During a recent storm, we heard the dreaded loud bang in the wee hours of the morning and lost power. The transformer in our back yard had blown.

Again.

It happens with every storm because the shrubs are so tall and thick. Wind blows limbs against the wire and trips the switch.

At daylight, power company line workers macheted through and reset the transformer switch.

Same thing happened the next week when another windy storm blew through and knocked out power again.

To give you an idea how tall the shrubs were, the transformer (now visible) was surrounded.

The privacy is nice, but electricity is better.

My brother brought over his pole power saw and removed the top five feet. Our backyard was covered with the tree branches.

Limbs were still too close to the wires.

Now that we could reach them, we dug out our smaller power saw and finished the job.

That’s when we discovered the killer vine.

Let me tell you, those thorns hurt like the dickens when they poke you.

Just ask little Buster who, in his quest to help, got one tangled in the hair on his ear. He yelped in pain from the vicious thorns.

I clipped the vine loose and the vet cut the remaining piece out for us. No way could we hold Buster still to remove it ourselves.

It’s a sneaky, sneaky vine.

You cut it down and it pops back up attaching itself to the shrubs, the fence posts, anything, and everything creating a deadly tangled mess.

Dowsing weed killer does no good. It seems to thrive and reappear.

The war is on. I now suit up like a jousting knight and trim the vine whenever I see it spring up. Wish me luck.