Shane

Our beautiful redbud tree in the backyard was sickly this spring and died in mid-summer.  Our estimate to have someone come in, cut it down, grind up the roots and plant another tree was $700  to $1000.  Too much.  Even though the tree was about 20 feet tall with a eight inch diameter trunk, I decided to do it myself.

I bought a bow saw for $10 and cut limbs for three weeks and hauled them to the street for pickup.  I started digging this week.  Some of the roots were as big as my forearm so I bought a long-handled, double bladed axe for $29.

For three days I dug, chopped roots and dug some more.  On TV shows of  woodsmen, they make clean cuts with axes.  I couldn’t hit the same spot twice.  I would hit a root so many times, the fibers would just give up.  

I needed motivation yesterday and I remembered the scene in the movie, “Shane” where Shane and the farmer, the little boy’s father, worked together and bonded while cutting a huge stump out of the ground.  I visualized myself as Shane while I swung the axe.  At the end of the movie as Shane rode off into the sunset, holding his side, with blood seeping through his fingers, the little boy cried out, “Shane, I love you.”  I tried to get Aloma to cry out to me, “Shane, I love you,” but that didn’t work.  So I silently said it to myself.

When the hole was about three feet deep this morning, I was able to pull on the trunk enough to expose the remaining roots.  I cut them and rolled the stump out of the ground.

While walking into the sunset with my aching body and my hand over my racing heart, I heard the little boy call, “Shane, I love you.”  It was all worth it.

Seasoned Man

stevelem117@gmail.com