Wesley and I are mowing the backyard. That turned into exploring and turning over rocks to look for insects (thanks Mom). So we are in the flower beds when I see for the hundredth time what I believe to be sprinkler hose (sturdy green stuff as big around as your thumb) and drip irrigation line (sturdy black stuff, but skinnier). So I start to pull it up. I pull up one chunk of green stuff, then some black stuff. The black stuff I notice is actually coax cable. This is all in the flower bed mind you, on top, not buried like you might do with a cable to keep some idiot from cutting it. Then I start to tug on some more of this black stuff, but find it is stuck at both ends. So I cut it off at the ground at both ends, unwind it from the bush it was entangled in and throw it in the yard. In my head I’m trying to figure out why you would run cable from your house to your flower bed. I figured they were either stealing from or sharing with the neighbors. I cut some more green hose out from the roots of a tree that had grown completely around it. We go in, we have dinner, we watch the Laurie Berkner Band DVD.

At some point while Wesley is in the tub Amber says “The cable is out”. I think “Huh” and then in a flash I see images of what I was up to in the back yard for the last couple of hours. “Crap”. I can fix it, it had nicks and was in pretty bad shape anyway. Plus, I think I’ll bury the whole length. Novel concept. Maybe I’ll patent it. My only regret is that I wish I hadn’t dug down and cut the cable off several inches below the surface. It is going to make the splices a lot harder to get done.

Times like this I’m glad we have DSL.