Grindin'

Very soon after Mark and Hattie moved into their home, the lone tree in their back yard blew down in a bad storm, laying down a few sections of their fence in the process. We were fortunate enough that the tree fell into the alley, and before we could get the chain saw out - a city crew swooped in and cut up the tree and threw it into a truck and left us with nothing but a three foot tall stump in the back yard (that, and the wrecked fence which Mark and I fixed shortly there after...). A bit later, I borrowed another chain saw and we cut the back yard stump down even with the ground, and Mark also took out a large yaupon in the front flower bed near the front door.

This summer Mark was determined to rent a stump grinder and finally rid themselves of these two stumps. With a couple of days of summer left - he finally decided to get 'er done! We drove to the rental place early in the morning and picked up the smaller of the two units they had available.

Of course, first order of business was to peruse the operator's manual. Didn't really learn anything more than what we knew already...

The unit consists of a gasoline motor mounted over two wheels, with the operator handles to one end and a cutter wheel mounted at the other end. You position the grinder such that the cutter wheel just reaches the near edge of the top of the stump. There is a brake lever on the left side which you engage to lock-in the left wheel only. This provides a pivot point which you use to sweep the cutter wheel side-to-side as it tears into the stump material.

A closer shot of the cutter wheel beginning to do its business. You take small "bites" at a time as you sweep the cutter back and forth across the stump's edge. Once you complete this location's cutting, you disengage the cutter, release the brake, and move the unit to the next position to cut some more.

Here you see we've worked our way completely around the stump at least once, chiseling away the material.

The process is repeated over and over until you run out of wooden stump material to grind. What you are left with is a hole with lots of dirt and wood chips piled all around.

Once you've ground it all up, it is simply a matter of filling the hole back in with the dirt and wood chips, and then encourage the grass to take over!

Here's Mark working on the yaupon stump in the front flower bed. This yaupon had been a large, multi-trunk bush - but we found that when we got down into the stump part, it was just a large ball of wood. But, the machine was very powerful and little by little, we got the job done here as well.

Using this machine certainly does not take the work out of the job - it is very tiring! Though we got the job completed by around noon - it was still quite hot. Horsing around the cutter and applying upward pressure on the handle to engage the cutter was still pretty exhausting. However, it would have taken days to dig out these stumps by hand using pick axes and shovels! In the end, we were glad we had the mechanical beast to help us get it done...

Tom

A Little Dab (of paint) Will Do Ya

My sister Marcene and I visited with our Dad and his wife Lucille last Friday. They are always busy going somewhere or doing something so we were glad they were available for us to drop by and take them to lunch. It was sort of a last minute decision.

Below is a picture of Lucille's latest project. She took an old dresser that was being used for storage out in their shop, updated it and then moved it into their bedroom. It was part of the bedroom set two of my sisters used when we were growing up. By removing the mirror, painting over the maple stained wood with this dark red color, and changing the drawer pulls, they now have a great looking piece of furniture! They have added storage and since it no longer LOOKS like a dresser, doesn't compete with the dresser that is a part of their own bedroom furniture.

I thought it turned out great!
~Nancy~

Oh Deer! Happy Birthday!

A couple of weeks ago, the taxidermist in Hamilton, Texas called to let Tom know the deer trophy from last November was completed and ready for pick-up. Since we were going to be going down to New Braunfels last week, we decided to drive the scenic route and pick it up.

Wish we could have timed it for a break at the Koffee Kup in Hico, but it was too late for breakfast and too early for lunch when we happened by. We settled for a soft drink at the gas station across the street.

We found the place and after admiring the taxidermist's handiwork, headed on to Lampasas where we stopped for lunch at a BBQ place.

Don't you think it looks nice? We have it hanging above the bookcases in the office.

Every thing is soooo very dry! Instead of summertime green landscape, it looks like winter time when the only thing green are the cedar and liveoak trees. Sad.

We were making our trip to New Braunfels to help Tom's mom celebrate her 92nd birthday! For her birthday dinner, Linda and Larry, John and DD and their daughter Debi, Tom and I and Wilma ate at Ryan's Buffet. It is her favorite place to eat and since it offers a wide variety of foods everyone ate well.

We headed home Saturday after lunch and for once I-35 actually flowed. There was a good bit of traffic, but we were able to go the speed limit the whole way. Nice visit, but we were glad to be home.
~Nancy~