Pick up your dog crap

Here’s a rant that goes out to all you oblivious, selfish or otherwise just plain lazy dog owners. Part of the responsibility of having a dog includes cleaning up after him/her. It comes with the territory, no If’s And’s or But’s about it, that’s the way it is.

 

First of all, there are those out there that will let their dog relieve themselves on a sidewalk and still walk away, leaving it for the next unsuspecting sidewalk user to take it with them on the bottom of their shoes. For those of you like this, I’m not writing to you. Not because you don’t need to hear this, but because you’re hopeless. Truly hopeless. And no rant will change that. Also, this doesn’t even include those of you who take the time to pick up after your dog (probably because someone was watching), only to throw the plastic bag in someone’s yard or flower bed!!!! For you, there really is little help.

 

So, for the rest of you that consider yourselves somewhat of a responsible dog owner, this rant  is for you.

 

I ride my bike to and from work every day. In an effort to avoid being run over by crazy, angry or oblivious motorists, I stick to the trails as much as I can. And, of course, these trails are great not only for biking, but jogging, hiking or even an evening stroll. Most people that enjoy these trails do so with their dogs, and I commend those that are committed to properly exercising Spike and Little Miss Muffy alike. But what I absolutely abhor is your inherent lack of sense with what to do with your dog’s crap.

 

Fine, we’re on a trail, out in the middle of nowhere. So I maybe understand that you don’t think you need to clean it up. In fact, if my dog is breaking a new trail through the bushes, you’re darn right I’m not going to follow him to pick up the crap. But if my dog decides to leave a warm, smelly gift right on the trail, yes, it is my responsibility to do something about it! Grab a stick. Grab a rock, I don’t care what, but grab something and simply flick that crap OFF the trail! It really isn’t hard, but if you do find it difficult let me know and I can upload a You Tube video of the simple steps:

1.       Dog takes a dump on the trail.

2.       Owner picks up stick from trail.

3.       Owner flicks crap off of trail.

4.       Owner throws stick into bushes.

 

Pretty simple, really, so let’s all give this brand new technique a try, eh? Please, save the rest of us coming behind you from stepping or riding through it and then having to enjoy that lovely aroma all the way back home. There, a short rant for a simple process that really shouldn’t be an issue.

 

I just have to say it again, why isn’t common sense more common???

 

Water Mis-Use

Ok, I haven’t had much to rant about lately, so I suppose that’s a good thing, right? Maybe it means I’m becoming generally happier in nature and things don’t bug me as much. Maybe people are becoming less annoying? Maybe I’m just too annoyed to even bother writing... Probably the last one.

 

However, I have to write about people watering their lawns. We live in a desert. Sure, it’s Canada, but Kamloops is the Canadian desert. We have cacti, we have sandy, dry land. We have rivers and lakes that recede by extreme amounts during the summer months. We hit very high temperatures. Yes, it’s a desert. Sure, it’s no Sahara, or even Arizona, but this is a desert. And as such, you would think that those of us living here would have some idea of water conservation during the hot summer months. You’d think we would. But no, we do not.

 

Ok, I apologize for generalizing. I know there are a lot out there who do understand and comply. However, the reports don’t lie. Kamloops residents are indeed water wasters! The average water use per person per day is 790 litres over the course of an entire year. During the peak summer months, this average jumps up to 1800 litres (the average over the winter is 430 litres per person per day). This peak season is apparently 38 to 50% higher than other central interior communities, not to mention the rest of Canada.

 

Kamloops is going to be installing water metres, with a base charge for an allotment of 500 litres per day per household during the fall and winter months and an allotment of 1000 litres per day per household during the spring and summer months. This, in my opinion, is a good step. Granted, those of us who don’t even use the allotted amounts will still pay for the full amounts and that does annoy me to no end. But, those that use way more than these amounts will be charged additional, and that helps my annoyance to some degree!

 

For example, we just had three days with torrential rains this week. In fact, it’s rained probably every night so far at least once. And yet, the morning after people are out setting up their sprinklers and watering their lawns! Really people? Are you truly that clueless? Yesterday my wife went for a jog and saw a lady cleaning flower petals off of her sidewalk with the water from her hose! Seriously, is a broom really that difficult?

 

This is beyond ignorance. This is downright irresponsible and stupid.

 

Our neighbour across the street waters his lawn every day all day. And then, when Kamloops restricts our use during the hot months to only being allowed to water every other day, he must go nuts thinking his lawn is dying. Trust me, neighbour, it ain’t dying because of a lack of moisture. It’s dying because it’s drowning! And the kicker is his lawn looks very bad all summer, so you’d think he’d look it up and try and figure out what he’s doing wrong. The installation of these water meters must really irk him. Actually, it makes perfect sense. By watering every day all day during the spring, he creates a very weak and “lazy” lawn. One that doesn’t have to work to live. Therefore, when he is restricted to every other day, the lawn doesn’t have the strength to actually withstand a single day of heat. In other words, it’s a weak, fat, lazy couch potato of a lawn!

 

Anyone with internet access and half an ability to search online can find out within seconds how to properly conserve water, especially when watering your lawn. Leave your lawn longer (2-3” long, which helps retain moisture and even combats weeds). Leave the grass clippings on your lawn (they break down into fertilizer and nutrients for the roots and help retain moisture). Only water your lawn (so many sprinklers water half the street, driveways, neighbour’s cars, really?) And as for watering, water once a week. Yes, once. Not every day. Not all day. But once a week. They say water about 2 inches in the morning on the weekend (this would be about 2-3 hours). Granted, when the weeks are hot and sunny (40° or more consistently), a mid-week watering may also be necessary. Watering mid afternoon is futile as it will evaporate faster than the roots can soak it in. And during the night can actually cause rot!

 

So as I ride to work or back each day and see the countless people watering endlessly, whether it be their lawn or washing their sidewalks and/or driveways, I just want to stop and shake some sense into them. But then I might get charged with assault or something. So, I will stick to this rant for now and just hope that by some miracle, some Kamloops residents will stumble across this post this summer! But then again, if they haven’t found the other information about proper water use yet, what are the chances of them finding this?