Two Down, Four to Go

It’s been frigid cold, with rainstorms, flash flood warnings every day since Friday, except for yesterday, when we got a break in the rain just long enough for me to run to the market and for the tree people to begin work on grinding down the stumps remaining from when they murdered all the trees in the grassy knoll.

How it started ………

How it ended ………

It took them about 3 hours to grind down the large stump, 2 hours on the second and, by then, it was obvious another rainstorm was about to begin, so the guys called it a day.

I just hope the grinding of stumps to dust doesn’t result in another round of vengeful tree spirits.

It was actually kinda fascinating to watch the process through the window, as I sat on the edge of the bed drinking coffee, which led me to later look up the handheld machine the guys were using.

Learning it’s called a "stump grinder", I then had to know who came up with an idea like that, learned it was a happy accident — "Gary Vermeer invented the first modern stump grinder in 1956 …… the invention was spurred by an accidental test in 1953, where an operator's mistake caused a prototype to grind stumps five times faster by moving sideways instead of forward and back".

At any rate, that’s 2 stumps down 4 to go, as the guys are back at it this morning before it starts raining again.

Returning from the market yesterday, I noticed a fairly new tenant around the corner has already put up Christmas decorations.

Inasmuch as tradition dictates decorating the Day after Thanksgiving, that neighbor is decorating a little early. However, I can’t fault her for being in a hurry for Christmas to arrive because, though tomorrow and next year is not promised to me, I've already begun planning next year’s Halloween costume.

Today is the "Thanksgiving Social and Tenant Council Meeting". I’m expecting to be disappointed, but it will give me an opportunity to find out what the seniors have been up to and if MAGA and Talker are still beefing.