Rudi, my 3-year-old wonderful German Shepherd, and I have a quarterly project. We take a garbage bag while walking to collect garbage. We live in rural Yellowstone County, Montana. We’ve done this for the past couple of years and “patrol” a 3-mile stretch (a 1.5-mile out-and-back route on both sides). This past weekend, we also walked the next half-mile stretch on both sides. Unfortunately, there is never a lack of things to collect, especially aluminum cans, plastic water bottles, cigarette butts, food wrappers, and yes, some things that I don’t know what they are and/or what is in them, so I leave those items. It’s a way to help tidy our little corner of the world, take to some ownership in tackling the problem, and make a little money, too (more on that later). It made me wonder about litter and recycling and the impact on rural America.