Today's big news - the stump is no more. Several months ago I called a guy down in the McCoy Apartments about grinding the the stump. He said he would look at it and give me a price. He kept promising to look at it and finally when I tried to find him again he was gone. So, I called Wilson Tree Service. They said they were busy and it may be a while until they could get at it. A couple of days later they came by and gave us an estimate. I gave them the go-ahead and yesterday he called and wanted to know if he could do it that afternoon. I met him at the house and he checked it out and said he would be there about 3:00pm. I suddenly realized that we had not marked the underground utilities. He said not to worry he wouldn't go that deep (famous last words). I left to meet with Kurt Schwendiman about some new water meters we are putting on the churchs. When he got in the pickup I asked how deep the water lines were and he said about 30". I said, "how about the gas", and he said, "about 12-18". When I told him why he said, "I'll take care if it". He dialed up his buddy at Avista and said he needed a gas line marked in 15 minutes. The guy said, "no problem". When I got home in about half an hour it was all marked. You just have to know the right people. It took the guy about an hour to grind it and it cost $235.00. In my mind it was worth it. This morning I started at about 9:00am and hauled probably 30 wheelbarrow loads of "stuff" out. I put it along the south side of the house, back by Ben, and finally - behind the junipers against the back fence. I shaved off he grass around the hole and washed all the chips in. Now I need to haul in about 1/2 yard of dirt. That's another day. I did find a 10' Autumn Purple Ash at Crossroads Nursery for $52.00 dollars. We'll probably get that in a couple of weeks. I plan to plant it in the center of the little grass circle between the old stump and the mound where the Mugo Pine was.
The weather has been nice. It was in the 70's Friday but today it clouded over and was in the 60's. That was nice while I was hauling the shavings.
The weather has been nice. It was in the 70's Friday but today it clouded over and was in the 60's. That was nice while I was hauling the shavings.
Seth and Lacey will move in at the end of next week. It will be fun to have them here (more smores on the deck).
Mom gave her big Power Point presentation on Wednesday. I looked at it on the computer and it looked very professional. She will be through with this class in a couple of weeks. That's about it for now.
Love, Dad and Mom
