What a jerk...

It's amazing the people you'll bump into on a given day. My folks have lived in West Omaha for approximately 24 years now. We have two Siberian Huskies, who are both 6 years old. Before today, I have had only one odd/bad encounter when walking my dogs, who are extremely active and need 2-4 walks per day. There's a very large horsetrail behind the house, so my mother, father, and/or I have utilized it for 6 years to walk the dogs. I've begun to utilize it for jogging purposes in recent weeks. The only bad encounter I had while on the horsetrail was last summer, when a crabby old man yelled at my mother and I, because he thought we were teasing the dog next door to him with our dogs. He said he'd been watching me for the previous six months (scary, I know) and knew what I was trying to do, tease the dog next door. He was obviously on his period and later apologized...to my mother, never to me.

That brings me to today (yesterday, I guess). Right as my mother and I were walking the dogs back home, we bumped into a guy, whom I don't believe I've ever met before. He said in a high-pitched, almost friendly tone of voice, "You're from ......, right?" My mother, thinking that perhaps he had just moved here and was being friendly/neighborly, said, "Yes, we are." He then went into his schpiel, "This trail is for .... residents only. We pay a lot of money for the up-keep." My mom and I kind of laughed and walked back to our house. He then shouted, "This isn't funny. We don't walk in your backyard. You don't walk in ours. I'll call the police next time I see you back here."

I love people with giant logs stuck in their bottom. While the old man last year was not pleasant in any sense of the word, he didn't make the claim that we couldn't walk our dogs there. This guy had a very deceiving voice. It was reminiscent of that of Justin Timberlake getting kicked in the crotch. But, once his initial question was answered, he was off and rolling. It's amazing how a trail can separate two neighborhoods, be closer to one of those neighborhoods and yet be a crime for those citizens to utilize it in any manner. The only sign I see on the entire trail is that unauthorized vehicles may not be used. I don't consider my dogs to be vehicles, so I have no idea what this guy was yabbering about. Oddly enough, there are some people on the OTHER side of the trail who drive their unauthorized vehicles through the trail, but it's evidently THEIR trail, so that's permitted.

We told my father when we walked back in and he had a laugh also. Why, after 6+ years of walking the dogs back there, does this guy find the nerve to say something when he bumps into us? If it TRULY bothered him, why did he not contact us in the 2,190 days before this? It's not like we're the only ones in the neighbordhood utilizing THEIR trail. I know (counts...this could take a while) at least six other families that either walk, jog, or walk their dogs on the trail every now and again. My father responded by saying, "Keep on using it. Let him call the police. I'm sure they'd love that."

Yes, I'm sure they would. Robberies, rapes, murders, theft, amongst other crimes being committed and let's go after this person walking his dogs in a horsetrail. What would the charge be? Trespassing? Nowhere do I see it say private property and no sign reads anything but no unauthorized vehicles. My family and I will inquire further about this, but until the guy shows me documented evidence of what he claims to be the legal truth, I'm not going to stop walking my dogs. There were a few things I wanted to say to him, but I'm glad that I kept my mouth shut and just laughed. What a jerk... He obviously never watched Mr. Rogers. Heck, if Mr. Rogers were still alive, after he finished his song (Won't you please be my neighbor?), he may point to this guy and say, "except for you."