This makes me happy

Sure, that headline leaves a lot to the imagination. Luckily, this little gem is *out there*. Unveiled this week in my (current) hometown of Cambridge, MA is a dog park that powers its own lights with a dog poop methane digestor. I am a dog owner. This means that twice a day I pull a plastic bag over my hand and pick up dog shit. It ain't pretty but it's all part of the game and people who don't do it should be publicly flogged and smeared with feces (too far?). Anyway, in this new park, you drop your bag of poop (provided it's in a biodegradable bag that they provide) into the the contraption and voila...burnable methane gas is created. Long term, they hope to generate enough power to light up other small things nearby. It won't keep your air conditioner running all summer long but it is a very cool alternative to bags of shit stacking up in your local garbage cans.

Just an FYI...The Coughing Dog just passed 1200 posts

Your children will speak of this day.

Otis loves sorting trash

ok...so he eats it, rolls in it and spreads it all over my house but that doesn't sound nearly as good. He sorted some trash yesterday after I left for work probably ingested a significant amount of styrofoam and then proceeded to poop and vomit on my bedroom floor at 2 a.m. We both decided we could live with the piles sitting there for a little while in the name of getting some sleep but at 3 and then again at 5, it was go time. So now here I am at 6:15 a.m. EST having just picked up poop and vomit and scrubbed the floor on my hands and knees. Oddly enough, I decided to take today off so in some ways this is actually convenient.

The moral? I always caution people who want to get a dog about some of things they aren't made aware of regarding dog ownership. Dogs chew on things, poop on floors, vomit frequently, eat EVERYTHING, make as much noise as it takes to get you to move when they want you to, and never try to go through the garbage when you're home so you can stop them. Dogs are great, don't get me wrong but if you don't envision yourself scrubbing away at a smelly spot on your rug in the middle of the night, then do yourself a favor and get a turtle or a goldfish or a toad.

The inspiration