Living Lands & Waters, Chad Pregracke's not-for-profit environmental organization, is gearing up for acorn collection for the MillionTrees Project. The organization is asking community members to collect and donate their acorns to the project with a goal of collecting 300,000 seeds to plant in its nursery this fall. These acorns will grow for one to two years, and the saplings will then be transplanted back into their native communities. The MillionTrees Project was initiated in September 2007 with the goal of growing 1 million native hardwood fruit- and nut-bearing trees over the next five to 10 years. Send seeds to: Living Lands & Waters; c/o MillionTrees Project; 17624 Route 84 N; East Moline IL 61244. If you have specific questions about the MillionTrees Project, contact Denise Mitten at (309) 236-6279 or milliontrees@livinglandsandwaters.org. For more information on other Living Lands & Waters projects, visit LivingLandsAndWaters.org.

Volunteers at the fifth-annual Xstream Cleanup on Saturday, August 16, removed 142,566 pounds of debris from area waterways, illegal dumping sites, and flood-ridden areas. Cleanups were held at 39 locations in Bettendorf, Davenport, and LeClaire, Iowa, and Colona, East Moline, Milan, Moline, Rock Island, and Silvis, Illinois. More than 1,300 volunteers worked nearly 4,200 hours and collectively gathered 2,187 bags of trash, 2,416 tires, 36 appliances, and 54 bicycles. This represented 75,180 pounds of trash, 63,444 pounds of tires, 2,700 pounds of appliances, and 1,242 pounds of bicycles. Full statistics, a list of items removed, and photos of cleanups can be viewed at XstreamCleanup.org.

Leo Acton didn't think this career path was open to him. He considered being a musician, but he always thought of himself as a physical comedian. "In a lot of ways, I've always been a clown," he said last week in a phone interview.

But "I always thought you had to be born into the circus," he added. "I never thought it was really an option."

Silly guy. Everybody knows you can run away to join the circus.

On Wednesday, August 27, the LST-325, a World War II amphibious vessel, will dock in the Quad Cities around 10 a.m. Forty-five-minute self-guided tours of the ship will be held from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. from Thursday, August 28, to Tuesday, September 2. The ship will dock on the Mississippi River along Ben Butterworth Parkway at River Drive and 25th Street in Moline. Admission is $10 for adults, $5 for children six to 18, $20 for families, and free for children under six. For more information on the Ship, visit LSTMemorial.org.