I love power tools!

A couple of months ago I decided to begin removing some of the trees on the lake property in preparation for construction.  The mesquite trees have large thorns and drop lots of trash so they all have to go!  Many other trees are in the footprint where the house will be built, so they also need to go.  Finally, several small persimmon trees were scarred when the developer cleared the lot.  They are badly injured and may be susceptible to rot or insect infestation.

I don't need much of an excuse to wield a chain saw.  With Brenda's help I began cutting down those trees that no longer suited our plan and stacking the logs for later use in either the fireplaces or our grill. The thought of mesquite-smoked steaks fueled my labor.

My good friend offered to help me dig up the stumps and root balls.  He needed to rent a backhoe for some work on his ranch anyway and so we made plans to accomplish both projects during the same timeframe.  I have never operated any heavy equipment before (not counting a Boeing 737) and actually looked forward to trying my hand at it.  What a blast!

A backhoe is not a lightweight tractor with some extra equipment attached to it.  It is a powerful diesel implement that needed a special truck and trailer to haul.  Luckily my neighbor owned or borrowed everything necessary to transport the hoe.

The weeks prior to our project have been cold and rainy.  We were concerned about making too big of a mess, rutting up the lot and having to deal with lots of clay soil clinging to the root balls.  We postponed the appointed time to dig up the stumps twice, by a week each time.  This past Wednesday shaped up to be ideal.  The dirt was softened enough from the rain to allow the roots to be cut and stumps to be plucked easily.  Within four or five hours all the work had been completed and a huge mess remained.

On Thursday Bren and I returned to cut most of the remaining trees into logs and stacked them out of the way.  We also stacked many of the limbs into a pile for burning.  The work was satisfying and hopefully will have saved me some money in the form of lower costs for site preparation.  Besides, I wanted the firewood and needed an excuse to operate some power tools.