Cutting Blackberries

The missionaries came over again, this time bringing reinforcements in the form of two more missionaries and a returned missionary who happens to live across the street from me. Five guys... they filled two very large yard waste bins and 14 yard waste bags. They decimated the ivy in the front yard, making it possible for maybe the first time since we moved in to see the street from our porch. They also made a large dent in the blackberries in the back yard, even uncovering the wellhouse.

I actually think I prompted them to get to the wellhouse, as I mentioned that Eric and I had never opened the wellhouse, and for all we knew there might be dead bodies in there. The two young men working in the back seemed spurred on by this declaration, and after a short time I heard the sound of nails being pulled and a rusty squeak of long disused hinges... and when I went out back they had opened the wellhouse and were peering in. I will take some pictures, but not right now. The wellhouse wasn't quite as empty as we thought it was, though close enough. In addition to the pump, which I was expecting to be in there, there was also a cabinet that looks a lot like a very old refrigerator. The boards covering the well itself are old and rotting, and not terribly safe. The missionaries threw a rock down the well to see how deep it is... it's not deep. Deep enough to be a problem for any kids wandering around, which is no doubt why it was nailed shut to begin with.

The other missionaries working in the front yard had their own discoveries... mainly a whole lot of toys that had been left in the area over the years. Each new toy prompted a laugh as they tossed them into a pile. Among the stranger items was a Koosh ball and a bicycle horn that has Goofy on it.

I have my doubts that the yard waste guys will pick up all 14 bags. Some of them are split, and all of them are full. But then, I didn't really expect them to take last week's bonanza either, and they did. At least this time I had the sense to ask the missionaries to put the yard waste on the curb to start with, so I didn't have to haul them all down to the curb myself while sick with this ear infection.