Life lived OUtside

You never know what you are going to find when you dig a hole in your backyard. As we slowly tame our property, we have uncovered lots of mysterious items: a piece of some 1970s roller skates, garden hoses, carpets, old tile and of course an assortment of bottles and cans. The other day, though, we made our best discovery yet.

There has been this little piece of metal sticking out behind a fallen tree for years. We never paid it much attention, just made sure to not run the mower over it. I finally got to cleaning up this area and as we were clearing the old tree away, it was finally time for this piece of metal to go. So, I started pulling, thinking some old garden tool or metal can would just pop out. This thing barely budged. I pushed and kicked, and finally got it loosened and then realized I was standing on part of it. When I finally shimmied it free, it was an old basketball hoop, complete with a partially decomposed net. Not what I expected to find.

The funniest thing is that I found it at the peak of Maddy's interest in basketball. For some reason that sport has really piqued her curiosity. Now I don't even need to buy a hoop. If I can find the right tree, we'll create a little free-throw practice area in the backyard.