Are You Coming Out to Play?

From Wikipedia....

A utility room is a room within a house where equipment that are not used in day to day activities are kept. Utility refers to an item which is designed for usefulness or practical use, so in turn most of the items kept in this room have functional attributes. A utility room is generally the area where laundry is done, and is the descendant of the scullery.^[1][2][3] Utility room is more commonly used in British English, while North American and Australian English generally refer to this room as a laundry room.^{[citation needed]}

[edit]Uses

The utility room has several uses but typically functions as an area to do laundry. This room contains laundry equipment such as a washing machine, tumble dryer, ironing boardsand clothes iron.^[4] The room is also used for closet organization and storage. The room would normally contain a second coat closet which is used to store seasonal clothing such as winter coats or clothing which are no longer used daily.^[5][6] Storage spaces would contain other appliances which would generally be in the kitchen if it was in usage daily. Furnaces and the water heater are sometime incorporated to the room as well. Shelving and trash may sometimes be seen at this area as not to congest the other parts of the house. ^[7]

I've been working at shovelling out  cleaning up the utility room.  I guess it could also be called the laundry room/mud room/furnace room/dog room.  The washer and dryer are in there.  There is a sink and counter space and old kitchen type cabinets, and when we moved in, there was a fridge and stove down there as well.  It is the first room you enter, when you come in to the basement of the house through the garage.  It's where the woodstove is, and where we confine the dogs if they are wet and or dirty, or if we want to keep them out of the way for a while.  I have a small fridge in there to store some of the dog food that I'll be using in the next few days. There are some dog beds.  It's where we leave our dirty boots and coats and where we store all sorts of junk that we will probably never use again.  It was the place where every horizontal surface was piled with 'stuff'.  I've just about worked my way around the room, cleaning up everything visible, and now am starting on things that are in bins or in the closet or the cabinets.  

It was nice this afternoon and the dogs went outside.  But then it was about the time that we do something with them, so Jake and Luna were watching intently to see if there were any signs of someone coming out to entertain them.  So yeah, I broke down and took a ball and some flying squirrels out into the hayfield and gave them some exercise.  And then to finish it off we took them for a walk around the block.  

 And yesterday, that window was all clean and shiny, and had no dog nose smears on it.  It's a tough life, being a Wyndson dog:)