My Mother was born May 13, a Sunday, Mother’s Day in 1923.  She was a great lady and I want to share a story about how she helped motivate me to start the cleanup of our springs and still motivates me to this day to keep it going.

One day when I was very young, I remember my older sister wanting to start a fire in our fireplace in the living room for the first time after the summer.   She had learned how to do it last winter and was eager to do it again now that it was getting cold outside. Crumpled newspaper and carefully placed sticks, a match, and up went a big ball of flames up the chimney.

Suddenly, out of the fire a squirrel leaped, still burning up on fire.  My sister screamed and jumped back as the squirrel came flying out of the flames into our living room, running around the room again and again until it stopped and was dead. 

There was blood splattered all over the oak floors.  Later, my mother and sister set about cleaning up all the blood scattered across the floor as the squirrel had run around the room.

Days later, I was sitting in the big easy chair and looked down and saw that there was still some squirrel blood on the floor under the chair next to me.  The next day it was still there.  I wondered why my mother had left it there?  Finally, I asked her why she did not clean up the blood on the floor over by the big easy chair?

I took her hand and showed her where it was.  And she asked me why I hadn’t cleaned it up?

She took me into the kitchen and got me cleaning stuff to wipe it up and explained that she could not see what I saw because she was taller and did not have the same perspective that I had because I was shorter and could see under the chair.

She told me that sometimes other people will not be able to see what I see and if I see something that needs to be done, and I am capable of doing it, then I should do it myself.  I should not wait for someone else to see what I see because they may never be able to see things from my perspective. So, if I am waiting for someone to do it, it may never get done.

Throughout my life, I have seen things that need to be done and if I had the ability to try to accomplish them, I would not wait for someone else to do it, because other people may not see things the way I see them… from my perspective.  We all have our own perspectives on how we see things and I see clean water in our future with a more healthy ecosystem than what we have now.  

I have a very positive perspective, very optimistic.  I have been accused of seeing pie in the sky in my vision of clean waters and herbicide no longer needed.  When people tell me that, it doesn’t discourage me, it just makes me realize they have a different perspective.

For example, in my One Rake at a Time Project, I could see what needed to be done where other people could not. It was simple, just get in there and start cleaning and restoring our springs and not wait for, or expect the government or someone else to do it.  I needed to show leadership and strive to set a good example and be a role model.  

Also, when I was a kid, I went to YMCA summer camp for many years and my mother’s teachings were reinforced on me there. There was always a project to do there, doing something constructive, like building a new trail up the mountain or fixing a roof on a cabin, or learning how to swim. Goals were set at the beginning of the summer and reviewed at the end of the summer, like swimming lessons and goals accomplished.

I was able to make it through all the swimming lessons to become a lifeguard and then go on as a counselor to teach swimming lessons myself to younger campers and watching them grow up to be great swimmers, some competition winners.

We just had a cleanup at the Dunnellon city beach in May and many people came out to volunteer to help clean up the swimming area for the kids, or anyone else who might want to go for a swim in the fresh cool waters of the Rainbow River.  It was great to see so many people working together for a common good.

Then, two days later, there was a river wide cleanup sponsored by the Rainbow River Conservation nonprofit and there were over 100 people who came out to participate. Many items were removed from the river and the sheriff’s office came out with their boat and divers and pulled an old dead car battery out to the river near where the Rainbow flows into the Withlacoochee.  They won the prize for the most hazardous item removed from our waters.

My group, One Rake at a Time, pulled 120 lbs of hydrilla out of the river that morning.  It was great to see so many people working together for the good of our waters in so many different ways.  One of the county commissioners was there and said they were so proud of the way our communities take care of our spring-fed rivers.

My mother’s advice and counsel has served me well over the years and stays with me to this day, and I am grateful.  

I am still very anxious to get started on our grant for divers vacuuming the muck out of the river so we can replant eelgrass, but we hit a delay because now we have to get a federal permit from the Army Corp of Engineers and that may take another year as they said they are backed up on permits for like 18 months.

We have now set up a live webcam on the Rainbow River so you can tune in and see the river whenever you want.  It works most of the time, but please bear with us getting some of the glitches out as it gets knocked offline sometimes when we have thunderstorms.

Visit our website at OneRakeAtATime.org to check it out.

Thank you,  

Art Jones