Summertime Treats and Trash Talk

By DAWN HANKINS

dhankins@t-g.com

I could live off fruited tea with lemon, especially during the 90 plus degree heat we've had this month.

Fruited tea was served Thursday at the T-G when staff celebrated the awesome birthday of advertising manager Diandra Womble. Co-workers honored her with a little brunch buffet.

It certainly is a good time for cool treats. Thanks to Amy Martin for submitting a great strawberry recipe. Amy serves this community well. I consider her a great friend.

Strawberries here are going fast. Amy's dessert recipe-one great for any occasion-will be featured at the end of this blog.

Let's talk a little trash this week. Email me your pictures of roadside litter. I will do my job taking local shots as well.

As for Shelbyville, Eric Pierce, public works director, said today that his department runs a weekly 4-man inmate crew for picking up litter. The amount is massive, he says.

“We would appreciate everybody disposing of their litter in the proper trash receptacles to help keep our city clean,” Pierce advises.

In addition to our local effort, Tennessee Wildlife Federation is getting involved. The federation requests your snapshots of the cans, bottles and outright trash that make our great outdoors a little less great.

Remember the old “Tennessee Trash” commercials. I loved those! The state statistics make me think maybe we still haven't changed our habits of throwing trash on the roads after all these years.

Here's why: Tennessee Department of Transportation estimates there are 100 million pieces of litter on Tennessee’s roads at any given moment. Even more startling is that 18 percent of it ends up in the water.

I saw evidence of that this week on Tims Ford. It was sad when my grandkids pointed out the floating trash. I had a good chance to explain to them about littering, which is what we all need to do with our kids.

Here's why: Tennessee Valley Authority actually removed 230 tons of trash from the Tennessee River in 2018, according to TWF.

Mike Butler, TWF CEO says, “With the unofficial start of summer, we want Tennesseans to take and share photos of all the litter they see when they are outdoors. Litter is such a big and old problem that we’ve all become blind to how much of it there is in our lives every day. Litter is more than an eyesore. It has real, measurable effects on Tennesseans and the state’s wildlife, water, and wild places.” Visit tnwf.org/litter.

Fluffy Stuff

Mix pudding with milk until it starts to thicken. Mix in Cool Whip. Layer in trifle bowl or clear glass dish starting with 1/3 of the angel food cake, then pudding mixture, then fruit.