The Disappearing Stump

Our oldest son, Russ, had catastrophe strike a little over a year ago when Hurricane Laura hit the area.  The neighbor of his had a big water oak tree that was rotten in the middle.  When to strong winds blew, the weakened tree succumbed to the hurricane force winds and fell directly on Russ' roof.  It took many many months to get a contractor and materials to make his home whole again.  But alas, it is done.  Looks real nice, too!

Russ had a smaller water oak tree in his front yard.  It was slightly more than two feet in diameter.  The tree was healthy, but Russ didn't want to go through another tree on his roof.  He called a tree service and they chopped the tree down.  The front yard definitely looked a lot different.  One thing the tree service didn't remove was the stump.  He could have called a stump-grinding service, but he didn't.

He did something that I'm afraid my hard-headed self taught him.  He took the stump out the hardest way possible - by hand.  We've done it here at our house.  It is done with stubborn determination.  That's a nice way to put it.  One might also call it some less flattering words.  I had read that a good way to remove a stump is to drill a bunch of holes in the top of the stump, pour a gallon of cooking oil into the holes, let it soak it up and then light it.  Trouble is, that did not work very well.

Russ went to the tried and true way to do it - using an ax mainly.  The ax is used to chop slivers of the stump off.  You keep doing this round and round the tree.  Over time the diameter of the tree is being slowly reduced.  Th chips are saved, piled on top of the stump, and used to burn the stump each day.  He also used a sledgehammer and a wedge to chop the stump.

A few days ago, we received the following text from him: "My stump is missing!  I can't find it"

There is only a hole in the ground where the stump once was.  Three ax handles, numerous blisters, and gallons of sweat later, the stump was gone!

It is a testament, I think, of persistence, hard work, stick-to-itiveness, and endurance.  Maybe it is a bit of insanity, too, in following after my crazy methods of doing things.  What can I say?  He's a chip off the old stump block!  It is pleasing to see the fruits of your labors.  No more stump!

He will plant another tree in its place - one that isn't known for falling on homes.  

Timberrrrrr! (And the Water Oak Came Down)

It was a little more than a month ago that we talked about yet another water oak tree that has died in the little grove in the pasture.  We've had several that have succumbed to the red oak borer, but this was the biggest yet.  It was an old tree and was the tree that the kids had a zip line in and a tree house.  This tree had a lot of memories.  Every time that neighbors' kids or our kids' friends came over, they'd ride on the zip line all the way down to the goat barn with the American flag on the side.

This spring it budded green leaves in anticipation of yet another year of growth, but the damage to the tree was just too much to overcome.  Sometime in June we noticed part of the tree had turned yellow.  Then in July all of the other leaves died.  In August limbs began falling and then the bark started shedding.  We knew that we had to act fast. 

I called an old classmate's brother who has a tree cutting business on the side and he came and looked at it as there was no way that we were going to cut this one down on our own.  He charged a very reasonable rate and came out within a week and cut it down.  He told me these water oaks have a lifespan of about 70 years.  He was unsure if the borer beetle did the damage or if a disease called wilt set in and killed it.

Fortunately he had the equipment (large chain saws, crane and bucket truck) to fell the tree.  It was a big tree.  I placed my Croc leaning against the tree to give perspective. 

We now have quite a large stump to get rid of.  A co-worker of mine was showing me some home remedies of removing stumps and one with a drill, vegetable oil, and charcoal caught my eye.  I just may try it.

Part of the tree on the ground contained the cable from the zip line.  You can see how the tree grew around it in the last 17 years.  Time flies!  It was a reminder of how quickly things change.

We have quite a pile of firewood that we'll need to cut up and split, but we'll wait for some cooler weather for that!

Russ got up early on Saturday, however, and had a huge fire blazing when I walked out to milk Rosie.  He was burning all the tree tops.

The cows really appreciated the fire.  As hot as it was, the smoke from the fire, kept the mosquitoes and flies away, at least momentarily.  The old tree that made so many memories is no longer standing, but I have a plan for a new tree to put in its place.  I'll have to tell you about that later.

An Old Fashioned Stump Grinder

Stump Be Gone!

We had three water oak trees that died in the side pasture a couple months ago and we chronicled how we brought them down in a couple of earlier posts.  We hauled off the branches and threw them on the burn pile that we burned in the big bonfire over Thanksgiving. All of the wood itself was cut into size perfect for firewood and we'll split that later and stack it.  It is so nice to have the dead trees out of the way.

One problem that remains, though, is the stumps.  The stumps present an obstacle that you have to drive around when putting out hay.  Time for the stumps to be removed.  You can rent a stump grinder and grind them for a hefty sum OR you can do it the old fashioned way.  I told my boys that back in the pioneer days, the settlers had to clear the land and remove the stumps before opening up tillable land to farm and survive.  There was no stump grinder to rent.

They did it with an ax or cross cut saw and with maybe the assistance of an ox or mule.  We got the ax out and worked and worked until we had the stump cut down pretty close to ground level.  We then picked up all of the wood chips, stacked them around the stump along with sticks and made a big fire on top of the remaining stump.  It was a nice time to sit around the fire and talk and enjoy the outdoors.  As you can see in the picture above, even the pioneer woman came out and joined us. She's actually sitting on the next stump that we'll remove using the exact same process.

When the coals from the fire cooled, the stump was exactly at ground level.  No more obstacle.  You can drive right over it.  In time it will rot and will leave a hole there that I'll need to fill, but for the time being, we're pleased.  There are easier and faster ways to remove a stump that's in the way - that's for sure, but those methods don't nearly give you the sense of pride in our accomplishment or allow you to work up the appetite that we did in the process.