Since we moved to our new apartment, we have been walking Uther down the street towards the creek. There a house a block down that has two big holes dug out of the front lawn. The holes are built up around the sides by a foot or so, and this creates a big crater effect. It looks as if two small meteors have crashed onto the front lawn. The owner planted grass in these craters, and placed a nice ring of purple flowers around the ridge of the craters. Each time we pass Tam and I have a conversation regarding the nature and purpose of these craters. Tam feels that they will eventually become two ponds that the owner will fill with carp and provide a summer home for a few ducks. Of course, she has always wanted a duck pond. She has been begging me for years to build one, so I figured she has a weird pond fetish, and this led her towards that conclusion. I have no idea what the craters are, and have been unable to come up with a reasonable hypothesis.

We have seen the owner out in the yard a few times, and he is usually trimming the purple flowers with a pair of small scissors. Each time we pass I whisper to Tam to ask him what the craters are for, but she declines, and I have been unable to muster the courage to ask him myself. I had all but decided the man was insane when Tam and her friend took Uther for a walk the other day. He was out preening, and her friend, intrigued by the craters, just out and ask him point blank, "What are these craters about?" he told her that they actually form an ampersand '&', but it has been such a burden maintaining them that now he calls them his albatross. Mystery solved?