I took this picture just before driving to the city's annual Spring recycling event, where I got rid of concrete and pottery shards. The left box contains the pottery shards. The center box holds the remnants of a pedestal for a bird bath. The right box holds very small pieces of concrete from the birdbath.

The shards were created by numerous blows of a small sledge hammer. The pot was disintegrating, begging to be put out of its misery. I obliged it in its hour of need.

A more interesting story surrounds the birdbath. My wife and I purchased it in Victoria, B.C., Canada and---believe it or not---the owner of the store was happy to sell the birdbath to FOREIGNERS! That is shocking in itself, but in addition, we TRANSPORTED THE BIRDBATH ACROSS AN INTERNATIONAL BORDER WITHOUT INCIDENT ! (I know, truth is stranger than fiction.)

Some juicy details...We bought the birdbath in 2001. Last year the bowl developed cracks that caused it to leak, and some concrete broke off from the top of the pedestal, rendering the bowl's balance a bit precarious. This year the bowl fell off the pedestal, getting badly chipped in the process. I think a squirrel tipped it over. A small sledge hammer rendered bowl and pedestal into numerous pieces for easy transport. The bowl's pieces got discarded. The pedestal got recycled. The pottery shards went to pottery heaven without revealing the pot's history.

The picture shows the stuff in the back of the Green Weenie, the very same vehicle that not long ago transported German sausages from Phoenix to Maricopa. This episode would certainly qualify for a revived version of "Amazing Stories." What is Steven Spielberg's phone number?

[Description edited for brevity on 25 May 2016.]