Collection Report Nov 28, 2011

Monday, November 28. 10:00AM. Bay View beach, Saco, Maine. Temp in the 50s. Overcast with occasional sun. Like, well, this:

A weird day. The kind of day where the sea has left behind rock gardens:

The purses of mermaids:

The homes of tubeworms:

As well as two horses and a rider with a fuzzy hat??

Then, of course, the usual:

So, what came out of the sand, all told? Zone N:

134 finds:

• Building materials: 4 (asphalt)
• Foam/Styrofoam: 62 (!!)
• Fishing misc.: 5 (2 shotgun shells, claw band, 2 bits of fishing line)
• Food-related plastics: 8 (3 bottle-cap o-rings, 3 food wrappers/scraps, 2 gum)
• Food-related metal/glass: 5 (bottle cap, 2 foil wrappers, 2 sea glass)
• Nonfood/unknown plastics: 17 (o-ring, plastic hairband, plastic glove, bandaid, 2 wall anchors, kids shirt tag, rubberband, 2 scraps >1", 7 scraps < 1")
• Cigarette filters/plastics: 32
• Paper/wood: 1 (wood firecracker stick)
• Misc./unique: 0

This was the week for foam! See the riot of deadly color:

What I discovered this week is that the little protected corner near the access point is a real collection spot. There's an old log there, and the windward side amasses all kinds of seaweed, reeds, leaves, and plastic -- mostly light stuff like cigarette butts &, well, styrofoam. And now on to Zone S:

22 finds:

• Building materials: 1 (asphalt)
• Foam/Styrofoam: 3
• Fishing misc.: 3 (1 rope scrap - natural fiber, 2 vinyl coating)
• Food-related plastics: 2 (bottle, pepper packet)
• Food-related metal/glass: 2 (sea glass)
• Nonfood/unknown plastics: 9 (baggie, strapping, folding step!, 6 scraps <1")
• Cigarette filters/plastics: 2
• Paper/wood: 0
• Misc./unique: 0

This, obviously, is the most interesting find:

Not least because I had no idea what it was, until a quick FaceBook "crowdsourcing." Flotsam Diaries fan Irene Parsons knew right away: the top of a folding step-stool! How it got to Bay View, with oceanic algae attached, I'll never really know.

My big takeaway for the week: If you don't know, ask. There's probably someone who does!