Pole vaulting

Today was gor-ge-ous! After two days of snow and cold we welcomed back the sun and warm weather and spent the whole day outside.

It started off pretty relaxed - walk in the park, sipping tea and flipping through recipes, playing with Rigby...

 

Doesn't he look like an evangelical puppy?  Like the hand of God is literally touching him and he's blessing the masses...?  This photo cracks me up.

 

Todd loves dancing with Rigby.  We get a lot of enjoyment out of it.  I'm sure Rigby does too...  Here, Rigby is walking "like an Egyptian..." HA!  Ok.  The longer we were outside the more Todd's attention turned to projects.  See that clothesline pole behind Todd?  We hate it.  The plan has been to rip the clothesline out, so that is what Todd started to do...

 

First, he dug a hole around the pole with this spade...

 

 Just kidding...

 

Todd evaluating just how planted this pole is...

 I told him he looked like a pole dancer doing that, so he struck a pose...

 

 Putting together a solution...

 

A lever and pulley system built of a 2x4, a chain and some nylon braided rope...

 

A closer look...This is not a light pole.  It's made of solid pipe.  Todd estimated it to be around 250-300 pounds!

 

Rigby and I hanging out while Todd's hard at work.  It was just a break!  I really did help - I was right there pulling up on the lever.

 

The contraption worked! 

 

You can see Todd had to add a 4x4 piece of wood to the system to keep the boards from snapping...

 

One pole down.  Of course, clotheslines require two poles to be effective.  The second one is still frozen in the ground, so we'll have to do this all again. 

 

 

You wouldn't think taking a little ol' pole down would make much of a difference in the space in your yard, but it does! No more ducking, walking and working around it.  And...you can't even tell there was ever a gaping hole, can you?