Adventures in Rural Living

Birth of a Scare Goose

It may be a small achievement, but sometimes they are the best kind. Beginning last year, and reoccurring this spring, a pair of (love birds?) geese had frequented my swimming pool early each morning. When I first noticed them out my bedroom window I was mildly amused. The amusement stopped when I discovered the mess they were making on their daily stop to swim.

For a time I would go outside to chase them off, but that required me to get up earlier than planned, and know the time they would arrive. That strategy proved to be unsuccessful, and then they disappeared until this Spring.

I began to observe that they arrived at first light, which, at the time, was about 6 am sharp. One morning I set the alarm for just before 6, then tried to hide on the porch, to spring out and scare the geese.They approached on schedule, honking loudly, but just as their feet hit the water they relaunched, taking off again even before I could react. I guessed they had seen me and were scared away.

That was the origin of my “scare goose” plan. (See photo above.) I built and installed, possibly the world’s first scare goose, which has worked perfectly ever since. Now that June has arrived the scare goose has been put in storage for next Spring. I’ll be curious if my wild friends will try to return, but for now, it’s good to feel the success of a clean pool for the summer swimming season.

Share Your Own Experiences If any of you have similar tales of solving every day problems with innovative solutions, please email your stories so I can share them.