVER THOUGHT? I'm so glad you're all right. Glad you did call the cops. Did you by any chance wear gloves? Cuz I would think of used needles if picking up other folks' trash. But I'd have never consider THAT kind of trash.

 

 

And what are you supposed to do, anyway. The county probably wouldn't come out by request to clean it up. What if some teen volunteer group had been doing a roadside project and ran into that.

 

MtRider .....sheeesh! Pretty bad when even TRASH is a threat! Hmph!

[dogmom4]

Oh geez! That's terrible.

[Ambergris]

And we tend to think of our enemies as overseas.

[sassenach]

Wow. ok. I am sorry you got a whif of that stuff. yikes. Do you have any dandelion tea or ginger root? Make some tea and drink it. The ginger would help your lungs recupe quickly and it detoxes the blood stream, dandelion detoxes the blood. Glad you are feeling all right. I am glad they checked you out medically. Or a good dose of silver iodide in a glass of water, any of that is a help when you run across toxic stuff at that level.

 

Garbage on the side of the road.

[Christy]

Nasty! On top of Sassy's suggestion I offer a concoction of:

ACV with two gloves of garlic, yarrow- and dandelion leaves.

Leave to steep, preferably for a week and drink a little twice a day.

No use for now but it'll help with all sorts of toxic in the body.

 

What a stupid people, good you found it and not children.

[Mt_Rider]

Oh....children.....

 

MtRider

[Cat]

Apparently it's some kind of ammonia stuff they use. And I'm OK today.

No, I didn't even think of using gloves. It was bagged, sort of, after all. And since I've picked up bags of junk before, I didn't even think of it.

 

But after having been outside for over a week, it was falling apart. That's why I wanted to get it OUT of there before winter.

 

Yeah, there aren't many children around here who might mess with it. People don't usually go clean up other people's property. It's a woodsey part on the edge of the neighbor's farm fields. The only child nearby is a Kindergartner on the other side of a deep drainage ditch, and I'm pretty sure he's not outside without supervision. But I made a special effort to go tell his parents what I found.

 

This part of the county isn't important enough for the crews of organizations who go and clean the sides. They only do that on the big highways and the county comes and picks up their finished bags afterwards.

 

God is good... Just one more of His blessings to count up in this crazy year.

[Twilight]

Walking one evening we found needles..lots of them. We asked someone about it,and found that the needles were stolen from the hospital. ..used needles! We called the sheriff's dept. They said don't touch them they were are would be watching the area. They also cracked down on the hospital as used needles are not supposed to be where anyone can get them.

Cat I am glad you are ok!

[Becca_Anne]

How terrible!! I hope that you don't have any long term health effects from that. So horrible that they would just dump it out there This country is going to pieces.