that lilac stump

When we bought our house almost two years ago, the back corner of our yard had kind of a weird dirt garden area. It was behind the apple tree and between two large lilac bushes. 

I really like lilacs, but these were so overgrown they were taking over. Last summer we cut them down. And there was a rhubarb plant tucked behind one that we'd never seen. We've been talking about building a shed in this back corner but who knows when that'll happen - there are lots of things we'd like to do. But Memorial Day weekend Terry decided to take that stump out. You can see below what it looked like before we dug it out. It's kind of funny how Terry planted new grass around the stump and now the stump is gone and we need even more grass. 

Terry did most of the work while I was at the store. When I returned he was standing on a lever he had made out of a post and hacking away at the roots. Poor guy was covered in sweat and dirt. He had used a car jack to try to hold the stump up so he could get at the roots on the bottom. Then he used a chainsaw! But once I arrived I was able to apply leverage to the post he had wedged under the stump so he could cut away at the few remaining roots with a shovel. With my weight, we got it done pretty quick. Terry got his workout that day!

Stump laying sideways in the hole.

Then we had to decide how in the world we were going to move that stump. It was well over 200 pounds. Terry had the idea to tip it into this pool which was trashed anyway.

The stump was HUGE! Terry put a rope around the bottom of the stump and he and I drug the mammoth (which was inside the pool) to his trailer on the side of the house. Then his dad came, he and Terry loaded it into his truck, and Jerry planted it on the ranch somewhere. Hopefully it'll take. We couldn't kill the thing!