There was a knock at the door today, and the contractors for AT&T said they were here to run the line from the pole on one side of my yard down under the fence, following the right of way that cuts across the middle of the back yard, and to the stanchion in the next door neighbor's yard on the other side. The lines from there go to our individual houses, and one of these days the wiring guys will come finish the connections. Today's guys needed to come in and dig a narrow shallow trench to run the new lines.

I had one of those "ohmygosh!" moments as I looked out over all of the dog poop in the back yard and went out with my bucket and scooping hand tool and spent 30 minutes clearing it before they got onto my side of the fence to do their digging, and I kept scooping as they worked. I think it must be about 6 to 8 weeks worth, and normally after the cold weather it breaks down pretty fast and I wouldn't worry about it staying and sinking into the soil. But when they had to work back there and it was all so apparent, it seemed so rude to leave dog droppings on the ground. My spring compost pile now is a bit taller with all of the droppings I poured onto it.

I had the guys come through the garage and out the side door because my back gate is covered with ice and the walk is as slick as glass. This is the kind of slip and fall hazard one hopes to not have to use homeowner's insurance for. There's no sun in that corner and it will be a couple of more days before we can use that gate. I used the garden hoe to clear ice at the back door again, and I've been mopping up muddy tracks from all of us this afternoon. What is it about mud after ice that makes it so really messy and sticky?

SRS