Like a plague of locusts they came

[treeskin]

The catholic high school next door (St Thomas Aquinas) uses our west fields (which includes my tree trail) to host at least one regional cross country meet every fall. Middle school cross country meet. There are hundreds of the little buggers all over the place, with parents in tow, dropping gum wrappers and coffee cups and programs in the grass and fences and shrubbery. I spent about 90 minutes picking up the loose trash after they left at noon. Took 3 people and two loads to pick up the trash they bagged and left in a pile.

I'd be less cranky about the whole business if we knew ahead of time when these events were scheduled. I had planned on spraying out there this morning, but noooooo, can't do that, might hurt someone's little Johnson County Princess. (Don't I wish!)

And to top it all off, I caught nine of the brats from Shawnee Mission East lining up to pee on my new trees! I approached their coach about it, and she started in on me about how WE (JCCC) don't provide enough sanitary facilities. It's not OUR event. So, I went to the head guy for Aquinas and asked him to remind the coaches in attendance that public urination was not considered acceptable behavior at JCCC, no matter how long the line at the port-a-potties. (Which, for the record, wasn't that long. 3 or 4 people. I checked.)

Grrrrrrrr.

Can't pick the old, 3-foot-diameter cottonwood tree to pee on, noooooo, they had to use my 2' tall and 1/2" diameter sassafras trees.

What kind of parents and coaches teach the young people in their care that this behavior is appropriate?

Comments

Re: Hey now..........

[treeskin.livejournal.com]

Yes dear, but you and Andrew are the blinding exceptions upon which we pin our good hopes. He's one of the few kids I'm looking forward to seeing as a 13-yr-old.

I'm afraid my nephew will probably be one of the ones peeing on newly-planted trees.