Trying!

I am trying to cut down on the amount of plastic that I purchase.  In my efforts to help the environment by monitoring Coon Creek and the Rum River, I have ironically lost a plastic bucket into the very streams I have been trying to help.  So no more buying plastic buckets for me.  I also lost a metal bucket and would buy another one of those if I could find one which I can't.  Last year I took a vitamin water bottle that someone else threw away at work.  I cut holes in the top of the 20 ounce bottle and brought the water up onto the bridge with that. That bottle worked so-so.  I found it difficult to get the bottle filled my manipulating the rope and I needed it filled three times to get enough for my secchi tube. Water kept coming out of the holes on the side and made my shoes wet. I couldn't fit my thermometer inside the bottle to get an accurate reading of the temperature.  I recycled the vitamin water bottle and this time repurposed a bigger bottle that held ginger ale.  I cut the bottom off this time.  This bottle fills up easily and I need to fill it only once or twice to get all the stream water I need.  My shoes stay dry. My thermometer fits in there just fine. As I pour the water out I notice that the plastic is thin and I wonder how long this will last.  Even if it lasts only a single season, I still win because I didn't buy more plastic.