Fermenting pumpkins + St. Bernard = Dis-ass-ter
The dog exploded in the house again overnight. Michael took little Michael out into the kitchen to have breakfast and quickly returned, an angry, shocked look on his face. "AGAIN!" he said. "Oh NO, not the dog?!" I asked. "YES!" he said, "In front of the back door! Again!" I took care of kidlet while he hauled out the carpet cleaner and swore a lot. Stupid carpeted room. Why couldn't she spray liquid shit on the linoleum?
When I went outside to put her in her kennel I saw the culprit - she's been getting into the compost heap. Her tracks led right up to it, apparently she made herself comfy lying down with her face right IN it and just tucked in. I think she ate one of the frozen pumpkins from our front porch, which would explain all the fiber making her poo. Stupid dog.
I called Michael once I got to work (he's home with kidlet today, daycare is closed for MLK Day) and told him what was causing the trouble with the dog. When we built the enclosure for the pile we left a little opening in it, thinking the dog wouldn't have any interest in rotting vegetables. Now it looks like we'll have to close it off so she can't get at it any more. This is starting to make one of those $300 compost tumblers look really attractive.
Speaking of composting, I went out to the pile the other day to add a few buckets of scraps I had been collecting the last month. It rained Friday and Saturday and was in the high 40s, so most of the snow had melted and I could get to it (as could the dog, apparently). What was once a 2' high pile was nearly flattened, it was almost a depression. Cool! Poking through it with a stick I could see that the snow had saturated the lawn clippings, fallen leaves, and all of the kitchen scraps and reduced them to nearly nothing. The earth under the top leaf layer was rich and brown. Man, that composting works fast. Beside the enclosure was the huge pile of raked leaves and lawn clippings awaiting layering on the pile, and even that was less than a third of its original height. I dug into it with my hands and found that it was wet on top, had a frost layer about two inches down, and then beneath that was virtually dry. It was really neat. I can't wait until kidlet is old enough that I can show this to him. I also can't wait until Spring when I can use my lovely rich compost on my garden.
As long as I keep the dog out so she doesn't eat it all and spray it all over our house, that is.
When I went outside to put her in her kennel I saw the culprit - she's been getting into the compost heap. Her tracks led right up to it, apparently she made herself comfy lying down with her face right IN it and just tucked in. I think she ate one of the frozen pumpkins from our front porch, which would explain all the fiber making her poo. Stupid dog.
I called Michael once I got to work (he's home with kidlet today, daycare is closed for MLK Day) and told him what was causing the trouble with the dog. When we built the enclosure for the pile we left a little opening in it, thinking the dog wouldn't have any interest in rotting vegetables. Now it looks like we'll have to close it off so she can't get at it any more. This is starting to make one of those $300 compost tumblers look really attractive.
Speaking of composting, I went out to the pile the other day to add a few buckets of scraps I had been collecting the last month. It rained Friday and Saturday and was in the high 40s, so most of the snow had melted and I could get to it (as could the dog, apparently). What was once a 2' high pile was nearly flattened, it was almost a depression. Cool! Poking through it with a stick I could see that the snow had saturated the lawn clippings, fallen leaves, and all of the kitchen scraps and reduced them to nearly nothing. The earth under the top leaf layer was rich and brown. Man, that composting works fast. Beside the enclosure was the huge pile of raked leaves and lawn clippings awaiting layering on the pile, and even that was less than a third of its original height. I dug into it with my hands and found that it was wet on top, had a frost layer about two inches down, and then beneath that was virtually dry. It was really neat. I can't wait until kidlet is old enough that I can show this to him. I also can't wait until Spring when I can use my lovely rich compost on my garden.
As long as I keep the dog out so she doesn't eat it all and spray it all over our house, that is.
posted by Jen at
8:58 PM
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