Wednesday Patrol and feelin' good

Can you believe this weather? Forgot to take my camera today, too bad, as there was some work being done on the bed of the Cottle River and other random fun things. Maybe tomorrow if I have time.

Old dog feeling pretty good today, so we covered the whole west side and south side between about 9 and 9:30 this morning, and picked up:

• Cigarette butts: 2
• Water bottle caps: 2
• Dog poops: 5, all of them along the south side, not the west side
• 3 candy wrappers
• 3 pieces of broken glass in random places (so they might be old, just washed clean by the recent rains)
• A dozen other small bits and scraps--cough drop wrapper, crumbled up receipt, another ribbon from the opening ceremonies, crumpled aluminum foil, 2 straws, I don't remember everything

Clearly, someone(s) else are also picking up trash & poop regularly. Thanks again to whomever it is.

But also, since I just heard that there's an estimate of over 600 people every day using the trail, and a majority of them with dogs, this is actually a pretty trivial amount of litter. But, still--come on, folks, scoop the poop! Put those wrappers and bottle caps in your pocket until you reach a trash can!

And, wow, was it a beautiful day to be in the park.

Sunday Patrol and some observations

Out on the trail starting about 7:30 a.m., with plenty of company on a pleasantly cool, overcast morning.

West side and south side. Picked up:

• bandaid from someone's finger
• 4 tissues
• 1 tobacco chaw wrapper
• 1 earplug wrapper
• 2 pieces of paper with writing
• 1 napkin
• 4 candy or gum wrappers
• 1 pc chewed gum
• 1 pc chewed gum in wrapper
• 1 dental flosser stick thing
• several more green and also shiny ribbon things... they're all over. I'm guessing left over from the opening day celebration (Feb 1)
• 1 cough-drop wrapper
• 12 bits of fence construction debris
• 2 bottle caps
• 1 drawstring from a sweatshirt
• 7 cigarette butts
• Many pieces of orange peel and bits of an orange that someone dropped as they went. Perhaps leaving a Hansel & Gretel style trail to find their way back.  In which case, I foiled them by picking up the pieces, and now they'll be captured by the gingerbread-house witch. Tsk. Bummer.

And, I am very very sad to say--especially considering that I swept these areas clean two mornings ago--  Too many poops, I lost count. I filled THREE of my own poop bags along the way. Worst was the south side between the two street entrances to the park. Couple in the middle of the sidewalk. One right next to the poo station. One ON the brand-new fence rail. (Maybe that one was  a raccoon? Odd shape and location.) (Yes, I do look at poop. So does Tika (in the back), whom I put into position for checking out the soiled fence--)

Observations:

• At 7:30, the trail teemed with people. There's apparently an early contingent who likes to be out starting at or just after sunrise. Quite a few fewer by 8-8:30 when we finished.
• Given how much stuff I picked up today, someone else must have been doing Naughty Neighbor Patrol all along.  I wonder whether they were out later this morning and being amazed at how clean it all was?
• Last 3 days had minimal stuff and minimal poop, but today, hooboy--so my assumption is that weekends will be the worst for Neighbors being Naughty in their littering and dog-pooping behaviors.
• I'll bet if you put a surveillance camera along the south side on weekends, you could make a zillion bucks in fines for people not picking up after their dogs.  That is a fineable offense, isn't it?

Poop bags: One station empty, one had bags.