Carefull, poop on there...

(note - the title comes from my all-time favorite "best of craigslist" post).

Last week, there was a brief respite in the freezing cold weather that's been plauging Baltimore for the last few months, which meant that the layer of snow and ice on the tiny patch of grass in front of my suburban townhouse melted. And as a result of that melting, I've discovered that there is a rather generous amount of fecal matter on my front lawn, presumably of the canine variety. It's probably fairly recent, too, since I scooped up the last batch in late fall when I raked my leaves.

Which is odd, since I don't have a dog, just a cute but occasionally homicidal indoor cat. However, my next-door neighbors - the occasionally drunk 20-somethings - have three - a giant collie, a wiener dog, and some other dog whose breed I can't remember. So I suspect that the poop is a result of them.

This irritates me for a number of reasons. While I'm not the perfect neighbor, I can honestly say that I am not responsible for causing the deposition of any fecal matter on anyone's lawn. Right now, though, I'm that guy with all the dog shit in my yard, and at some point I need to go outside and scoop dog shit off my lawn, despite not, you know, owning a dog.

I know - it's not a big deal, it's only a couple minutes, and I should probably avoid saying "it's the principle of thing", because most of the time when people say that it's because they are in the process of overreacting and doing something ridiculous.

Still, I'm a big believer in individual property rights, and that means showing a certain amount of respect to other people's property, and not shitting on it by proxy.

The thing is that while I suspect the poop is neighbor-related - they have a bunch of dogs, and I've seen them on my lawn before - I can't prove it's theirs. It could be someone else's dog, or from a stray. So confronting them about it - or piling it in a paper bag, setting it on fire, and leaving it on their doorstep - really aren't options.

So I guess I should add dog-poop removal to my weekend to-do list.