Mother’s Battle With Chaos!

Every mother of a boy experiences first-hand a private battle with entropy associated directly with him! Nearly every day of my youth, until my toys became larger than she could possibly throw, Mother would threaten, “Mike if you don’t pick up your toys I’m going to throw them up Spoon Creek!”

Now, I had no idea where Spoon Creek was, but in my boyish mind I figured that if every mother threw precious boyhood relics up Spoon Creek when they became chaos to her, it must be a marvelous place! I remember looking at state maps hoping to find the spot. I did! Spoon Creek is an actual place located 12 miles east of Mt. Pleasant, Utah in the Fish Lake National Forrest. It must be a boy’s wonderland. I’ve yet to go there. With the closing of ToysRUs® recently, I’m thinking of organizing a pilgrimage! Any takers?

One of my assignments the last five years has been to work with the Wasatch Integrated Waste Management District which handles solid waste generated in Davis and Morgan counties. I have come to understand some best practices in solid waste management. They are often referred to as the Three Rs.

Reduce — We all need to work to reduce our consumption of natural resources by not wasting.

Reuse — We’ve become a throw away generation. Despite being laughed at for saving short pieces of string, those before us knew the value of savings earned by maintaining and reusing resources.

Recycle — When we forget to recycle we throw away the energy used to produce the item and the energy yet stored there.

All three of these principles help us understand the need for conservation. During the last five years I’ve watch our City subscribe meticulously to these principles. But, despite the fact of their employ, there exists another R that is also a player. This R is a direct result of the return to chaos predicted by the Second Law of Thermodynamics via the battle with entropy. There comes a time when things wear-out, having fought the battle for years, but now require “Replacement”. The car will eventually need replacement. The washer will die someday. Entropy claims its own despite all we do.

The City is not immune to the effects of entropy. We sit on list of infrastructure projects that are losing the battle because of their age. Our current culinary water storage capacity needs our attention. Please be alert to discussions concerning this issue, coming in the next few months. Watch for notices of these discussions. We will need your input on how to proceed.

In threatening to throw my cherished toys up Spoon Creek, Mother was attempting to teach me the value of conservation. What she could not protect my toys from was the heavy, boyish play they were exposed to day, after day, after day. Toys are like that. They experience rough play and eventually lose the battle with chaos; chaos that comes conveniently packaged with unkempt hair, a dirty face, an untucked shirt and two legs with muddy feet attached. Sorry Mom!