My parents live a couple of blocks away from us. My dad is the morning dog walker, and tends to stick to the same route each day. 

Like responsible dog owners everywhere, no one in our family goes for a walk without a decent collection of 'poop bags' in their coat pocket.

 There is a certain amount of planning that must go into the number of bags you take along for a walk. Factor in the obvious, the poop. Multiply by two, just in case. (Just in case is directly proportional to how much time Molly has spent in the yard eating bird seed or rotten crab apples.) Then consider whether or not you still have bags from the last walk, and whether or not the structural integrity of said bags is intact. Sometimes you have to double bag. And sometimes you find that out the hard way. 

Other times, you use the bags to pick up trash along your walk route. People litter, even though there are a bunch of trash cans along the route that Dad takes through Fulton Place Park. 

Being a retired high school principal, and knowing how lackadaisical teenagers can be about their environment, dad mutters about 'those kids' and picks up cans, bottles etc to drop in the garbage.

For the past 6 months or so, Dad has been finding the exact same green can in the exact same place, every morning. So, every morning, he picks up the can and puts it in the garbage.

Curiosity got the better of him. Who could be leaving this same can every day? It seemed too early for it to be one of the kids in the neighborhood, so he figured it had to be an adult. 

So, every morning dad left the house a bit earlier, to see if he could find out who was dropping this can out of their car, or on the way to the bus stop. 10 minutes earlier, 15 minutes earlier, 20 minutes earlier and no luck.

Mother Nature threw him a bone this week, as we had some snow. One of those snowy mornings Dad saw the can lying in it's usual spot. No footprints in the snow, but car tire tracks. Dad picked up the can, and followed the tracks to the car. And carefully placed the green can on top of the car's antenna.

Later on, he found the can discarded close to where the car was parked. Success!

Not content with that, Dad decided to play detective. He went out even earlier the next morning, and set up a stakeout. Oh yes, he did. He hid behind the climbing wall at the splash park, lying in wait for the driver of the car. (Keep in mind all of this detective work is being done while walking Molly!) As soon as he heard the telltale 'thunk' of the can hitting the ground, Dad went over and picked it up. Then he knocked on the door of the car, and said "I think you dropped something back there.Is this yours?"

The owner of the car seemed a bit flustered when Dad asked him this, and sputtered a bit when Dad explained that the community takes pride in keeping things clean and safe for the kids of the neighborhood. When he was finally able to speak, the gentleman told dad that he wants the kids to stay safe too, as he works at the Fulton Daycare. Mr Daycare went on to explain why he had been tossing the can out of his car every day.

"I've been leaving them for the homeless guy that picks them up every day."

When the reality of the statement sunk in for both of them, Dad explained that HE was the one picking the can up every day and he certainly wasn't homeless. Mr Daycare said he had put the first can in the garbage just as the real homeless guy was making his rounds and thought he would just leave them out for him every day instead. After a good chuckle, Mr Daycare told Dad he would now put the cans in the trash.

Mystery solved.

On that note, my dad has a new contract starting with the City of Edmonton, so he won't have quite so much time on his hands. That's probably a good thing.