Keeping up with removing trees on the property is a constant challenge. The reason for yelling timber can occur for various rationales .
Old trees which have succumbed to disease or bugs, are dangerous while suspended in the sky, hanging on by a thread.
A healthy forest requires thinning.
The forest supplies us with firewood every year.
Clearings are needed for gardens.
Trees are removed to be able to put up new structures.
This was the case with several trees that were located right where I wanted to put up a new metal building that would double as a shop, and a garage for 
With most of the trees that I fell, the stumps can remain, but not the case with the one in the following pictures.
Not owning and heavy equipment and not wanting to fork over hundreds of $$$$ to rent a backhoe, I will usually tackle the job of getting the stump out of the way manually.
This one took me half a day before it was below grade.
Over the years I have removed several hundred stumps in this fashion, it is very labor intense.
Well, this would not be the case with the stump pictured in the following photos.
Bring it on.
While making repairs to Uncle Lou's barn, Chris rented this piece of heavy equipment.
https://steemit.com/homesteading/@thebigsweed/to-me-homesteading-is-lending-a-helping-hand
With the work completed on the barn, and with the backhoe still on location, Chris asked me if there was anything I may need done before the machine was picked up the next day. The first thing that popped into my head was a stump that I have wanted to remove for several years. Knowing that removing this bad boy would take several days, it was always at the bottom of the to do list. In a blink of an eye, it made the top of the list.
As he drove the backhoe down the road, I was smiling from ear to ear.
What made me smile was twofold.
My first thought was, where else would you be able to drive a piece of machinery like this down the middle of the road.
The second reason for my smile was obvious, I would not be sweating bullets while removing this entrenched old guy.
While sitting on my bike with Opy, who came along for the fun, Chris made short work of a job I had put off for years.
Let the games begin.
With the massive roots holding on for dear life, Chris dug around the root ball for ten minutes, before being able to budge the stump.
With the roots snapping under the pressure of hydraulics, the stump was loosening its grip on the ground it had called home for 77 years. This old Ash tree had the growth rings to back up its age.
Cradling the massive root ball in the huge arm of the backhoe, he made small work of placing in in the woods which would hide its existence by next spring.
Chris spent the next several minutes leveling the ground with the huge bucket, and the job was complete.
What would have taken me several days was completed in under an hour.
In this neck of the woods, one hand tends to wash the other. What a great way for people to interact.
