on disgusting things in the back yard

you've read about poison ivy in my back yard not once, not twice...not even three or four times. but five times! ridiculous, i know.

in keeping with that theme, i wanted to write a quick post about another disgusting thing in my back yard.

next to the "death tree" (see previous poison ivy posts) there was this strange circular concrete looking thing about a foot tall and a couple feet in diameter. i've wondered what it is for 2 years, but never put forth the effort to find out. every now and again i would kick it or poke at it with a rake and a small piece would fall off, but i would lose interest and continue doing whatever brought me back there: mowing, raking or killing poison ivy.

the weather is beautiful today so i went out and finished up some raking i started last week. Bob came out and then Andrea and Oscar...then Steph and Lilly. the whole gang was congregated at the fence catching up, as we haven't seen much of each other since the baby. that was great.

for whatever reason, that mound caught my eye again and i said, "i wonder what the hell that thing is". Bob offered to let me borrow his sledge hammer to knock it apart which i gladly accepted. costochondritis or not, this thing had to go. it's placement in the far corner of the yard made it hard to mow and rake back there, plus it reminded me of the neglect this yard had endured for the last 40 years before we showed up.

it wasn't hard to knock the mystery structure apart. as i gently swung the sledge hammer into it, it fell apart in large chunks. Bob jumped over the fence to check it out with me. look at these disgusting photos of the former inhabitants:






hey there, little buddies!


i just looked up termites and these are definitely not termites, although their home which i destroyed did remind me of an ancient termite mound. i guess it was an old ant colony? i've never seen them moving around the outside of the mound, which was hard packed like clay. it was probably a very rare species of subterranean ant that i decimated with a sledge hammer and a flathead shovel. not unlike the ancient poison ivy i killed, not 2 feet away. both goldmines in the scientific communities...both gone forever.

good riddance!