Mon, May 15 2006

Lawns with jugs

I often take walks in our neighborhood, venturing now and then to a section of streets that are tucked in opposite a nearby elementary school. Other than varying my basic route I find little to do to pass the time except look at things. On occasion I play pedestrian games in which I count cats, dogs, or the number of driveways with cars sitting in them. At some point I began to notice milk jugs sitting at equally spaced intervals on a front lawns of a home, each jug partially filled with water and capped. I brought up the topic with an older friend one day. He said that all he had heard was that the jugs of water discouraged cats from using a well-manicured lawn as a kitty latrine. He was in doubt as to the wisdom of believing such a thing would work.

Then I ran across a note on The Straight Dope, in which the jugs are mentioned as a dog deterrent. Even if the treatment doesn't work, I feel better knowing it's an animal-related thing. I was getting nervous when I took walks and the phenomenon seemed to be spreading from lawn to lawn on one particular street. I had envisioned some idol-inspired offering to a group of dehydrated space aliens, complete with a command to get out there and make believers out of the neighbors.

posted at: 15:32 | category: /Miscellaneous | link to this entry