Holy Stump.

(The pictures are terible but both ight I waited until nearly dark to take pictures, not sure why.)

We are trying to work on a few home improvements. Some by necessity and some things we want to make a little nicer on our close to nothing budget. Since we have moved into this house 4 years ago we have had to call Roto Rooter out at least once a year and more recently twice a year so the gigantic cottonwood tree in the front yard that provides half the neighborhood with shade in the summer, sadly...had to go. My strong as an ox brother in law, Craig has been down here working for a few months and he generally helps us with some bigger projects while he is here. Kind of as a thanks for letting me stay with ya deal.

In the past couple of weeks the tree came down. I thought this was the big part. He even cut the wood into manageable size pieces and a neighbor came and asked for the wood so that was helpful to both of us as we needed the wood gone and he uses wood as heat. Excellent. The pieces that were too large for him went to another friend and about 3 truckloads of branches were taken to Soilutions.

I wrongly thought this project was nearly over. I was so wrong. So very very wrong. lol

The stump was left. Now do not get me wrong, I knew this was a big job but I NEVER dreamed just how big both literally and figuratively it would be. Neither did Wayne or Craig.

A few days ago their other brother had a small backhoe for another project so the three of them brought it over and worked for about 4 hours digging both by shovel and with the backhoe. it looked to me like we had a HUGE mote in our yard. I did not understand where this project was going. (I don't do so well with lack of understanding.) Each time I asked Wayne what they were doing he said they were getting the stump out.

Yes, thank you dear. *sigh.*

They dug down about 4 feet and I would say the stump is 4 feet in diameter. They did this after work one day so they id not finish til 9 or 9:30.

At this point I think the guys thought they would wrap a chain around it and hook it up to a truck and pull it out and be done with it. The stump was not interested in this plan. Not the least bit interested. Another day and hours more digging ensued. That's when I asked for help on facebook. (Sorry Roy. lol)

And then there were three. Now at least they could see they were making marked progress.

A lovely neighbor visitor came over and said he had a tractor and could get the stump out for us for $100. At this point they had so much blood sweat (and they probably wanted to cry) invested that there was no way Wayne was paying someone $100 to do it. Nice but notice they did not offer to lend a hand. With a little more muscle power this thing could have been out of there in a few minutes. (So he and his cousin leaned on there car and watched the guys work. it was pretty neighborly. I hope we are not so insensitive and un-helpful to others.)

The stump was totally broken free at this point but we (and I use the term we very loosely. lol) could not seem to get it up over the ledge. Remember this hole is deep and round and big. It is probably 15 feet across and steep, 4 feet deep or so. That stinkin stump would come right up to the top but not over the ledge. One of the pulls almost got it...the one that broke it free....was very exciting!..until...we realized it broke a water main.

That giant hole was quickly filling up with water. I quickly got on the phone to the city where I sat. on. hold. I also went to get another neighbor who is very helpful but has heart problems so can't do a lot of the actual labor.

So then there were four.

Wayne got the water shut off before I got through to the city.

Roy (who is a thinker and was trying to think of how to make it easier) suggested that we get some guys and start on it again tomorrow. More people, less work all around of course. Sounds great to me. My poor husband is exhausted! He headed home and they gave it a couple more tries and low and behold it rolled out! The size of this thing is amazing!

So now we just need to dig in this giant hole to find the broken pipe, figure out how to fix it....fix it....dispose of the enormous stump and get back to our to do list. This was supposed to just be one small thing on the list.

Um...so like i was saying...we need some help with some yard work. lol.