Going, Going, Gone

We arose early on Friday to an emergency at Lindsay's house since their garage door would not open due to a broken spring.  Chris was able to ride in to work with a neighbor, and once we took Owen to nursery school, we helped Lindsay pry open the door so that she could get their cars out.  Then off she went to work also.

The last two trees were not filled in well at the bottom
and were too tall at the top.  They needed trimming
away from the gutters on the house.

The second tree was smaller and easily came down.

We came home and decided to tackle the last two trees.  We were able to get both of them down and the first one to the yard refuse dump before we headed back to Lindsay's to meet the garage door repair man. He must have thought we were a real gem of a couple since both of us were in grubby clothes and filthy from taking down the trees!  We offered no explanation.

Lindsay met us at home just as the man finished installing the new springs on the door.  It took him all of 15 minutes to do the job.  Ah, what the right set of tools and lots of experience will do for a job!  With that catastrophe averted, we headed back to our house to pick up the truck and take the last tree to the dump.

Three stubborn stumps await removal.

On Saturday our task was to try to pull the remaining stumps from the ground.  We had to buy another tow strap so that we would not have to chew our lawn up with the truck.  The stumps proved more resistant than I imagined, so they took some real effort to get out.  One reason was that as we put tension on the tow strap, it grabbed the bark and slid it right off the tree stump.  What was left under the bark was a slick substance that coated the entire stump.  Naturally, at every cut branch, however, was sticky pitch.  Although the roots were not terribly deep, they were numerous.  After a good battle and numerous tries, we were able to get everything uprooted and into the back of the truck for one more trip to the dump.

A clean slate awaits new bushes or trees.

So now we sit with a bare garden.  It looks better than the scraggly trees that were there, but we do want to replant the area with something.  Rick is opting for more trees.  He wants something that is "geometric and symmetrical." (Ha!  As if those scraggly trees were...)  I want to try lilacs or hydrangeas; I want something that will add color to the yard, but something I can still prune with ease.  Rick thinks they would be "too bushy and untamed."

We tried trees.  They were boring.  We'll have to see what the nurseries offer.