The first step is to break up the big dirty filthy spots with a spading fork. The clay soil is lovely. If it's dry, it breaks into huge pieces that won't break apart because they are like bricks. Hitting them with, say, a brick, is likely to break the brick. If it is too wet, it won't break apart beause it is, duh, clay. Plus trying to take a photo has dog stuff in it (e.g., weaving poles, jump bars).

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elf1 > So, here's the problem. I have this small lawn area that happens to be right in the middle of the dogs' paths to everything. During the winter, when it is sopping wet and the grass isn't growing, it is torn to shred by thousands upon thousands of urgent squirrel-chasing missions, until I have less of what passes for lawn and more of what passes for bare spots. My mission, should I choose to accept it, is to fill the bare spots with sod. But note that every photo of anything in the yard is Dog Related. Note agility equipment in background.

elf1 > The patchy alleged lawn is not the only project in the yard, oh no. There is also the hose reel that leaks. Into the dog bowl (cleverly mostly hidden by a pansy). See, everything has dog stuff in it.

elf1 > Or there's the other faucet where the hose conveniently sprays everywhere right out of its very hoselike part, with the water not bothering to wait until it gets to the end. Which someone should probably repair. But, no, this week is someone's Sod Week. (And, of course, note just a soupcon of dog agility tunnel in the upper right.)

elf1 > The first step is to break up the big dirty filthy spots with a spading fork. The clay soil is lovely. If it's dry, it breaks into huge pieces that won't break apart because they are like bricks. Hitting them with, say, a brick, is likely to break the brick. If it is too wet, it won't break apart beause it is, duh, clay. Plus trying to take a photo has dog stuff in it (e.g., weaving poles, jump bars).

elf1 > Fortunately, a clever photographer can get dog stuff out of some photos by actually (gasp) walking over and moving the weave poles and/or changing the angle of the photo. Then it looks like gardening in a normal yard, not like some sort of off-course trap in an agility course.

elf1 > But the dog thing is ubiquitous. Say I want to take a lovely photo of the apple tree in all its fine spring plumage. Nope: Dog agility stuff. (Plus bonus compost bins. Good for dogs to stand on, dig in for gophers, and eat stuff from for later vomitage on handy carpeting.)

elf1 > But a clever photographer can get the dog stuff out of the photo by changing the angle on the blossoming apple tree. Just a little bit.

elf1 > How about a nice photo of a pear tree in all its fine spring plumage? Nope--agility equipment. But if you were a dog working on your Aframe contacts, you could have a lovely blossomy experience on your way up.

elf1 > But a clever photographer again, with a little tweaking, can find a way to take a photo of a blooming pear tree without any dog-related stuff in the photo.

The first step is to break up the big dirty filthy spots with a spading fork. The clay soil is lovely. If it's dry, it breaks into huge pieces that won't break apart because they are like bricks. Hitting them with, say, a brick, is likely to break the brick. If it is too wet, it won't break apart beause it is, duh, clay. Plus trying to take a photo has dog stuff in it (e.g., weaving poles, jump bars).