The Pooping Tree

We have a magic tree at our house.   I’ve named it, “The Pooping Tree”.   Whenever you take the dog out the front door and walk her into the liirope, she walks under the tree and poops.   Not without fail, sometimes she doesn’t have to go on account of she went recently in the house (an occurrence that’s happening less and less).   But for the most part that tree, or maybe the invasive ground covering around and under it, seems to do the trick.

There is more magic that happens too—the poop disappears.   You can see where the dog goes, but when she walks away, even if you’re just on the other end of the leash, a mere few feet away, when you hunker down under the branches, you can’t find it.   It drops down under the blades of grass or blends in with the mulch.   But no matter, by the next morning it’s frozen or dried up and not a danger to being stepped on, smashed into your shoe and unknowingly tracked into the house—at least so far it has.

When we were planning out the landscaping with the landscaping company we worked with while building our house I said I wanted a Japanese Maple prominent in the front yard.   It’s always been a lovely tree in front of the dining room.   Today it's a lovely tree that keeps the dog poop magically off the lawn and underfoot.



The Big Boy Update:  My son got to pick what time he went to sleep last night.  He could stay up and read and turn the light out when he was tired.   This morning he had to get up with a new alarm set in his room and manage his entire morning routine.   He could do things in any order he wanted.   I was a little concerned when I heard him yell, “only nine minutes to go” followed by him running pell mell into the bathroom (still in his pajamas) to brush his teeth.   He had done everything else in advance though and we drove out of the garage exactly at eight o’clock.   He even made his own breakfast.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter was excited Morgan, their sitter for multiple years that went off to college, was coming to spend time with her.   They did many things while she was out, including making chocolate chip cookies.   She brought some home and the rest of her family promptly ate them.