Sonnier vs. Tree Stump: Round 2

Score:

Sonnier: 01

Tree Stump: 02

My small but devoted readership seems to consist mainly of friends and family who are now spread across this great nation of ours, which is comfortable and just how I like it. Over the summer I have seen many of you in person for either a holiday, wedding, or family gathering before my brother goes to Iraq. Without fail, many of you have asked me when we met, "So how's it going with that tree stump?"

This is funny for several reasons. The first reason being that I had no idea that the post about a tree stump in my back yard would generate any interest at all. The second reason that it is funny is because I haven't gotten back to dealing with the stump because I have spent EVERY weekend since that first post either out of town or entertaining guests at my home and fielding questions about the stump. Needless to say, it's been a great if not exhausting summer and I've enjoyed seeing everyone.

This weekend marked my first opportunity to return to the stump, and here is how it went:

We begin with the stump glaring at me


As I walk up with my tools


So I start hacking away at the ground around the stump, hoping to get under it, only to find a complex and awesomely bad-ass network of roots. This stump obviously has intentions on staying right where it is, as evidenced by this root system:




After quite some time, I managed to make some progress. Very little, but progress nonetheless. The two following pictures are of the same hole shown in the previous picture, sans roots, and those very roots strewn about the yard as I slowly destroyed them and the world they'd previously known:




So I wasn't able to get under the stump on account of the time and energy it took to remove all of those roots. Maybe next time.

At this point I started getting pretty hot, despite the cool post tropical storm, pre-hurricane breeze and the cloud cover preventing the sun from eating my flesh


As you can see I had to remove my shirt, thankful for the high fence surrounding our yard. I kept working a little longer but began to get weak. I should think about quitting smoking and not chugging beer while I dig. I found myself leaning on the side of the house far too often, making a muddy handprint mess all over the place.



That's pretty much when I decided to call an end to round two. Here are a few pictures of my digging and safety equipment, all dirty from working so hard, and an unidentified object found while digging:






And finally, here is a picture of the stump next to my shoe. I wear a size 12 shoe. I provide this to give you guys some reference as to how big this stump is.


Many more rounds to come folks! I refuse to pay someone to remove this stump, at this point. I also refuse to spend any money for chemicals that will eat or burn the stump to dust. For now I want to take the cheap route of digging and cutting until I emerge victorious. I will kill that stump and you guys will be there with me the whole way through. Hopefully I can get at it again this weekend.