Big Bad Bush

We have a bush in our front yard. Well actually it's not in our front yard, it's in our neighbors front yard.

This bush is of the large and hideous variety. That only has a history of getting larger and hideous-er. :)

So K.C. (my brave husband / messenger of peace) went and asked our neighbors if they were overly attached to this bush that is overflowing onto our property (covering our water meter) and constantly smells of cat urine. (yuck)
To my delight (and I'm sure to the delight of the rest of the neighborhood) they said they didn't care a bit and to rip it out if we wanted.
My dad just happened to be there with the van at that exact moment. (O.K. so it wasn't a coincidence). We got out the trusty tow strap and cinched it around the bush.
Mother was there in full support. Seated in her recliner which is her chair in the van, she had quite the ride as we bounced and jostled and proceeded to combine all our powers against the bush.
We had to employ many tactics: Flailing around under the mass trying to hit roots. (and trying to avoid cat poo.)
Jumping on the tow rope.
Mom Bracing herself for the next impact! (You are definitely a trooper mom. I think you were mostly responsible for the removal of that bush. Without your pulling and heave-ho-ing that bush would never have let loose.)
Even with all this effort it seemed strangely solid. Like it's roots were made of iron. Now I would like you to take a moment and glance through the previous pictures one more time. Is there anything that would give you cause for alarm or any indication that there was more to this bush than a big, ugly... bush?
and finally we just started pushing (when I say 'we' I really mean K.C.) With a very satisfying crunch it finally gave way and started to follow the van, instead of stand firmly where it was.

Hooray! The bush is gone!
Well actually now it lives on our sidewalk while we are trying to find someone to haul it away. Or borrow a truck so we can do it.

But wait. What's this? Now we see the culprit of our not so willing bush.

Some genius planted this bush right on top of all the important electrical and water related things for our house. you'll see in the below picture

1. our telephone connection box.

2. our cable connection box.

The fist one was poking out of the bush enough to see so we didn't wrap the tow rope around it. But the cable box was right in the heart of the thing and we had a good solid grip on it and we ripped it right out of the ground. (no cables were broken but the box is pretty much smashed)

Sandwiched right between the two is a black electric box buried in the ground. (I forgot to point it out in the picture but it was completely inaccessible.

Is that all? Oh no, the 2 water meter boxes for the properties were hidden beneath it as well. These were slightly accessible but required some digging through the foliage.

Who would think to dive into the middle of that thing to get to the cable box? I wonder how long these things have been MIA and no one has known the culprit.

In short I'm glad it's removed. I will be gladder when it's gone. And it was a grand adventure.

Now we just need to get the cable people to come repair that box. Thankfully we don't have cable so it isn't a huge rush.