Dodger barks trash talk

I am an angry dog.
I am a ranting, raving really ticked off dog.
In fact I would say I was angry as a rabid dog, but in Prince Edward County that might get me shot.
Hereʼs why I am so upset. There is nothing better than a spring walk with my buddy Dave. This past week, inspired by my fellow blogger Mr. Terry Sprague, we turned off the TV and headed for the woods for some quiet time with Nature. We just happened to hit the one day this week when we were not inundated with rain It was a beautiful morning when the warmth of the sun held the promise of the summer to come.
We spent the morning roaming the woods between East Lake and and Lake Ontario. A quiet bay at the south end of East Lake was alive with Mute swans. Iʼm not sure why they are called “ Mute” because they hiss and snort and appear angrier than a Michael Vick pit bull with a burr up his ass. They chased me out of the water, but they are so beautiful I couldnʼt hate them.
From the lake we wandered through a silent sugar bush. A few short weeks ago it was alive with the frenetic gathering of sap. This day it was still, except for the rustle of a breeze passing across a forest floor covered with wild flowers. There is nothing more beautiful than the first wild blooms of spring with their delicate blossoms – soft pastels smears against the remnants of winter. Pink and white blood root unfold through tightly curled leaves. Soft yellow trout lilies peer shyly beneath a layer of decaying leaves. Brilliant red trilliums emerge along the stump of a fallen maple branch. Pale purple and white hepatica lay in carpets in the mottled shadows.
My buddy Dave said the sugar bush in spring reminds him of a Robert Frost poem.
Nature’s first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf’s a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.
Well I donʼt know Robert Frost from frost bite, but what I do know is that our day sank to grief because we left the sugar bush and decided to take a walk on one
of favorite trails, a path in Picton just off Barker street called Rabbit Run.
A new subdivision is being built on Jasper Ave adjacent to the trail. What shocked us as we started our walk was the garbage. Everywhere we looked we found garbage; paint cans, tires, lawn furniture, pink insulation, plastic wrappers, beer cans, fast food containers, construction materials, green garbage bags full of house waste. This is in the Picton town limits! This did not take place in a third world country. This did not take place in butt- crack Arkansas!! This took place in my town. That is why I am so frigginʼ angry.
The first rule of Dogdom is DONʼT DUMP ON YOUR OWN DOORSTEP. But for some reason humans seem to ignore this principle. Less than 100 meters from the local elementary school was a cesspool of human waste. No dog would every desecrate his home like this.
So whoʼs to blame for this mess?
Well number one, and most obvious, is the construction company on Jasper Ave, whose waste material has blown everywhere. One of the crew could clean up the mess in less than an hour, but the builder is too cheap to spend money on this. Number two, I blame county council for not sending staff into this dump zone that exists a few blocks off Main street. This is the same council that finds money to bail out the Wellington arena but cannot clean up its own streets. Thank Dog for
Owen or we would be choking on debris. But most of all I blame the skinflints that are too cheap to buy a bag tag. The garbage left lying around Prince Edward County is not left by poor people. it is left by those creeps who are too cheap to pay for their own waste.
What is cheap?? Cheap is not frugal. Frugal is looking out for oneʼs resources in a responsible manner. Cheap is selfish,mean and irresponsible. Here are a few examples of cheap that I see in our community. Some of you will raise your eyes and say “ no way that happens in our town”, but ask any one who works in retail or the service industry and they will tell you this takes place in The County everyday.
Cheap is:
– cheap is buying a party dress at Seeleyʼs ,wearing it for the evening and returning it the next day.
– cheap is eating an entire meal at Currahʼs and then complaining that the food was cold and expecting to get a discount.
– cheap is taking your party of 15 to the Waring House for supper and leaving the staff a 5% tip.
– cheap is having a contractor do renovations and then refusing to pay because you donʼt like the work – even though you supervised the entire process.
– cheap is eating at a buffet and stuffing your pockets with food before leaving.
– cheap is buying a snowblower at Canadian Tire and taking back at the end of the season because it doesnʼt work.
– cheap is buying deck stain at Home Hardware, using it on the deck and then filling the can with water and taking it back for a refund.
– AND most of all cheap is dumping garage in the street or a country lane or a playground.
We have a rare opportunity in this community to experience the wonders of a countryside not yet destroyed by commerce or apathy. We get to choose spring flowers or paint cans. Each time we permit, through our silence or indifference, someone to desecrate our home we have made a choice.
Iʼm only a dog, but if I had kids, who were going to inherit this planet, I would be really ticked at those who are dumping on my legacy.
PS:
If you want to really appreciate the beauty of this County make sure to check out fellow bloggers Terry Sprague and Don McClure. Also go to a great web page called Wild Flowers of Prince Edward County compiled by Court Noxon.