Rude people suck!

Today I went outside in the late morning to find that for the 5th time in less than 4 days someone has left dog poop at our house. Usually they leave it on the median strip out front (the grassy area between the sidewalk and the street), but this time they let their dog walk about 8 feet up the driveway then about 2 feet onto the lawn. The nerve! It happens several times per week but this is a new record. We live in a neighborhood with lots of dogs, and it is a problem for everyone but we get it much worse than anyone else. I think people just look at the house and it doesn't look good so they think it's okay to leave it there. By the way, we live in an area where it is a fineable offense not to pick up after doggy. Nice. The funny thing is, the place had nobody living in it for a while before we purchased it, and the guy that owned it before us was a slob! There were junked cars everywhere and piles of trash strewn all around. But the dog poop leaving has gotten worse since we moved in. I really think it is symptomatic of the "anything goes as long as you don't get caught" mentality in the US today. It is very disheartening.

The dog poop leaving has become such a problem we've decided to change our landscaping plan. We were going to leave the median grassy and just have plants bordering the front lawn. No anymore! We are paving over the median strip and fencing the front lawn. I hope those disgusting, inconsiderate sub-human slobs are pleased with themselves. The neighborhood has lost some grass and open space.

One small benefit is that it has helped me decide which house project to tackle next. We have to address the front - even if just temporarily to get this problem under control. I went to Home Depot (no weekend is complete without a trip there!) to look at paving stones and cheap, temporary fencing. I just need to get the yard contained immediately and fencing, like all things house, is a complex choice.

I found some plastic mesh and wood stakes and was able to get material to temporarily fence the yard for about $30. It won't look great, but it will keep the dog-poop-leavers' dogs off the lawn until we can get nicer fencing. I also looked at pavers, and unfortunately couldn't find anything I could do for under $500. This is way too much for a temporary fix, so when I got home I started looking online for concrete solutions since we've now worked with it and it is cheap. I found molds that let you make your own pavers, but after buying the molds, concrete and some tooks, it would still be quite expensive and very labor intensive. We could also easily make our own square or rectangular molds, but it will be labor intensive no matter what. So, I'm not sure what to do. I am going to hit a few stone yards this week and a salvage yard to see if I can find a cheap and simple quick fix. But if I can't find anything, then I may just invest in slate or flagstone and C and I can lay it. Ultimately, it's what we want out front anyway, and the median strip is probably a good place to learn. We'll see.