Kip’s Comments - October 28, 2025

Definition: Poo Magnet

According to a slang dictionary, a “Poo Magnet” is: “Any person, in which trouble and drama, follows them everywhere they go.”

Right or wrong, I have had a sizable number of friends, family, coworkers, and others insinuate that I might be a “poo magnet” (only they use stronger wording). I don’t agree with them, thinking instead I just happen to come across an unusually high number of unusual situations most people would never see.

For example, yesterday I found a vehicle in a deep ditch (no persons found) that had not been reported to county dispatch. Then a couple of hours later I kicked up a whitetail buck that jumped off a high ledge (falling several stories) and appeared to be dead, but then got up and walked away almost a half-hour later. (How many have witnessed that?)

Today my magnetism took me to a fox squirrel I found at our cabin that was moving irregularly, when it moved - which was not often. At first I thought maybe it was sick and should be dispatched. Then, after studying the squirrel with a long lens at close range, I could see it was suffering from numerous puncture wounds on both sides of its torso.

Injured Fox Squirrel - Image 1039363

My amateur guess is that the squirrel danced at death’s door when an owl, hawk, or eagle grasped it in their talons, only to later drop the squirrel allowing for an escape of what was going to be a bird meal. For sure the squirrel’s right front leg area is injured in addition to the many puncture wounds.

I don’t know if frequent odd incidents qualifies a person as a “poo magnet” or not, but they do make for an interesting life.

Now for something completely different… I photographed this so-called “poo magnet” paddling on the Wapsipinicon River before the rain today. With a little editing I made the image less detailed and a bit more painterly.

Canoeing on Wapsipinicon River in Autumn - Image 1039442