The Poop Jar

Dogs poop.

Under normal circumstances, picking up, containing & disposing of the poop is no big deal.
When you're hiking, though, the options are few and none is ideal:

1) Let it drop and pretend you didn't see it.   This is also referred to as "Not an option".

2) Pick it up, and leave the bag on the side of the trail with the intent of picking it up on the way back.  Aside from the obvious fact that this only works for an out-and-back hike, it has got to get really old for people without dogs who are on the same trail.  I wouldn't like to see someone's kid's discarded dirty diaper on the side of the trail, so why should someone have to look at my poop bag?

3) Pick it up, and put it inside of another bag, and then a ziplock bag, and then maybe another ziplock bag, and put it in your backpack, hopefully nowhere near your lunch. You spend the rest of the hike really, really, really hoping nothing else in your backpack pokes through the bags.  Oh, and, despite the fact that you try to convince yourself it's not true, it still smells.


With these considerations in mind, I give you my most recent invention--  

The Poop Jar

You'll need a Nalgene bottle.  
I recommend the wide-mouth, unless you have a pocket dog.
You'll also need some duct tape & sharpies, since this is a "no going back" assignment for the bottle.

Next, make it pretty:

Let 'em poop, and pick it up.  Into the Poop Jar it goes. 
Depending on the size & shape of the deposit, a little manual manipulation squishing may be required to get it through the opening.

Do your best Ray Stantz and close the lid:

When the light is green, the trap is clean.

The Nalgene safely contains the poop and the stink.  Additionally, due to its lightweight yet hard-shell construction, it is completely safe to toss into your backpack with no risk of squishing occurring.


The stink is so well contained that the Poop Jar can travel back with you in the car with no apparent odor.
In fact, as we discovered, it can sit in the house in your backpack that you forgot to unload, contained within The Jar, with no apparent odor (you may want to keep this part in mind, because when you do this, and you finally DO open the Jar, yeah, well, you can guess how good it is).

Penny says: You'll never guess what I'm carrying in MY backpack!

 

Happy (well-contained) trails to you!

Yours truly-
Tigerlily

FREE

I love finding FREE stuff.

In early April, I was out walking the puppies and came across a bag on the curb with a FREE sign on it.  Yes, I still call them puppies, even though they are both grown adult dogs.  

I could resist looking, and lo and behold, it was full of strawberry plants!

What variety, you might ask?  I'll tell ya what variety- FREE.

I picked through to select about a dozen and a half of the healthiest crowns, trimmed off the dead stuff, and put them in a sunny spot in the vegetable bed.  Well, sunny is a relative term. Sunny-ish.  This is Seattle after all- our idea of sunny is a bit skewed.

The spot I chose also happened to be next to the rhubarb- that's it in the foreground.

I figured these two better get to know each other early on.

By mid-June, the plants had about doubled in size, and were starting to fill with blossoms.

The monster rhubarb, in the meantime, had about quadrupled in size!

A few more weeks, and ta-da!

Sweet, Summer Perfection!


I love finding FREE stuff.

Yours truly-

Tigerlily

Late For Work

Me: Penny!  Levi!  Come on, puppies, I've gotta go to work!

 Penny: Sorry, mom, no can do.

Me: Dudes, REALLY, I've gotta go!

Levi: We're very busy.  You go ahead, we've gotta stay right here.  Don't you see it?

Me: Umm, up there?  I don't see it.  Are you sure?

Penny:  Yeah, I'm sure.  It's right there, mom.

Levi: Yeah, it's totally right there.  Don't you see it?

 Levi: Look again, mom. Really.

Me: Oh, whadaya know, you're right!

Yours truly-

Tigerlily

Heather(less) Lake

Last weekend we got out for the 2nd hike of the year, to Heather Lake.

It's one of the shorter hikes off of the Mountain Loop Highway, but short on beauty it isn't.

 No conflicts, now, OK?

The trail is forested the entire way up to the lake.

Look, kids, big roots!

At about 1.5 miles in, we hit the skunk cabbage, blooming up from the melt along the edges of the snow.

The snow-covered route for the last half mile was a big favorite with certain members of our hiking troupe.

Penny at Heather Lake

A boardwalk has been placed around a portion of the lake.

Levi explores the last section of snowfield.

Avalanche activity has done some interesting things to some of the sections of trees around the lake.

Levi at Heather Lake

Thank you, beautiful Heather Lake!

A word to the wise-- this is a hike worth getting to early.  We were the 4th car in the lot, and only saw 2 other groups of hikers while we sat at the lake.  By the time we got back down to the trailhead a little after noon, there were easily 40 cars filling the lot & the sides of the street.

Yours truly-

Tigerlily

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day July 2011

There's so much going on outside!

July is one of those months outside that requires little talk-- just a whole lot of looking & enjoying.
With that in mind, I'll keep my commentary to a minimum and just let you see what's out there.

Here are a few snapshots of what's around the yard for this month's Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day

The deckpots are postively BURSTING!

This daylily, Vi's Apricot, is one of my most cherished plants, as it's a passalong that I brought home in by suitcase from Annie in Austin (also known as my mom).

The first dahlia of the year!

 And what will August bring?  More dahlias!

Yours truly-

Tigerlily

Goat(less) Lake

July 1st marked our first hike of the year.  It also marked a few special occasions.  We had some of our best friends in town from the Midwest.  It was also the 1 year anniversary of Penny's first knee surgery, and by far the longest hike we'd ever been on with the dogs.

Due to this past winter's snowpack and our marathon earlier in the week, we were looking for a good snow-free lowland option with not too much elevation gain, and chose Goat Lake.

What a beauty of a hike!  While the destination is the lake, the entire journey was a beautiful, wonderfully muddy mix of evergreen and alder forest, all alongside the noisy roarings of the Elliott Creek.

We chose the Lower Elliott trail option, which more closely followed the creek.

Everyone's trail manners were excellent.

Big hollowed out trees are just begging for investigation.

 What's in there, guys?

 

The light coming through the sections of alder forest was magical.

 

My little man was leading the way.

 

Closer to the lake, an old wagon trail led us off the main trail for views of McIntosh Falls.

McIntosh Falls

A collection of cairns led us across one of the last small creek crossings.

One last push through the switchbacks, and we reached Goat Lake, with Foggy Peak in the background.  There were no goats at the lake, and the peak was far from foggy.

The water was far too cold for swimming, even for the big Canadian water dog.

The little one was content to balance on a log & watch the butterflies.

A little lunch, some rest & nature gazing at the lake, and Lewis & Clark were leading us back down the trail to return to the car.

Back at home, we were tired, happy, and incredibly muddy.  What a fantastic season opener!

Distance- about 8 miles roundtrip to Goat Lake via the Lower Elliott Trail

You can read an official trail description from the Washington Trails Association here:

Goat Lake

Happy Trails-

Tigerlily