Stump Grinding Again, Moving the Mulch Pile · · PAGE 22.
September 11, 2014: Thursday and the guys
from Jenkins Tree Service came back to do more stump grinding. Some of the grinding
goes 6 inches or more below ground level, but not all of it. The end result of
previous grinding still had tree trunk above ground level that had been buried by the saw
dust pile created by the grinder.
The grinder ran out of gas twice as there was much to do, as seen by the size
and depth of the saw dust.
The crew left before lunch and I took this photo when I came out after lunch.
I had moved two loads of mulch before lunch and several more after lunch.
This photo shows a portion of the trunk near the center. There is still a
lot of trunk and roots covered by mulch. I used the leaf blower to uncover this area
near the middle.
I took this photo to show how much saw dust was thrown up on the windows and
the roof. Saw dust was also thrown into the plant area near the wall. The saw
dust covered the leaves that are on the ground around the plants.
With the loss of the shade provided by the tree that is now gone, I put up some
insulation against the single-pane glass windows. This photo shows the saw dust
thrown up from the stump grinder. I used the leaf blower to remove it after taking
this photo. The insulation behind the foil is half an inch thick with a plastic
layer on the inside of the two panels I cut to fit over the windows. The panels are
hidden from view inside the bedroom by the vertical blinds. The afternoon
temperature in the bedroom is definitely cooler. A single 4 by 8-foot piece of
insulation cost about 10 dollars at Lowe's. I bought it the same day I picked out
the tiles for the living room.
I noticed another dead tree limb on the ground near the palm trees close to the
northwest corner of the lot. The fallen limb was not there this morning. I
looked up to see a couple of more dead limbs that could fall when the wind blows hard
enough.
Two more dead limbs could fall soon from the neighbor's tree that has a limb
over our two palm trees behind the house.
September 13, 2014:
Saturday is a good day to catch up on chores. Getting the mulch off the grass around
the tree stump location is again on my agenda. I started in the morning to move
mulch in the wheeled trash can as usual. I kept the camera on my tripod to take five
photos of my progress before and after lunch. Each photo in this animation displays
briefly in a continuous loop. Watch the shadows move from one photo to the next.
I placed the leaf blower as a height reference before I moved the camera down
to the sidewalk to see the relative height of the mulch pile above a part of the stump as
seen in the last of the five animated images seen looping above. The handle is just
barely above the mulch as seen here. The top of the handle sits 12 inches above the
floor when I put the blower on a level surface. Taking this photo gave me a chance
to get out of the direct sunlight.
Here are three more animated photos taken from the west side of the pile as I
continue to move loads of mulch. Take notice of the shadow movements in these pix.
The first of the three images has the red blower pointing toward the camera.
It is in the same location as seen from the sidewalk and almost totally hidden by the
mulch as seen in the photo just above.
The hottest part of the day is the time to take a break, cool off with some ice
water and frozen grapes and post these photos. This one is a parting shot of the
view from near the northwest corner of the Florida Room. The mulch seen here is the
same amount as in the last of the three animated photos seen just above.
September 20, 2014:
Here is the update on the results of the last stump grinding to bring it down to
ground level. The resulting sawdust pile created during the grinding covered some
areas that did not get the attention needed. Here is the stump clear of any sawdust
mulch. The leaf blower has been placed in the same place as seen in a photo above.
The surface root indicated below could be a hazard to a lawn mower when grass can
again cover that area.
The view from the sidewalk now shows the 12-inch high pile of sawdust mulch
that has been removed. The black trash can is about 3/4 full of mulch to be spread
over the low spots that remain in the tree stump area. All the other mulch created
from stump grinding is piled around the Tree Philodendron plants in the background.
I have not yet raked the mulch piles into a uniform ground cover. This photo
clearly shows the ground contour around the stump area lower on the west side (left).
Here is the previous photo from September 13 taken from the sidewalk showing
how deep the sawdust mulch was piled on the ground.
This current view shows two areas where surface roots remain along the west
side of the stump and could be a hazard for lawn mower blades. If there is to be any
final stump grinding done, the yellow-outlined area between the two surface roots should
also be lowered to allow for a clean sod installation without raising the overall ground
level too much.
Here is another view from the other side of the stump area looking at the
surface root seen at the right side of the photo above. The photo also shows some
difference in height of the center area with grinder marks clearly visible. I don'
think that difference is going to be an issue since the center area will be buried under
mulch before any grass sod would be laid over this area.
The parting shot shows the whole area with a red outline where mulch already
been spread into a low area. There is still sawdust in the surrounding grass area
that needs to be raked, then blown toward the trunk area to give the grass a better chance
at full recovery.
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