The Perils of Geocaching (or Duck! Duck! Goose!)

If geocaching is supposed to be my new hobby, I thought I'd better go out and actually find a cache or two. Friday was a beautiful day -- temps around 72 degrees, sunny, and just one of those "gee it's good to be alive" days. So I jumped in the truck and set off for Livingston.

My first stop was a cemetery with an "easy" cache. Right. After wandering around, looking like a fool as I carefully examined all sorts of graves, trees, and bushes, I just couldn't find it. If this is easy, I may need a new hobby! So I drove on to Pedigo Park, where another was located in an area where one could "sit and watch all the ducks."

Pedigo Park is a lovely municipal park, with a fish lake, ball field, and a monthly flea market. This time of year, there is also a drive-through display of lighted santas, horse drawn carriages, snow people, toys, and the like. I parked, and found the small paved path that leads to the lake and the benches where, as the cache description stated, I could "sit and watch all the ducks." In the first photo, the benches are under the trees at the end of the path, beyond the goose. I'm sure you are now asking, "but why is there a goose standing on the path?"

There is a goose standing on the path because he flapped out of the lake a minute after I sat on the bench. He stood there staring at me, making aggressive neck thrusts and occasionally flapping his wings. I hadn't found the cache, but he was making it difficult to look, so I started back down the path towards my car. He followed. I moved. He moved. A couple times he started coming towards me, neck either held high or low and stalking. He charged a couple times and then backed off. Once when he charged I dropped the GPS receiver (you can see it on the ground in the photo), and I had to wait until he retreated somewhat to get it. Of course, when I went forward to get the GPS he charged me again.

He seemed to really get ticked off if I bent lower to the ground, which I was doing when he charged once more. I quickly turned to leave, being quite tired of Sheriff Goose running me out of town, but this time he didn't back off the charge and got the back of my leg with his beak. I did report the incident to the park office, and they will have someone investigate. Maybe they'll invite me for a goose dinner one night.