Portsmouth

On Monday, Doug and I made a quick trip to Portsmouth, NH, to celebrate the stump being out of the ground and out of our life forever (except we left the stump in its proper brown paper yard waste bag for the garbage collector and he didn't collect it. So I guess it's not really gone after all...). Quick trip I say because we left at noon and were back at 6:30. We walked around the very center of town, ate lunch, Doug bought some pink flamingos for the yard, and I bought a pair of shoes. That was the extent of our trip. But it was fun! We saw the John Paul Jones house. I remember as a kid learning about this guy and always wondering why he had the same name as the guy in Led Zepplin. It always takes me a minute, too, to think of who John Paul Jones really is.

Anyway, here are some photos of our trip. We'll have more fun photos to share this weekend, too, as Doug and I head to Brimfield on Friday. Doug's seeking a dresser and I'm seeking... nothing, nothing but a good time.

Doug covets this pair of slippers. I smell birthday present in his future....

Doug eats his burrito at The Friendly Toast. Thanks, Mike(Michael) for introducing us to this place. The food is good and the ambiance is cool.

This is part of me at The Friendly Toast. All of me was there, but only part of me made it into the picture. I think this is supposed to be... artistic.

This is little Dedham Square. Isn't it cute? There's a little more to it, but not much, really. But it's now home so we're fond of it.

Stump, fish... a busy weekend.

So, first let's talk about the stump. It's out! Thank God, the stump is out! This is a true Christmas miracle, and we have our helpful and handy neighbor to thank. I believe his name is Joe, so Joe, thank you, thank you, thank you! Doug and I would still be out there if it weren't for you.

I'll give a brief recap because I know that Doug will be blogging much more about this, most likely with a whole bevy of photos, too. Anyway, we got out there with the stump early, and quickly decided that the shovel, trowel, and keyhole saw weren't going to do the job. The stump had just too many deep, thick roots, and the soil was too rocky to get the shovel and trowel in deep. Doug called his father to see if there were any alternatives to chain saws (my father offered a saws-all, but we would have had to have waited until they came up again for that and we wanted this thing out). Joe recommended a grub axe, so off we went to Home Despot looking for a grub axe. We didn't see one, but we saw something in the axe department that seemed similar - a cutter mattock (which, to us, sounds much more like the name of a baseball player than a garden tool). So we put this cutter mattock into the cart (and as I'm driving the cart towards the register a friendly HD employee tells me, "You be careful with that thing," with no bit of irony to his 40-something year-old voice), along with a watering can and some batteries for photo documentation, went home and started axing. Here's Doug axing. We alternated trying to chop the stump to death, and realized that it would work, that we were making progress, but that the fence posed a problem (don't want to chop the fence up) and because of that we would be out there for years trying to work around the fence. Like manna from heaven, though, neighbor Joe happened to walk by with his little dog, Mason, and said, "So, what's going on here?" And the rest is history. He offered his help, got a pulley from his garage (he has a pulley in his garage!), wrapped it around one of our many tress, and after much sweat and a little bit of grunting, the stump was gone! Out! Yanked out of its hole. We didn't take any photos of the actual removal of the stump because we didn't know if Joe wanted to be photographed, but here's Doug holding the evil stump after it came out: Once the stump was gone Doug worked on filling in the empty stump hole while I mowed the (brown and dry) lawn with our reel mower. I rather like this mower, but I do think it will only work well when the grass is basically dead.

So that's the stump story. Another story from this weekend - the new additions to our Dedham family. No, sorry to disappoint, they're not cats (though in a moment of weakness on Friday night we were tempted by this fluffy gray and white kitty at Kitty City). We got 5 new fish on Saturday, three cory cats and two fancy fan-tailed gold fish. The cory cats are a little hard to photograph, as all they do is hide in the fish toys, but here's Stanley and the Cheeseman: Stanley's on the right and the Cheeseman's on the left. They are adjusting nicely to their new home, and Big Red could care less that they're there. This is better than fighting, though, or hissing or scratching, and so I think we made a good decision by getting some more fish and not another cat. One more photo of the new aquatic family for the road:

The stump, part 2.

Not that you need a minute-by-minute update of the stump episode, but we are at the point where we are truly considering the chain saw. We don't really see any way around it. Doug is on the phone with his father, who knows a lot about yard stuff, to see if there are any alternatives to this chain saw idea, but if he doesn't suggest anything reasonable we're getting a chain saw. We cannot deal with this bush anymore. We trimmed it down to the very stump, but the thing is that there really isn't a stump. It's just a hundred branches all growing together, combined with little other branches of things, leaves, spiders, and a whole colony of snails. It's even two stories - there is a taller stump jutting off the base stump. It's amazing. We are out of batteries for the camera, otherwise we'd be able to take pictures. I don't even know how to describe it. All I know is that it's 11:33am and we are still working on this stupid stump and we are both miserable. And feeling defeated. Not a good project for us to tackle for our first yard job!

Let's see what Joe has to say, retackle the stump, and then we'll of course update you again.

(Update - Joe has recommended a grub axe. What is this?)

We've been stumped.

Today Doug and I continued our lawn project. Last week we took up some bushes and trimmed a lot of stray plants. This week we removed some stumps that were too big for our limited tools last week, and decided to tackle this thorny plant that I hate and that Doug was at one point (God knows why) attached to. I got his permission to start ripping the plant out, so we started that job. And we are still doing it. Probably will be doing it for the entire fall, too. It has too many roots. Too many deep, thick, winding roots that our shovels and loppers just can't penetrate. And the frickin' boulders that are buried in there with the roots don't help, either. It's not easy shoveling rocks. At about 4pm we got in the car to go to Home Despot and rent a chain saw, but decided against it not too far down the street. Instead, we're saving the rest of the stump project for next weekend. When we get our new oven. Next weekend will be a good weekend.

Right now I'm supposed to be thinking of a place to go to dinner. The stump really wiped us out, so we're not cooking tonight. At first I was thinking Greek, so maybe going to the Farmhouse Grill, but I don't know if I want to drive that far. I do like their puréed squash, though. It's super tasty. We don't know many local places yet, and most of the local places are chain restaurants. I could really go for Blue Ribbon. Problem is, by the time we got to Blue Ribbon it would be late, and then I'd want to bring the food home to eat while watching television (it's been my dream all day long to sit my behind on the sofa and watch some television), but by the time we'd get home it would be cold and I wouldn't want to reheat it because reheating it just isn't the same. We'll probably get Dedham House of Pizza again, but I really hope it doesn't come to that. DHOP is actually not that bad, but what it is is greasy. And fattening. And we don't really need that at this point. Yes, my vote is for Blue Ribbon, but it's just not that convenient anymore.

Maybe a shower will help the decision-making process. I am greasy with suntan lotion and sweat, and also muddy with caked-on dirt. Oh, was today a messy, dirty, tiring day. And the stupid stump is still in the ground! That's the kicker. It is truly humbling to be beaten by a thorny bush. Well, I won't say beaten, since we haven't given up yet - we're just tabling the project for a week. Maybe the squirrels will come along and nibble away at the exposed roots of the bush and when we go out next Saturday to finish the job we'll just be able to pick up the stump and put it in a lawn bag. Oh, now that would be a treat! I'd like squirrels then.

Shower. Food. TV. Sleep. That will be the rest of my day...