March 6 - why I write

I finished my pages yesterday. The sun was out. There was a brisk wind, but the air had warmed, melted most of the snow. Puddles formed on the ice covered lake and I thought. Let's go outside. You see the dog yard hadn't been properly mucked out since it froze in December. Oh, we've tried to keep on top of it-so to speak-but with weeks of snow and ice most of it was frozen to the ground. I tried chopping it out once-but gave up and went in.

Now-now it was thawed. So, I pulled on a pair of old jeans, a jacket, gloves and rubber coated boats and headed out. Yay sunshine. I start raking. Nice. Ripe smell. Glad I didn't eat lunch. After an hour I was sweaty, covered in...well... muck, had raked 13 piles into 8 plastic grocery bags-which then went into one giant 30 gallon bag. That I managed to drag-that sucker must have weighed close to 100 pounds... yeah- to the side of the house.

Meanwhile the dogs laid on the dry deck sunning themselves and laughing behind their paws. Don't get too close, they said. You stink.

Lessons learned:

1) Poo really does roll down hill.
2) If you're going to muck-stand up hill.
3) Don't expect those who create the muck to help you clean it up.
4) Mucking is a chore best not to procrastinate about.

As for me, it was a nice reminder why I'm a writer- and not a rancher, dairy farmer, zoo keeper, pig wrangler or dog walker. Cheers!