After the last post, where I noticed steaming poop was featured, I remembered having seen this feature in an earlier post on the same subject.
Not sure why it didn’t get posted at the time, but it then got forgotten.
Not all bad though, as I would not have noticed it featured the same pile of steaming dog poop as the Newton Esplanade version.
Now, all I have to do is remember where I put another pic I collected at the same time, but not for dog poop. This one was aimed at the nice people who feed the gulls, encouraging them to terrorise walkers, and steal their cones and their fish suppers from their hands as they walk along the seafront.
Technically, this is really Newton Esplanade, but who would know where I was referring to if I used that in the title?
Distracted by the plea to ‘CLEAN IT UP’, I didn’t notice this sign painted on the footpath was complete with a pile of steaming poop behind the doggy’s, er, behind.
I’m quite impressed by the majority of dog walkers, who are either conscientious, or scared into compliance if they see me nearby with my camera to hand.
Then there are the others, the ones who think it’s fun to tie their little black bags (once filled) to overhanging branches on paths, or use any convenient hole to avoid carrying their ‘gift’ to a bin. I know one neighbour who has had to close the opening behind street cable/distribution boxes, as they were magically filling up with those poop bags.
I seem to have missed out on the life and times of a little bear called Pooh, maybe by accident, maybe by design, but just as well, as I think I’d have spent my life falling asleep had I been introduced.
Later, I had to be convinced his name really was Pooh.
Then I heard of a game called Poohsticks – and not sure if pleases, or disappointed, that actual game had no relation to what the name suggested. Later, I had similar thoughts before discovering what Klingons were, and Star Trek suffered the same fate in my imagination.
Why am I rambling about Pooh and Klingons?
Whizzing through the backstreets of Bothwell recently, I noticed a sign stuck (no, it was actually pinned) to a tree, one of a number along a public/cycle path and cycle route, but couldn’t read it as it was too dark when I was there.
Then I made the trip in daylight, so was able to read it.
NOT to be taken as a generalisation against dog owners/walkers, but why does a small group always seem to have to waste things for the majority.
Some walkers seem to think it’s funny to tie poo bags to branches that extend into paths.
Other use bags, but then toss them in the nearest garden, or as one neighbour discovered as the summer got hotter some time ago, shove them into spaces along walls – he eventually had to box off all the spaces along the side of his house/garden to stop this practice.
+1 to the many GOOD dog walkers I see doing the bag business, and dropping the result in the nearest bin.
They should do the same with the nasty minority!
On the same theme
For some reason, this post made me think of these nice people – very nice people.
Don’t know if there are any more of these boxes dotted around Bothwell, but I did come across these two recently.
Almost missed them, but for Bobby’s butt :-D
They seemed to be empty, so I can’t say if they’re being maintained or not, or if they were a good idea that nobody’s following up.
I should have taken some pics of a similar idea somebody had in a park area near me at the start of the year, which took me a while to work out what was going on.
In this case, somebody had been using cable/zip ties to attach plastic bottles to lampposts (which I might add have no lamps) in and around the park area. The necks ends were cut off, and they were mounted with the open end facing down. I couldn’t work out what was going on (unlike Bobby’s boxes, these had no signs or clues) until, they were stuffed with old plastic bags, then things became a little more obvious.
Sad to say, while there may have been volunteers to USE the bags, it seems there are none willing to REPLACE the bags, and these DIY poop bag holders appear to have become little more than hopeful lamppost ornaments.
It’s a nice idea, and a handy hint for SOME dog owners (most I see do follow Fido and do the decent thing) – the problem seems to come afterwards, with the filled bags being left on branches alongside paths, or thrown into the first handy spot that’s out of sight -not necessarily by the Fido’s owners.
Shrink says I’m not allowed to do Alex Jones reposts (there’s just too much great stuff about this lying bottom feeder out there), but I can thwart her by making my own ;-)
This multimillionaire (not counting assets, he seemingly has over $150 million to hand) is already pleading bankruptcy (like Trump) and has already made an appeal for contributions (like Trump) for ‘donations’ from his followers so THEY will pay the $49 million award made to the Sandy Hook families – and presumably whatever award is made in two similar cases which are still to be heard, and he STILL has to answer for.
Despite his statements acknowledging that the children massacred at Sandy Hook were real, and not ‘false flag actors’, after the hearing, Alex Jones STILL approached the parents and continued to abuse them (while being recorded on video) by telling them they were being ‘manipulated’.
I wish he lived somewhere the courts enforced PERSONAL payment of their awards, and did not allow such things to be paid by anyone other than the subject.
In a recent post, I noted that I was being (reluctantly) forced to give up Strathclyde Park as a ‘Nice Place to Go To’ due to the increasing number of geese which have taken residence there, and the horrendous smell from the massive amounts of goose poop they leave all over the paths and grass. The last straw was finding I had to scrub my bike’s tyres clean of the stuff after every visit, as it doesn’t come off ‘naturally’, and dries on hard.
Seems I’m not the only one and, while I don’t normally pay any attention to online review such as Tripadvisor, was intrigued to see this pair of ‘reviews’ come up during a search.
In past posts, I’ve noted that in nice weather, the number of people I see in Strathclyde Park today appears to be much lower than it was some years ago, when I was a much more frequent visitor.
In fact, at the turn of this year, I noted how busy the park was in the colder weather following the New Year, when I had gone there for some peace and quiet, instead finding the place full of people walking around the loch.
Maybe they knew something I just learned, as the place was NOT covered with goose poop then, nor was the poop stench almost making my eyes water.
This seems to be an even bigger issue than I realised when I first mentioned it.
Get an idea by putting something like ‘pooping geese’ into your favourite search tool, and see just how much comes up, related to this problems in parks and places visited by people, especially children, who don’t understand the potential dangers of playing with the stuff!
Before you get upset, that’s not an insult, but a statement of fact.
I’ve been trying to get there around early evening for a while, but fail due to things like rain (I get there, then have to speed home as the rain arrives – my Rainman Curse), or I get there really late, just for the sake of cycling the miles.
At the same time, I noticed stuff stuck to my tyres, which didn’t go away as I cycled, and was unaware of the source, or what it was.
That was solved when I actually got to the park early!
I’d previously been using the path around the loch at the northwest end, which was very handy for my needs, and had been fine in autumn, winter, and spring, but summer?
NOPE!
I thought the place had smelt a bit ‘OFF’ during my last few visits, but last night was positively stomach turning. The stench of a sewage outlet (ammonia) pervades that whole end of the loch now, and extends well along the paths on both sides. Suffice to say I won’t be going back while the weather is remotely warm.
Sad to say, I know why, and solved the mystery of what was stuck to my tyres – this guy, and dozens of his/her mates, live around the loch, and constantly swarm from the water to the grass across the path around the loch. As they do so, they’re constantly pooping, and will do so every 12 to 20 minutes!
Goose
That’s a lot of poop, and that’s just one goose:
The average goose poops about every 12 minutes or so, which translates to more than 100 times per day per goose!
Foraging geese will eat about 4 pounds of grass a day and turn that into about 2 pounds of droppings – every – single – day.
That’s a lot of poop, but it’s also mostly water, together with lots of chopped up grass matter.
How many geese in the park? Not forgetting the ducks and swans (in lesser numbers)
I thought the stuff glued to my tyres looked liked chopped grass – seems I was right.
I’m also glad I started scrubbing it off too, as I didn’t realise I was picking it up in the park (it was too dark).
This is typically what the path looks like now, and this is about a mile from the northwest end of the loch! As has been said, pity we don’t have Smell-o-Vision.
Don’t forget the grass, which would look just the same if it was tarmac, covers a greater area, and presumably makes most of the smell – although the poop will be better dispersed there, than on tarmac.
Strathclyde Park Path
Don’t know if this give the full effect, but have a slightly closer view :-)
Strathclyde Park Path Goose Poop
As can be seen, the ‘sausages’ are soon flattened by the visitors, as they walk, or cycle over them.
Well, I won’t be back until autumn (maybe at the other end, which is busier with the water sports centre). The smell of all that fresh goose poop spread and walked everywhere is bad enough, but it’s no fun cleaning it off your tyres, once you know what it is!
My First New Theme Post
I hadn’t planned to do any new posts until I’d done most of the new theme configuration, but I guess this one has come along and made itself the first post to be made using the new theme.
Posts are probably going to be OK (although I still don’t like the unchangeable white background to the text). The thing that needs sorting is the Sidebar, full of junk from the earlier tests.
I’m not even bothering about the poor, forgotten footer for the moment, languishing at the bottom of the page.
And finally… Guano
I almost referred to this stuff as ‘guano’ but, I didn’t realise this applies only to seabird poop and bat poop. Sadly for the geese, they’re just full of sh… sorry, poop.
Continuing my series of American vanity plates spotted online – this gem appeared in an online gallery of pics.
Don’t why it should be so, but when I tried to access their website (curious to see who pays for any poop scooping they get called in to do) – all I got was a message stating access from GB was NOT allowed. And I did try alternative browsers, but couldn’t be bothered firing up a VPN.
While I’m quite happy to acknowledge the benefits of dog waste bags, and the good people who use them, there always has to be a few who spoil things.
I’d include Mother Nature in that sad reflection, especially at this warm (currently HOT) time of years. While it’s nice to walk the streets (and parks) with little chance of stepping in doggy doo-doo, it’s not a lot of fun to walk along streets with small pole-mounted litter boxes, generally filled and overflowing with little black bags full of festering doggy doo-doo. These black bins build up a fierce temperature as the Sun beats on them (and their little black bags) and you really DON’T want to be breathing in as you pass them, or be downwind.
No shame on the dog-walkers who done their bit, but if the council doesn’t come along and empty the bins, that doesn’t help.
One of those pole-mounted bins went up across the road from me a few weeks ago.
It was emptied a few times, then apparently completely forgotten about.
Once full, the dog-walkers dropped their little black bags at the base of the pole.
The (full) litter box eventually fell (or was kicked) off the pole a few weeks ago – and hasn’t been replaced.
To the GOOD guys, well done.
Now, on to the disgusting people. The usual FEW who waste things for MANY.
They don’t take their dog’s poop home and dispose of it, but are clearly worried about being photographed NOT picking it up, because they do.
THEN…
They drop it behind our garden walls.
The hide it behind cable TV boxes. I learned that from the neighbour across the road, when I saw him boxing in the space behind such a box and his wall, after the space was filled with poop bags and started to stink out his house and garden.
In parks and woods, they tie their stinking little black bags to tree branches.
On paths, they hang them from fences.
So, why did I include birds with this disgusting group of people.
I’ve got a nice big tree in my back garden, one of the few left as most have been cut down.
The downside is that a few flying rats (pigeons) like to sit in it, along with a few magpies. I think there a total of six.
As yet, I don’t know which group is to blame, but while cat owners might enjoy the odd ‘gift’ from their feline overlord, I’ve now started receiving disgusting packages from my ‘guests’.
If you said ‘Little black bags filled with dog poop’ you would have been absolutely right.
I started finding these under the tree recently, and it’s not been a one-off.
I found this at 5 am this morning.
No, out back gardens here are nowhere near the street.
The birds are flying these in – unless I’ve upset someone who owns a drone (and is flying it in contravention of the regulations).
Aerial Doggie Bag Delivery
The Scottish Government has now taken away our guns (if we are law-abiding) – I will have to find something to upset my flying squatters with if this carries on.
Secret Scotland 