Oh, Poop

Spring is an interesting time.

For six months I have been able to forget that I have a yard. Suddenly I am confronted with last fall's leaves, abandoned toys, and scum-covered grass.

Furthermore, while winter's snow helped me forget the unaddressed doggie poo that has accumumlated since mid-November, April's mostly-above-freezing temperatures has startled me to reality.

In much the same way that my internal agonies are being laid bare (see previous post), so are Juneau and Seamus' various "businesses."

While most of our snow has melted (including the inch we woke up to on Monday morning), the pile in the "dog yard" is still large, and peppered with doggie bombs. It's sufficiently bad that Juneau and Seamus both refuse to go there. (Good for them! - they're smarter than I thought!)

This, however, does cause problems. Especially when, out of an instinctual aversion, business is attended to indoors.

So, while Bruce is spent a day and a night in Dillingham (an Alaskan fishing haven - sadly, he isn't there to fish), I scratched my head and thoughtfully stroked my chin while studying the problem.

What with the daytime temps reaching a scorching 47, I determined it was the perfect day to re-hookup the hose. That accomplished, I aimed at the imposing and nauseating mound of tainted snow in the dog yard, and let loose a powerful stream of water.

I learned a few things:

* Beware of back-splash

* Half-year-old poo is satisfyingly structurally unstable

* Melting snow is surprisingly porous and absorbant (hooray!)

* Darn-it if standing half-an-hour squirting water at a mound of icy poop didn't actually make a difference!

* The dogs aren't fooled, and still won't go back there (Good for them! - they're way smarter than I thought!)

Give me a few more 47 degree days (not in the forecast, incidently), and we might make some progress. Meanwhile, the Bissell is primed and pumped for on-demand carpet cleaning.

Happy Spring cleaning to you, too!