Sometimes We Do Things the Redneck Way

And Happy Memorial Day to everyone.  To kick off the unofficial start of summer, we decided to knock a few projects off the list.  On Saturday I prepped the family room, eating area and kitchen for painting, and today I got busy and painted.  It's only taken me 3 years to get the upstairs walls (almost) all painted.  It looks so much better to have a non-disjointed color scheme!  I'm not done painting; doors and frames, and moldings and baseboards still need to be painted, but at least the walls are done!  I think I'm going to ignore the detail painting and start on the common areas of the downstairs which need some serious love.  Dan kept Miles busy while I painted.  Nolan mowed a neighbor's lawn.  Jonathan was at work.  After the paint job was finished, Dan and I tackled the next item on the list... stump removal, the Redneck way!  We had 3 stumps that needed to be attacked.  Digging them out was proving to be fruitless.  Dan went and got a chain and wrapped it around the stumps and hooked the other end of the chain to the truck.  He used the truck to pull the stumps out.  My job was to watch for slippage.  I must admit that it was fun watching what a V6 engine can do to a stump, and how hard a stump can fight back against the engine.  The 2 evergreen stumps came out without too much of a fight.  The Aspen stump had other plans.  After pulling on it with the truck to no avail, Dan starting digging around it to see what he was dealing with.  The stump has roots that are at least 6 inches in diameter. They also are growing straight down.  We hacked at some roots for a while, then re-chained the stump to the truck and started pulling on the stump again.  It still wouldn't budge.  Dan says the stump is staying put. The stump won the tug of war contest.  Dan hauled the 2 evergreen stumps off to go rot somewhere.  I came in and untaped the areas I painted.  Nolan mowed our lawn.  Dan weed-whacked.  Jonathan came home from work.  I cleaned out a section of the garage.  Dan and I went and got some dinner (we tried out a new Indian food place.  It was good, but not awesome).  We came home and planted a new tree in one of the stump holes.  Hopefully, in 5 or so years, that area of the yard won't look so barren.  I'd say today was plenty productive.

Oh wait, I got hurt today!  I was stepping off a 3 foot high stool and stepped directly onto one of Miles' current obsessions- a can of Black-Eyed Peas.  The can rolled and I crashed hard.  I have a gnarly bruise forming on my left forearm.  Later in the day, as I helped Dan lift the stumps into the wheelbarrow, the wheelbarrow bucked and slammed into my calf.  I should have another impressive bruise forming there.  Lucky me!