THE TREE! (Warning: Whining ahead.)

[learnteach]

Ok, it's not a stump anymore.

Spent some hours digging it out completely. Ended up by flooding it, and moving the muck out. There's no dirt supporting it; it's held in entirely by the two conjoined roots in the back, which go through the post supporting the fence.

So, Goram it, now I have to take the fence down to get the stump out. That's about another 10 hours of work, not counting putting the fence back in place. (10 hours: clean yard, take fence down, dig out rest of stump.) If I use the chainsaw (which I need to return) on the unsupported stump the kickback would be dangerous, as I'll be leaning in to cut roots 2 feet below ground level in the pit, underneath another root.

Aaargh. This was supposed to be done within a week, so I could move on to the housepainting, which I was going to do before the rains came...a month so far, and only more work being created.

The next door neighbor and I have gone in on getting the fence fixed, so that fence is partially down. Joy and rapture. I'm getting to hate yardwork; I'm really tired of digging, and once I finish the tree, then there's the fence, and the front yard, and the back area, and the painting, and the trim, and and and.

FUCK. I need to get a real job so I can pay someone else to do this crap.

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Comments

[cvirtue.livejournal.com]

No high exposives, eh? How vexing! Good luck.

Not only are they illegal in California; in County, in City...

[learnteach.livejournal.com]

They'd collapse the sewer line, the fence, and probably the sidewalk, if I wasn't careful enough.

And you can't get them. And if you do, and use them, your neighbors will gladly turn you in. Because if you take out the main sewer line, everyone has to deal with the resultant pool of shit.

[maestrateresa.livejournal.com]

At the risk of being stupid, and betraying my complete lack of knowledge of things outdoors....If what you have left is 2 feet down, can't you just bury it and have done? Why must the rest of it come out?

What I have left is 5 feet tall;

[learnteach.livejournal.com]

the new roots under the old roots (that Morgan was hacking on for three hours) are two feet down.) The root ball, which is about a foot high aboveground and a 4' by 3' obloid, has roots going under the fence.

Re: What I have left is 5 feet tall;

[maestrateresa.livejournal.com]

Damn! Much clearer now, thanks (very visual, I :)

So much no fun :(
You have my profundest sympathies!

[patsmor.livejournal.com]

Wouldn't the stump-rot stuff work? And then you can just pull it out?

Ummm...No.

[learnteach.livejournal.com]

http://www.thestumponline.com/enemies.htm

(Humorous, sort of.)

Well, the stump rot stuff takes about a year, and works from the top down. At best. If I drilled the roots and put it straight in, still figure 6 months. The tree's been dead two years already; some minor decay has appeared, but nothing significant. Especially on the roots, which are tougher than the walnut trunk. Walnut also is an exceptionally durable wood, containing compounds with retard bacterial growth. There are active termites in the stump (BAD for the neighboring houses; it's like a plague corpse of termites if they get better established...which they're not.

As long as the stump is up, and the dig pile is open (uncovered, moved, etc.) the floating dust will muck up (literally) any paint job.

The stump is on the front side of the house, about 3 feet from the sidewalk.

Figure another week of digging every day, and pray I don't find any more obstructions. Then reconstruct the fence, and begin dismantling the stump for disposal.

Re: Ummm...No.

[anthraxia.livejournal.com]

And then give the stump to someone who will cure it and eventually carve it into a harp.
Beautiful! :)

Re: Ummm...No.

[cvirtue.livejournal.com]

It sounds like it's going to be well-dismembered by then!

Maybe many tiny harps.

[vew.livejournal.com]

However when done, you can point to it being done. Complete, finished and so forth....