Wednesday, March 17, 2010

The Smell of Poo in the Spring

The mud. It is epic. It is never-ending.

Our five-foot tall snowdrifts are finally melting, but there is nowhere for the water to go. The land around here isn't used to a lot of moisture, and it is more like dirt than soil. Prairie grass is not known for holding the ground together when it is drenched.

Needless to say, we are knee deep in slippery, snotty, tenacious mud.

The car cannot make it to the house. The mud goes more than halfway up the tires of the truck, and there is one section of road that has ruts at least three feet deep. It has been iffy, getting from the highway to the house, even in four-wheel-drive.

The drifts are still a good 2-3 feet high. We aren't even close to the other side of this yet.

++++

The winds this year were just so that our backyard is ENTIRELY drifted in, up PAST the top of the doghouse. We've had to dig paths out for the dogs so they can get around and get to the doghouse. Buster now uses the drifts to get on top of the dog house to lay in the sun. That has always been Belle's favorite spot and a surefire way to get away from Buster for a while. Now I find them sitting up there together, watching the hills.

The thing is, not only is the backyard going to be the most hideously muddy pit once this finally melts, it is also going to be full of poo. Currently, there are layers of poo strata in those drifts, results of storm after storm after storm. (And forget about trying to pick up poo frozen to the snow. It just doesn't work very well.) Eventually, this is all going to have to be dealt with, in one stinky, soggy, hideous mess.

OH. MY. GOD. 

Usually the wind blows the snow away and we have very little melt to deal with. We can attend to the poo in the backyard regularly, and it isn't an issue.

OH. MY. GOD.

I haven't the foggiest idea how to deal with this. I mean, the actual logistics of such an operation.

Thank goodness we most likely have a few more weeks to figure it out.

Suggestions?

12 comments:

  1. I say call it "organic fertilizer" and let it soak into the yard. I'm all about the "cover your eyes and pretend not to see it" method of dealing will gross messes.

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  2. well i THOUGHT i was going to be all helpful and direct you here: http://www.poop-scoops.com/

    ...but you're in wyoming, right? there appear to be, uh, zero companies in wyoming that pick up poo for you.

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  3. A shovel and a pair of giant, thigh-high rubber boots?

    It is amazing to me, I must say, that you live so close to me and yet your weather is SO. DIFFERENT.

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  4. You know, people always poo-poo us (pun intended) for living in the city where we have to pick up after our dogs while walking them. But, you know what? I always wondered what the eff they do when they let their dogs poo all over their suburban backyards without ever picking it up. Personally, I think I'd rather pick up after my dog a little at a time ... which, therefore, renders me useless to help answer your question. I'm such a waste.

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  5. I'm with Erica - it'll make great fertilizer! Cover it up with a bunch of top soil, throw some wildflower seeds on top and BAM, you'll have gorgeous spring blossoms ;-)

    Wow. I can't even imagine...

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  6. Forget the delicate handtrowel. Use a snow shovel and a garbage pail and just take up the entire top layer.

    That's what our neighbor did when he had eleven (11) (!!!) dogs and got a little behind with the cleanup during one of our massive December storms.

    Or, pray that the snow melts in 1 m x 1 m sections at a time, and clean as it melts.

    On a related note, every year about this time I dream of running along meltening trails, and every where I rest my eyes are perfect preserved chunks of dog turd.

    Either way, I feel your pain.

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  7. Um... Cry? Burn the whole place down and start again?

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  8. Oh my goodness...you poor thing. Make the hubs seal with it? Ah ha ha

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