Pulling stumps out

The last 4 days have been spent pulling out stumps from around the garden shed.  About 6 years ago we cut down some real old and large juniper shrubs that were planted next to the old pool house and current garden shed.  After we cut them down, we moved on to something else and there the stumps were left to make me trip over them at least three times a summer.

We really had absolutely no intention of digging them up until we found this........

that's right steps.

These were buried under a foot of soil.  So to make the steps usable, we will need to lower the grade.  AND before we could do that we will need to remove all large stones, boulders, and stumps.  After today we have two remaining stumps to remove.  The rain we received last night and today have helped soften the dirt and make shoveling slightly easier.

The steps are in fairly solid condition except for one tread that has cracked in half due to a tree growing in a little crack.  We think we can mix some mortar and set the two broken pieces back in place. I love the detailing on the front of the treads.

On the woodpile front......after several no shows, the guy says he's showing up tomorrow to pick up the remaining wood.  Speaking of no shows.....I've been Craigslist selling a ton of stuff that we no longer need. The number of no shows is staggering.  One guy dragged his feet and had me hold something for three days for him, while two other people wanted the item.  He finally showed up 3 hours late and then wanted us to come down on the price.

But it is great to get rid of extra stuff even if it means having to put up with spammers and flakey people.