Confession.  For the past several months I had my dog Ollie do his business in the back yard.  Every few days I would walk through the grass with a claw-mechanism pooper scooper and a bucket double-lined with plastic bags to collect and dispose of all his piles of earthly delight.

However, partially due to a dumbass bird situation, and partially because we are trying to get some grass to grow on a large hunk of the yard, I’ve been taking Ollie for walks.   I used to take him for nighttime walks at ShesAllWrite’s place in Chicago.  Her old neighborhood, though a tad on the dicey side, was well-lit by sodium vapor streetlights.  It’s a lot darker in my neighborhood.

Tonight, ShesAllWrite and I took Ollie for a walk, and he did his business.  I honestly wasn’t looking SUPER closely at where he dropped his doody.  Being a good neighbor, I had about seventeen plastic grocery bags stuffed in the lower-left pocket of my camo cargo shorts.  But I didn’t know exactly where the stuff I had to pick up was.

I tried shining the display of my phone in the general direction of where the package had been dropped, but couldn’t find it.  The grass was glistening from a recent rain, which made finding a shiny piece of poo that much more difficult.  I gingerly walked in the grass.  “Be careful,”  ShesAllWrite warned.

The scent of the doody gradually wafted up and into my nostrils. Oh, yes.  I was close.

I got the idea to use my smartphone camera’s flash to find what I was searching for.  After several pictures, EUREKA!  Land, ho!  Mr. Watson!  Come here!  I need you!

I bagged the crap and threw it in the trash.  I got home, plugged in my phone, and began to pull down my photos of the day.  The last pictures were the ones I had taken to locate Ollie’s leavings.  So, of course I made an animated GIF of the pictures.  You’re welcome!