Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this pole!

Remember when the Berlin Wall came down? Remember David Hasselhoff's rousing performance of his hit single(s) (in Germany)? Remember his super cool light-bulb-covered jacket?

No? Then you'll probably be taking Latin American history with me next semester.

Yes? Then keep reading.

If the Berlin Wall represented all the things that Communist meanies could do (and all the resourcing the Macys could do with the bricks afterwards...anyone get one for Xmas?), then the Tetanus Spear of B'ton represented the last derelict vestige of our home's previous owners. But we did it! MISSION ACCOMPLISHED! The Tetanus Spear has fallen!!!!

In an afternoon reminiscent of the Shawshank Redemption, I worked on digging the spear out for roughly 2 hours. It involved: a large shovel, the mattock, a tablespoon (for the detail work), another trip to the hardware store, a smaller new shovel, and rocking the thing back and forth. And yet it stood. It was clear that there was cement footing and/or a root and/or the earth's f'ing core involved with keeping it in the ground. Remember the Tetanus Spear could not be defeated even by Brian's skid steer!

Then Woody had a go at it.

Before:

During:


After: Woody asking the pole "How ya like me NOW?"


Alice resolving her desire to chew everything with her desire to avoid tetanus:

(I cannot get that image to go the right way. Grrr...
You can see the giant HOOK that held this thing in the ground though.)

Alice detects the scent of the first puppies on earth:

Alice is still with us, yes! We found her brother Arlo a good home with our friend Paul and decided to keep Alice in the family. Her and Maddy are getting along well, mostly because Alice is an absentminded eater...and Maddy polishes off the leftovers.

We've decided to fill the gaping maw left by the extraction of the Tetanus Spear with a lovely little fig tree (getting move-in ready here):