Gardening is in my roots

Item # 113 on the honey-do list....'till up a spot for a garden'...I like fresh veggies, I can dig that! :D
Being as our 'back forty' is laid out in feet instead of acres, I felt root bound by the lack of placement options. As stumped as I was, I simply dug right in.
And, as is par for the course in my life, I chose the exact spot where we cut down an old elm tree about 13/14 yrs ago. You can tell by the included photo's that the only thing rotten about the whole thing, is...my luck! To top things off, 'Bandit' {our youngest of 2, four-legged kids} usually has no qualms about where he digs...But he was of no help today in getting started, though he did bark some.... Euell Gibbons has nothing on me after today's ordeal. Anyways, hope some of you are pulling for me....please someone help pull, I'm plumb tuckered out :thud:
Honey-do lists are the root of all evil :(;)

Stumped1.jpg Stumped.JPG
 
Actually, I was thinking that half a stick of 40% dynamite, with a 25# bag of ammonium nitrate on top of it, would take the stump right out of there. Probably get some complaints from the neighbors, though, what with the broken windows, and all...:D
 
Yeah right, Bobcat Boy. You would have dug halfway to China trying to get that stump out, just because you can. :rofl:

I'll bet that stump is in there solidly enough to stand that Bobcat on its nose if he'd try to use the forks. Even with the bucket, the hole'd end up being 25 feet across before the stump comes loose. Back to thinking about dynamite...:D
 
I've pulled a couple of smaller stumps with bob.

The backhoe bucket has a 'thumb' for it that allows you to grip things and pull.

It's actually pretty surprising how tenacious a small tree's root system can be.

But you'd at least be able to dig a big trench all the way around to get down under it. By the time you did that, you might as well just keep digging and put in a pool!
 
Embarrassed to say, but, since I'm out of dynamite, ammonium nitrate, will power and patience....the raised beds win, I surrender! This morning I hosed off a ton of dirt and slapped an old chain on the chainsaw, no such luck as entwined in the roots were rocks & broken concrete...that was the final straw....now where's that 'head hung in shame' smiley :(
 
I've dug a few stumps in my day. Patience and persistence are required. Digging bars, axes, saws-anything you have to attack that thing. You can do it! Don't give up yet-it will succumb. You are stronger than some old stump. The sense of accomplishment when it finally lets go is worth it. Git er dun!
 
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