This domestic canine is a high-efficiency extremely-productive poop factory.

Today I hired a service to pick the dog poop up in our yard. I have some intensely mixed feelings about this.

On the one hand, I am pretty dog-gone independent and more than a little cheap, and I don’t like to pay people to do a job I am capable of doing myself. I bake my own bread, I brew my own beer, I clean my own house–though perhaps I don’t do that last one as well or as often as I would like! Paying someone real cash (as opposed to bribing them with an offer of ice cream) to simply walk through the yard and scoop poop seems like a waste of moola.

On the other hand, it’s a chore that takes time (and I am short on time), and it’s a chore that I derive absolutely no pleasure in doing (so I am short on motivation). I had delegated the task to hubby, but when he sprained his ankle two weeks ago my at home poop service stopped working. The poop was piling up (the puppy produces a lot of poop in two weeks), and the kids couldn’t play outside without risking slipping on the stuff and coming back in with stinky sneakers.

So I called When Doody Calls, a locally owned and operated pooper scooper service. The price is a little higher than I would like, but then I am paying them to do a chore that no one enjoys. I suppose I can pat myself on the back for supporting a local entrepreneur, but really I have just reached a point where I am willing to make room in the budget to have someone else do for me what I don’t wanna do for myself. I’m not felling too proud of myself at the moment.

The yard is really nice and clean now, so the kids can play out there–and hubby can limp the lawnmower around to trim down the onion grass that has sprouted up around the yard. Because I really do draw the line at paying someone to mow our little patch.