26 February 2009

Excavation

During the winter months I engage with the outdoors only when unavoidable. But yesterday was beautiful so I took a stroll around the yard -- the first of 2009.

Our yard is funny. 81 years of gardeners worked with it before I did. I learned to recognize the evidence of their handiwork last year. Although I have been able to unravel some of the history of my yard, a lot of it remains a mystery.

I have no idea for example, what these two clay pipes were doing out in the middle of my yard.


The hole where they were is about 2' deep. The jagged, spiky end of the larger cylinder was poking up out of the ground. I wouldn't have seen it at any other time of year. The ground surrounding the clay pipe is overrun with Day Lillies. When in bloom they produce so much leafy-green stuff that the pipe remained hidden all last summer.

Even though the ground was soft and wet it took a few minutes with the shovel to get them out. This is where I dug them out of the ground.


What were they doing out in the middle of the yard?

I've extracted all kinds of things from my yard during the past year. We've removed bird-baths, dozens of football-sized rocks, railroad ties, etc. With each excavation I wonder who put it there, what they were thinking, and what would they think of me getting rid of it?

3 comments:

Matthew said...

It's an escape tube for the moles.

Terra said...

I always used to wonder what an archiologist would have thought of our yard in Morganton-with it's little cemetary in the back yard. We buried everything there...rats,birds, pet mice...

Mary Ann said...

I laughed out loud when I read your comment Matthew.

Terra, what about the placentas? You can't leave that out.