I’m hurting. Not an emotional ache over bad people attacking Disney, that bothers me not, but physical pain. You name it - shoulder, back, legs. We took advantage of the nice weather to do a little a bunch of yard work. The wife picked up sticks and pulled weeds while I started taking out a bush near the corner of the garage.
I cut off the limbs and when I got it down to a stump I dug around the root ball and started prying it up. The wife came to help dig and pry. You might remember I have a broken bone near the arch of my foot, so stomping on the shovel is not the easiest thing to do. Between us we got it out and the tap and spreader roots cut. We disposed of the bush and moved to the backyard.
A couple of years ago a decorative Japanese maple beside my patio was caught in a late freeze and partially died. I cut it down and put stump killer on it. Yeah, don’t waste your money on that stuff. We started in on that stump, digging away at the edges and cutting the roots. Amazingly, a tree maybe six feet tall with a trunk about four inches in diameter had massive roots. We are talking roots eight and nine inches in diameter! Not circumference, diameter. We cut, hacked, pried, chopped, and sawed that guy for most of the afternoon. We went through two sawzall blades. We broke the shovel handle. I swung the maul and axe so much my shoulder ached.
That’s what it seemed like. Except it was two old people working away. Eventually we won out, the stump and most of the roots were dug out, cut away, or pulled. It took most of the afternoon, but we won.
Next time I will rent a stump grinder. Who knew such a little tree had such deep roots? There is probably a metaphor there somewhere. I’m too tired to expound.
Stomping on the shovel was not the smartest thing to do.
ReplyDeleteI used my left foot and the wife did most of it
ReplyDeleteWell, that is much better!
ReplyDeleteI'm right there with ya, my Hoosier brother.
ReplyDeleteWho could resist, right?
But OY. Not as young as we used to be.
We used to have a gorgeous Japanese maple right next to the driveway. Huge (the house was built in 1910), sprawling, shady. But they claimed it was diseased when it happened to be in the way of a sewer project and they removed it for us. Didn't LOOK diseased yet to me. But, guess I'm glad they did it and not us. Sure changed the character of the property though.
Freddie
The big willow in back, the one the 30’ limb fell from a few weeks ago, is going to have to go sometime. About 25% of it is dead.
ReplyDeleteI cannot imagine what it will cost - the trunk is probably 6-7 feet around, plus like you, it will change my backyard completely.
I just have to hope the next big limb that falls also kisses my house, fence, or neighbor’s house.
I'm sorry you guys had a hard time at that. Sometimes yard work sucks, but it's rewarding.I hope you get to feeling better.
ReplyDeleteI was doing yard/farm work as well. I planted a long strip of flowers opposite our front porch, and we put in small white fencing. I'm dreading doing the flowers and weeding around the house. It looks like a jungle. I cleaned out the pools for our geese- nasty business,but not nearly as bad as when we had ducks. We prepared for babies from the eggs in the incubator. Little baby birds are the only cool thing about springtime here.