The Stump Is All That's Left

Several weeks ago, in fact just after Christmas, I got Dusty to help finish cutting down the Palo Verde tree from the front yard. You will remember that a third of the trunk split off and fell into the Jackson's yard. Well, Dusty being the obedient son that he is (his mother saw me cutting down the remainder of the tree and called him to help) came to help me get the other two big limbs cut down and into fireplace size chunks. We were having trouble with the old electric chainsaw, so we hopped into the pickup and off we went to Sears and The Home Depot to find a new saw. Would you believe it, we ended up at my favorite place, Ace Hardware, before we found a new saw. Dusty made short work of those limbs and now all we have is a stump. Oh yeah! Mary Anne stopped by to help gather up the logs and stack them in the wood pile in the back yard. I think she only wanted a ride in the wheel barrow! Well, a couple of weeks ago I started digging around the stump and this is as far as I have gotten. There just is not as much "animo" , that is Spanish for energy, as there used to be about twenty years ago. Actually, I have removed a little bit more dirt, but not much. I do have a number of roots cut and I even put a chain around the stump and hooked it to the pickup, but it would not budge. I decided not to pull to hard and break the chain and have it come flying into the back window of the pick up. I still love my pickup and it has to last me many more years. Maybe tomorrow I will get up enough energy to dig a little bit more.