You Can't Stump Me!!!

So I hate leaving projects undone.  I mean, it's quite literally a blessing and a curse.  It means that I get stuff done...but it also means that I have to work feverishly to get some stuff done!

Yesterday, we had a very successful day cutting down the large pine tree at one of the rental homes.  The job was 99% complete.  But one of the parts of cutting down a tree is getting rid of that stump!!!  And I knew the project would be hanging over my head until I completed it.  So on a whim, I decided to zip over and complete the project.  I hadn't even planned on doing it today, but I knew I would think that the tree-cutting project wasn't done yet until the stump was gone, EVEN if the tree was long gone.

I know, blessing and curse.

So I loaded up my DR Stump Grinder (one of the best purchases ever) and headed over to the house.  And would you believe that I had that stump ground down in just 24 minutes?!  And I had thought about pushing it off for a week...or three.  But all it took was 24 minutes to be able to say...

THE TREE IS CUT DOWN!!!

The stump as I started today.

My handy lil' DR stump grinder.

24 minutes later!

The tree is now 100% gone!  Ready for grass!

The yard is now ready for grass seed (I brought some and almost put it down for the snow to take it into the ground but decided to wait until spring).

No more tree against the house!  No more pine needles in the gutter!  No more foundation stress!

What a difference.

Grass will explode in this new soil that hasn't seen the sun in 20 years!

Of course, we had temperatures approaching the 50's today, and I had gas to burn out of my stump grinder.  So I figured...I might as well tackle a project that is over a year old at MY house!!!

Dad and I had cleared out an area in my side yard that was as thick as a jungle.  The previous owners let brush and weeds and trees grow up, and it was a mess.  Well, after clearing the area out, I still had tons and tons of "stumps" left over.  Some were actually tree-size, while most were more hardwood brush size.  But the fact remained...I couldn't really mow back there because I would hit stumps!

So I decided to tackle this project that we started in August 2016!  I had more than 20 stumps to grind.  Thankfully, because most had been dead over a year, they ground up (or broke) rather easily.

Finishing a project from 1 1/2 years ago!

Some stumps were big!

Others were medium!

Some were hollow!

Others were small!

Some were funny shapes!

Others were hard to reach!

But ALL were chopped up!!!

This grinder has paid for itself over the years.

Not sure if grass will grow in the shade and ROCKS!  But I can now push a mower back here without hitting stumps!

But I still needed the grinder to do so.  But another success!  I don't think grass is ever going to really grow underneath these trees (tons of shade and needles), but it's possible I might try shade grass this spring.  The grass does ok under the other similar trees close to the roadside...

Two big projects complete!!!

Tiiiiiiiiiiimberrrrrrrrrrr!!!

Today I had one goal at the blue house!  Cut down a pine tree!!!  So I've only cut down one other actual tree in my life, and oddly enough, it was another taller pine at this same very house a few years ago!  I watched videos on how to properly fell a tree and tried it out.  It landed right where I wanted it, too!  Success!

So I was hoping for more of the same today.

The large pine was literally enveloping the house!

The tree was planted too close to the house.

The view from the front.

Dad and I met at the house at 8:00 A.M. and started going at the branches.  I brought my trusty electric chainsaw and started cutting down the branches from the bottom up.  Wow, this tree had a TON of branches!!!  But being soft pine, they cut pretty easily.

I worked my away around the truck, first at the legs, then the waist, then eye level, then above my head.  Then I needed a ladder!  So we set a ladder against the tree and started cutting higher.  It was getting to be a little bit tricky with balancing a ladder at an odd angle (fairly flat) and working above my head, but we were determined to get this tree cut down!

Little by little, we worked out way up (it actually went decently fast).

One branch at a time!  Soooooooooo many branches on a pine!

Dad holding the ladder as I cut.

Look at that lean!  Probably pushing AGAINST the house!

My brother showed up a little after 9:00 with the powerhorse:  a Stihl gas-powered chainsaw.  But he saw how quick of work we had made of it:  "You guys did all of this this morning"?  Yup!  But we weren't done!  After filling it up the Stihl with gas and oil, I tried starting it.  Nothing!  I would quickly realize that you had to hold the gas lever down to engage the choke, and once we realized that, she fired right up!

I took my little YouTube video knowledge from last night about felling a tree (I figured I better remind myself since I had a house right next to the tree and a neighbor's fence on the opposite side) and started cutting!  I put a water bottle down on the ground where I aimed the tree to fall.

Tiiiiiiiiiimberrrrrrrrrrr!!!  And down she went.  My brother was quick to point out that I missed the water bottle.  Perhaps (I never did see how close it actually was), but she fell in the GENERAL direction of where I was aiming!  Actually, it fell exactly where it needed to:  right in the yard, away from everything.

And that Stihl chainsaw made such quick work of the process.  The branches literally cut like a hot knife through butter.  Even the trunk went quickly.  I would cut, and my brother and dad would load the branches into my truck and onto the trailer my brother brought.  I cut the trunk into manageable pieces, and we had the ENTIRE tree cut and loaded onto the trailer and truck by 10:00 A.M.

The tree is down!  And cut up!

That Stihl made such quick work of the tree.

All that is left!

TWO HOURS to clear out a tree!!!  I would guess I would have been charged $300-500 to have a professional tree service do the exact same thing.  And we knocked it out in a couple of hours!

We raked up our smaller branches, cleared the area, and WOW! What a difference!!!

The entire tree loaded onto my truck and the trailer.

Such a great day.

No more tree!

I love this truck!  27 years of work!

Look how much yard that tree took over!

Ever since I bought this house 2 1/2 years ago, I knew the tree had to go.  It was growing right up against the foundation, it accumulated a LOT of stuff (like toys), and it quickly clogged the gutter that it hung over.  It literally served no useful purpose.  It was a beautiful tree...IF it was away from the house!  But as it was, it literally started growing AROUND the house corners!  Someone didn't realize just how big it would grow when they planted it.  Too close to the house!

I was ecstatic.  I had to be somewhere at noon (for my own personal heat pump charging), and before we started today, I figured I would have to leave my brother and dad to work while I disappeared for a little bit.  But we had it all done way before then!  Perfect!

We unloaded the branches to be burned at Dad's house, and the project was all done by 11:00.  Woo hoo!!!

The tree ready to be burned!

I'll come back by to grind the stump tomorrow and then wait for the grass to grow in the spring.

I love successful projects!!!  Thanks, Dad and Bro!!!  Nice work!  This is a project that as 2 1/2 years in the making.  With an empty house, it was time to get the project done.