my wrestle with a root

Many of you know that we moved into a new house about two weeks ago. We love our new house. After we get a few more things (and to swap out some of our non-matching furniture), I might end up posting some pictures on here.

For now, though, I'll give you a small preview of our side yard (see below, but pay no attention to our dilapidated shed in the background). Our house was vacant for several months before we purchased it, and I've been trying to clean up the yard when the weather is decent. (And, miraculously, all of the snow and ice has melted since our Snowpocalpyse/Snowmageddon last week.) Today I tackled some of the dead grass and prickly vines in our side yard. There was one prickly vine whose root would not give way, no matter what I did. I pulled on that root (and dug a huge hole, trying to loosen the root) for a good thirty minutes. My legs and arms were trembling from exertion. And finally, finally, the root gave way to reveal my largest uprooting achievement. Ever. I was so proud, I made Sam hold the root (to give a sense of scale) and I took a picture:

This root was even larger than what is shown above; a couple of parts snapped off in the uprooting process. And yes, my son is wearing a Jack Sparrow hat, sweat pants, and puffy coat. Fashion does not suffer when we do yard work.