April 16, 2011
Removing the Stump and the Testosterone Tool
The weather is nice so Mar and Lar have been doing a lot of yard work. We really like doing it because it is outside and generally you get to see results right away – I love instant gratification. However, our last project was a little bit frustrating. When we first looked at our new home during the search process, we noticed that there were a couple of dead trees on the property. Luckily, the former owners took them out without our even asking. All was well in dead tree land.
However, this weekend we started digging up a place for a garden and right there in the middle was – a stump. As we dug we realized that the stump was providing large roots, so in our vanity we choose to remove the main offender – the stump itself. Task one was dig around it , and around it , and around it and fight with the myriad of roots which the stump had sent out. We figured that if we cut enough the stump would loosen and we would begin to see movement and eventually we would be able to yank that big, bad baby out of there. An hour later and a pretty big hole dug and the stump was winning. It didn't wiggle in the least.

We called it an evening with a humbled heart and a hole – still ruled over by a stump. I pondered and fretted over this for the evening. In the morning I had a plan. I went to the home improvement store and bought "the tool". It was a six foot, 18 pound digging bar with a sharp point at one end and a 2 inch cutting head at the other. I figured this would not only allow me to dig better, but also work as a pry bar when the offensive stump started to wiggle.

 

Morning and I am digging again. Pick, bar, scoot out the dirt. There is another big root. Let the bar handle it. Two hits and it is gone. Pick some more. Use the bar some more, scoop some more. Another root. Whooee, that root was broken with just one swing. But alas, after all the sweat and swinging – the stump still wasn't moving at all. Not at all.

 

Frustration set in and I lifted and jammed that digging bar down on the top of the stump. Inspiration. If I can't dig it out, I'll just chop it up. And that is what I did.

I just split and broke the top 10 inches off of the top of that stump, and then buried the rest. Me and my bar were finally victorious. (Well at least we buried the sin.)