Landscaping

Loud and interesting noises are occurring outside, and Buster is going nuts. There are several trenches (to be filled in before the day is out, one hopes), including one or two in the fenced-in back yard. I've had to close the door leading to the doggie doors, so that the dogs won't get in the way of the landscaper. They are not happy.

The original plan was for everything to be done on Friday. (I need to be here for this, and Mondays, some Wednesdays, and parts of Fridays are the only times that's possible.) But the guys from JULIE didn't show up until Saturday, so.... (When you do anything involving digging, you need to know where the utilities lines are; you "call JULIE" to get them marked.)

Ah, well. Once it's done, my drainage problem should be taken care of, and I can move on to the next problem.

1989

Today is the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

That summer.... It's been called an "annus mirabilis", and I still remember it with head-shaking awe. The Velvet Revolution, the opening of the Hungarian and Czech borders, the elections in Poland, the Leipzig demonstrations, the fall of the Wall, Ceausescu's last speech - it was an amazing year. (1991 almost tops it, but not quite.) Behind it all, as we learned later, the hand of Gorbachev - pushing for compromise in Poland, refusing to allow the East German armories to be opened - that surprises me even more. (I'm not dissing Reagan, Bush the elder, or JPII here; they did what they were expected to do. But that the Soviet leader should have intervened, and in the way he did - that's astonishing.)

What's your best memory of that year, assuming you were alive and sentient at the time?