Livin’ in Liverpool: Blizzards, backaches hinder plogging
Plogging, as it’s known, involves collecting litter while out running.
The name is a hybrid of the word “jogging” and the Swedish word “plocka” — which means picking up.
Since I now live in an efficiency apartment out on Vine Street Road on the other side of the Thruway, and since I no longer own a functional vehicle, on most days I’ve been walking a mile into the village. And I often reverse direction and walk home at the end of the day.
‘Wogging’ effort derailed
So after my first few hikes before the snow flew, I thought I’d try picking up some of the ever-present street-side litter along the way.
No, I don’t jog. I walk, so maybe it should be called “wogging” instead of “plogging,” but I gave it the old college try.
When I set out before the blizzards began, I filled a standard trash bag after only a quarter-mile, but my ulterior motive — to score five cents each for recyclable cans and bottles — didn’t exactly pay off. I gathered just five recyclables over that quarter-mile.
Before I reached a half-mile in, I gave up the ghost. My lower back flared up with the familiar dull pain of overextension after years of underuse. Ouch!
I’ll probably try plogging (or wogging, as the case may be) again next spring. Before I do, however, I’ll invest in one of those newfangled trash pick-up sticks to save my aching back.
Fashion vs. function
In January a few weeks later, after the Nor’easters descended on us, I was shambling into the village when I encountered my friend and neighbor Diane Primerano shoveling her driveway in the 800 block of Vine Street.
“The snow blower died halfway through,” she pointed out. “So I’m shoveling the last few feet the old-fashioned way.”
The wind picked up speed this month and wind-chill temperatures plummeted. After my fedora got blown off my head a few times, and I nearly got run over by traffic as I attempted to retrieve the old lid, I decided – the heck with my hallmark hat – I gotta save my ears from frostbite!
So instead, I’m wearing my woolen-warm Syracuse Chiefs watchcap.
Welcome to the bleak midwinter, when fashion takes a back seat to function.
Hatter’s on the mend!
It’s always a pleasure to report some good news:
Manlius Police Sergeant Ken Hatter who has spent the last 11 years battling Non-Hodgkins lymphoma now appears to be cancer free. Hatter worked as a Liverpool Police Officer for several years. In fact, he was one of the officers who responded to the discovery of a dead baby girl in a dumpster outside the Pearl Street Apartments in January 2011.
Anyhow, Hatter’s family posted on social media the news that a recent positron emission tomography scan showed Hatter to be officially free of the cancer he’d been battling for years.
Several bone-marrow drives took place throughout the area, including here in Liverpool, seeking a match. One was found in November.
New LPD officer hired
The Liverpool Police Department has successfully completed a background investigation into Michael Bufano, a candidate for a part-time police officer position. Bufano put himself through the CNY Police Academy Phase I training and graduated on May 16, 2018, according to Police Chief Don Morris. “Michael has also completed numerous ride-alongs with LPD Officer Kevin Greenwood,” Morris added. Bufano is presently employed as a part-time police officer for the village of Pulaski.
Two-for-one month
February is customer appreciation month at Heid’s of Liverpool, and you know what that means: redeem any kind of coupon — even a competitors’ coupon or your own homemade facsimile — for a free single Hofmann frank or coney when you buy one at the regular price, which is now $3.85 plus tax; 315-451-0786; heidsofliverpool.com.
BTW, you can now have Heid’s “food you’ll like” delivered via GrubHub.com.
Last word
“In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone;
Snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow,
In the bleak midwinter, long ago.”
–Christina Rossetti.
Contact the columnist at russtarby@aol.com.
