Moving the Mulch Pile · · PAGE 21.

August 29, 2014: Friday is here and so is the remainder of the tree trunk.  It was cool this morning while I was doing my laundry in the garage.  I decided to do something about the pile of mulch outside before it kills the grass below it.  I came out to work on the pile with a shovel and a rake to uncover the green grass below.  I noticed the cable installer came by yesterday and buried the new cable to the house.  I put my shovel on the ground as a reference tool that is five feet long.  Before I started this morning, the saw dust mulch was even with the cable path that is about one foot from the end of the handle.  Look carefully and you will see where the grass has been disturbed up to the bush near the top center of the photo below.  I started to rake the mulch toward the center of the pile to get it deep enough to use the shovel and load it into my trash can with wheels.

I began to find pieces of wood and bark as I dug into the pile.  I may have been wrong about my statement yesterday about how far down the stump has been ground away.  I won't be sure until I remove all the mulch.

I took a break to cool off with some ice water and to finish up my laundry back in the garage.  I noticed the electric leaf blower and brought it out on the end of 100-foot long AC extension cord.  I realized this is a much better way to separate mulch from grass and "fluff" up the pile for easy shoveling into my black trash can for transport. It did not take long to find these pieces of wood buried in the pile.  The first thing I did when I turned on the blower was get the mulch off the concrete and the windows by the Florida Room.  This is the northwest corner of that room where I set up my camera for some photos near the end of the first day of work on the tree.

Looking at this next photo, the grass has a light brown tint to it where it was buried under the mulch.  The leaf blower is much better at separating mulch from grass.

The grass at the south end of the pile also shows the light brown tint compared to the grass at the far left side of the photo below.

The last piece of the tree trunk still sits on the neighbor's side of the property line.  A guy stopped by and introduced himself as the brother-in-law of one of the owners of the house next door.  He was taking some pictures for the owners who live in New Jersey.  I gave him the link to this part of my web site since they also have an part in this tree removal.  His name is also Jerry and he has an electrical engineering degree.

Here is the photo taken on day two showing the main tree trunk resting with part of it buried in the soil that made the mark above.

This surface tree root was buried under the sawdust mulch and was missed for grinding.  It sort of looks like the head of a movie dinosaur.  It is a hazard to the lawn mower.  Hopefully, we can get it removed.

Can you see the "dino" in this wide angle shot looking north.

The mulch is being moved to the area of the philodendrons.  I guess it is time to remove the dead trunk in the front of this group.

Mulch is easy to move with a trash can this size filled no more than two-thirds of the way to the top.  This is the same can I use to gather yard waste for the trip to the curb area where trash is collected each Tuesday.

Ed and two of the team came by late today to get the piece of the tree trunk.   He had installed a new chain and still could not cut it in half.  I reminded him the tree had been struck by lightning.  He mentioned seeing some trees that had the sap crystallized and could not be cut with ordinary chain saw blades.  They rigged this sling and chained the other end of it to the trailer hitch on the truck to pull the trunk up into the trailer.  It did not go easily, but was finally put in place near the axles.

Before they left, I spoke with Ed about the "dino" root I had discovered under the mulch and showed it to him.  He mentioned that big trees would have these issues.  I showed him how I was moving the mulch out back from this site.   He told me when I clear away all the mulch, to check the rest of the trunk that has been ground away.  If it is not all down to ground level and needs to be adjusted, I can call Allison to schedule another visit when they have the grinder available. 

The photo above was taken at 5:25 PM August 29, 2014 and shows some of the last results of my use of the leaf blower on the north side of the mulch pile.  At the end of the day after a shower and clean clothes, I went out to get the mail before rain moved into the neighborhood.  I walked down the side walk and noticed how the trailer drug the ground as they departed with the heavy load of the tree trunk segment seen in the photo above.

September 6, 2014:  I have completely uncovered the tree stump and have just a small amount of mulch that needs to be raked up in a pile and moved to storage near the philodendron plants.  I placed the tape measure on the ground as a reference to height of the tree roots above ground.   This is a surface root at the NW corner of the stump area.  The straight side of the tape measure is 3 inches near the number 25.  That puts the height of this root at 4 to 5 inches above the soil upon which the tape measure is resting in this photo.

This photo shows the south end of the trunk at the tape location.  The photo above is a close up  of an area just past the left side of the frame below.

Here is a segment of the photo above zoomed in on the root at the tape measure location.  The part of the root behind the tape still has bark on it.  To the left of the tape the trunk has been ground off.  The area where the tape is located was covered with the sawdust mulch chips when the grinding was happening.

I went down to the sidewalk near the street to take this photo.  It shows the ground elevation around the tree trunk.  That tape measure has FIVE inches of tape exposed making the top of the tape EIGHT inches above the soil at the end of the root I have traced with the wavy line.  The thin straight line shows the highest point at the center of the stump at about NINE inches above the low side soil.  The ultimate goal is to have the stump grinding to take the wood down to about 2 or 3 inches below the soil contour.  The remaining small pile of mulch I need to remove is to the left of the tape and closer to the camera location.

This last photo taken today shows about 3 to 5 inches of stump above the ground level on the East side of the trunk, closest to the house.  It is time to call Chris Jenkins to see when they can come by with the stump grinder to finish the job.  When the stump is 2 or 3 inches below the soil contour level,  The mulch and some leaves can be placed over the location or some sod can be placed here.

September 7, 2014:  I took a few photos today after a light rain.  I finished moving the last of the mulch back to the area around the palm tree and the philodendrons.  Now that all the mulch is gone, the light rain has helped to define the edges of the surface roots and the remaining tree stump that needs to be ground away.  This photo is taken from a point near the Florida Room looking southwest.  A few more days of light rain fall will help the grass to come back to what it was before the tree work.

This view is looking northwest and shows a 5-inch deep "hole" adjacent to the root with the "dino head" and the root that comes directly toward my camera location.  When the stump grinding is completed, I hope to have everything seen here ground down to be at or below the depth of that hole.  At that point, putting in sod that is easy to mow should be the end result. This photo also shows the black soil around these roots where the grass is not currently growing.  The leaf blower removed most of the sawdust chips to reveal these details.

Here is another wider shot looking north from the sidewalk to show the sloping contour of the soil and grass around the tree stump.  The most recent loads of transferred mulch are seen in the background near the palm tree and in front of the green leafy philodendrons.