Thanks For A Crappy Walk

The other day I decided because the weather was so nice (for March) I would grab my camera, hop in my car and take a drive to my favourite campground at Presqu’ile Provincial Park. I figured I could take some photos of the winter thaw and get a little exercise while I was at it.

It was an overcast day but the winds were calm away from the lake shore and it was quite nice walking through the woods. With my camera in hand I slipped down by the shore to shoot some of the ice formations that were melting and receding due to the increase in temperatures and recent rainfall.

Earlier I had noticed a group of people heading up the snow covered road towards the trails near the group campground. Prior to the natives being allowed into the park the last few years to stalk and kill dozens of friendly and beautiful deer, it was quite common to see the animals feeding in this area and was a major attraction to the park. I guess the lives of some plants are more important than those of living creatures. But I digress.

As I cleared the barrier blocking vehicle access to this area I came across a most disgusting site. It quickly became evident that this was not only a place for people to walk but also an apparent ideal location for dog owners to let their dogs squat and defecate.

What a mess I saw before me. As a former dog owner I was appalled with not only this site but also the fact that these pet owners wouldn’t clean up after their animals. How would they feel if someone let their dog go on their yard? I’m sure these are the same people who don’t flush public restroom toilets and they’re obviously uncouth and uneducated as well.

How hard is it to carry a plastic bag or two in your pocket, use it to grab the crap, turn the bag inside out, tie it in a knot and then drop it in a garbage container? They could accomplish that in less time than it took me to type this sentence.

Back to the scene before me…I counted no less than 14 piles of dog droppings and I’m sure I would have found even more if I’d bothered to walk further along the road.

When did it become OK for pet owners to ignore their responsibilities? Did they just figure because it was winter that the next snowfall would cover it up and nobody would notice? NEWS FLASH…snow melts you idiots! Even if the crap does become covered in snow it will eventually melt and we’re left looking at the same disgusting site. But I suppose since you’re long gone it doesn’t matter.

The downside for dog owners is that regardless of whether or not you pick up after your pet, most people will still look at you as if you could be the guilty one. That’s right…you're guilty until witnessed stooping and scooping and you can blame your fellow animal friendly yet disgusting dog owners for that.

I couldn’t help but wonder how it was that nobody saw these sick buggers and didn’t say anything after they witnessed them not cleaning up their mess. It might be something that comes with age or perhaps you’re born with it but I would have no trouble using my voice to point out the errors of their ways. Sure they can choose to ignore me and I may or may not go over and clean it up, nevertheless you can bet if I knew which car they got out of, I would make sure there was a treat waiting for them on the hood of their vehicle when they returned from walking Fido.

While writing this editorial I came across an interesting albeit descriptive commentary produced by a fellow blogger that I thought you might enjoy. You can view it be clicking here.

Octomom Delivery

By now you've no doubt heard about the woman in the United States who gave birth to eight babies at once to go along with the six she already can't afford to take care of.

OK...I'll stay out of that discussion for now (she might be somewhat unstable in the noodle if you know what I mean).

Any way, as it turns out talk show host Jimmy Kimmel got his hands on the video of the delivery. It was quite the chaotic situation for the doctor.

Musical Interlude

I don't know what it is but for some reason my creative juices have been sadly lacking and my blog has suffered because of it. I just don't have anything on my mind that has me the least bit interested in writing about it.

Sure there's plenty of stuff happening that I could talk about. Lets see...Chris Brown beat singer Rhianna, he was arrested, then released and she took him back. If she's that stupid I can't bother talking about it.

President Obama hasn't done anything overly controversial since taking office. I mean compared to the last guy....Barrack is a member of the Vienna Boys Choir. Hang on...do they allow black guys to sing in that group?

The Russians sent a bomber towards Canada and two Canadian CF-18 fighter jets went and scared it away. Yawn.

The NHL playoffs haven't started yet and we all know the Boston Bruins are going to get upset early after playing over their heads all season.

The Winter Olympics are still a year away so we have some time to wait before we get to see two men cuddle up close and race down an icy track. Seriously...I don't need to see that.

So what is there really to talk about these days? Who knows, maybe next week I'll have lots to get me writing but in the meantime, I thought you might enjoy this musical interlude with Peter, Brian and Stewey from Family Guy.

Not So Mouth Watering

During my recent vacation I ate way too much fast food. It's easy to do when you're traveling for four long days. Then when you're out running errands or shopping and just need to take the hunger edge off, I just stop into a Mickey D's, Wendy's or Burger King and chow down on a burger, fries and pop.

I'm not a breakfast eater so when you hit the road at 4:30am and start to get the hunger pains around 7:30am but don't want to stop too long, the options are limited.

The one thing I did enjoy was the fact that some of the McDonald's locations in the U.S. have what's called the Steak, Egg & Cheese Bagel.

Of course I don't like egg so I'd order it without the rubber chicken extract. Plus removing the egg also reduces the calorie intake from the usual 660 calories of greasy goodness.

The breakfast sandwich has some kind of steak tasting square meaty looking patty, sauteed onions, cheese and the breakfast sauce. I don't know why they won't serve this on the breakfast menu in the Canadian restaurants but if they did I'd likely eat breakfast more often.

Eating on the fly at these fast food joints is quick and easy but of course it isn't the most healthy for you.

Not only does McDonald's have this breakfast steak miracle but apparently they've come out with a new burger that has people flocking to the restaurant for lunch and dinner. I haven't tried it myself yet and to be honest, after seeing the sign advertising it, I don't think it's something I'd find very appetizing. You can judge for yourself. Perhaps you're into eating this type of meal...and who am I to judge.

Sun, Fun, Family and Whales

Will someone please explain to me how it’s possible for time to go by so much faster while you’re on vacation, yet when you’re sitting at work, it seems to take forever for eight hours to tick away?

Oh well, at least I was able to enjoy some time off and help recharge my internal batteries for the last month or so of winter. Not to mention I’d only taken a week’s holidays in the last 12 months so I was feeling quite lethargic to say the least and needed to change things up for a bit.

As it turned out the vacation went very well and I was able to relax. Everyone asks me, “What did you do on vacation” and when I tell them I went to Florida and spent a lot of time doing nothing they can’t figure out why I wasn’t going non-stop all the time.

I was quite content to sit outside in a lawn chair with a magazine, a beverage, my iPod and the warm Florida sunshine shinning down on me. I didn’t need to be on the road every day going all over the State.

That’s not to say I didn’t do a little travelling around or have some fun days away from my lawn chair.

First off I was able to spend some quality time with not only my brother and his wife but I had a chance to see my nephew for the very first time. It’s hard to believe anyone could be cuter than me but this kid might just take away my title.

I hadn’t seen my brother and sister-in-law in over a year and it was nice to spend some time with them. Even at this age I miss not having my brother around sometimes. It would be nice to just call him up and say I’m coming over to have a beer and watch some TV with you but that’s just not possible.

But we did get to spend some time together. We drove up to Tampa one night, ate too much Italian food at Buca di Beppo restaurant. Then it was off to the NHL game at the St. Pete Times Forum with the Tampa Bay Lightning hosting the Montreal Canadiens. Unfortunately the Habs played horrible and lost but the seats were great and the game was entertaining. I always enjoy going to a hockey game in my shorts.

The one thing I always do when I go to Florida is buy clothing. As a big guy, the selection of clothing around home is less than spectacular and I always make it a point to stop by Casual Male in Sarasota where I can drop $200 in no time at all.

Aside from shopping, relaxing and making a couple of visits to the beach, the only other real excursion was to Sea World in Orland. I’d never been there before and I enjoyed it. The admission price was a little steep but I figure it’s something I likely won’t ever do again so why not spend the cash.

I enjoyed the water shows. In particular the Killer Whale (Shamu) and the Dolphin shows were very impressive. I enjoyed getting up close to some of the sharks, stingrays, dolphins and turtles that I normally wouldn’t get a chance to see. It was quite interesting and different from going to Disney or Universal Studios.

Of course the photographer in me had to get out to take some photos so we went down to Myakka River State Park one day. This is my favourite spot to find alligators in the wild. As it turned out it was a good day for them as we saw eight gators in one location and two more in another. They are scary looking creatures. I managed to get pretty close to some of them...probably closer than I should have been. But I managed to get a few good photos.


In the end the vacation was a success. I spent time with family, tanned my gelatinous body and was able to unwind and relax for three weeks. I just hope my next vacation gets here a bit sooner next time.