8:25 PM
| Sunrise at | 6:06 AM | in direction | 62° | East-northeast |  |
| Sunset at | 9:36 PM | in direction | 299° | West-northwest |  |
It's a doberman's life, actually.
I don't know what it would be like for dogs not nearly as fussy. The back yard faces northwest. The sun does not shine upon the section just off the deck and steps down into the fenced yard until late afternoon. While snow is melting everywhere else, the extra snow piled up off the deck and steps is not. But it is soft and the dogs can sink down into it, and the many layers of dog poop that accumulated over the winter.
Sadly, between November and February a whole lot of dog "leavings", as my mother would say, accumulates in the back yard - and especially right near the steps when the snow is shoveled. This yearly sedimentary activity is precipitated by several circumstances. First, we work all day and by the time we get home, it is usually too dark, and often not especially comfortable to go out and try to gather what poop we can see. Then if it snows regularly, even if not deeply, the previous layer is covered by snow and is not visible during the daylight hours of the weekend, so only the visible feces gets scooped. Finally, we shovel as much of the snow as we can off the sides of the deck and away from the back where the dogs go, but inevitably, it is not possible to do that totally. What isn't covered by new snow, can be covered by what we shovel off the deck in certain places.
The dogs, being practical creatures, do not care to stray far into the yard when it is 40F below. They stay within 20 feet or so of the back deck where it is easy to see in the light of the back porch. That is especially the case for our oldest who is completely blind in one eye and is developing cataracts in the other. If it snows before we scoop a layer of dog feces out of the yard, they are more than content to use the same spot. The result is layers frozen dog poop stratify in the back yard. I think of it as the sedimentary layers of earth deposited along alluvial plains, or successive layers of lava flow.
Every other day or so, this time of year, a new fecal layer will be exposed. Every other day or so, you will find me out in the back yard attempting to gather up months of poop before it becomes granular. This is not always a successful venture, but I keep at it - know a new layer will be exposed within a day or so. Then the bags of doggy do are carried out in front by the garage where I add them to a garbage bag that will be hauled to the transfer station and from there to the land fill. I keep wondering if I should be digging deep holes in summer where I can deposit poop through the year instead of adding mounds of it to our city's waste, but for now, that is what happens to it.
Also about this time of year, as I am trying my best to clean up the yard before it gets too soggy and hard to clean, the dogs become loathe to walk back there. They sink in, as I mentioned before. The melt water frequently accumulates along the frozen surface of the ground, pooling beneath the snow surface. As it pools, it mixes with any dog poo I haven't yet found, fetid leaves, dead grass, and urine.
The dogs don't want to walk in it. It's a fact. There is a day each break up where all three stand on the back steps looking out across the yard, bladders aching and bowels full, without their making a move to relieve themselves. Fortunately for us, this coincides with it being nearly dry in the driveway so we start to take them out in front to relieve themselves. They enjoy it and I enjoy the fact they are going into the trees in the open yard around our house and I don't need to clean up after them.
For our oldest girl, however, this spring venture is becoming harder. Her left rear leg is stiffening and she swings her hip in a limp because of that crippling leg. As she climbed up the stairs yesterday, which are like most outdoor deck stairs, open in back, she slipped through. She almost fell back down the stairs but Gary was watching and raced down to catch her and support her before she was hurt even more. Today she could not move anywhere without yelping. If she were on her bed, she couldn't raise or lower or head. If we tried to help her get up, she'd yelp the minute we touched her back or stomach.
Our vet gave her a cortisone shot and some heavy duty pain killers. They are working because she is moving without crying in pain, but she is not going to be going up and down those stairs easily. I think I will probably have clean up detail on the deck a few times until she is better.
It's a dog owner's life.
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