This weekend, I wanted to split the cord of piñon Sherm and I harvested from our friends' place in Santa Fe. However, on Saturday, the one log-splitter Home Depot had (not the close-by Depot, but another down on Coors) was rented out. Undaunted, I decided that I would cross another chore off the list by renting a stump grinder. The nearby Depot has two stump-grinders, but both times I have gone there to rent one, they have been either rented out or broken.

Stump grinding is really hard work. I seem to forget between grindings just how punishing rotating the fast-moving teeth back and forth across a stump can be. I did get at most of the giant elm we removed when building the casita, and I took care of the peach stump by welding shop fence. I also touched up some of last year's stumps, an apple stump and an unidentified one by the back gate. Finally, I remembered to attack an old plum stump. All in all a good day's work.

When I went to return the grinder, the splitter had come back. I rented it, and once home proceeded to begin splitting the pile of logs in the driveway. Sunday, I pushed the splitter behind the studio and went to work splitting sections of the old elm, whose stump I had been grinding the day before. I split wood more or less continuously until I had to return the splitter to the Depot.

I would very much like to own a splitter, if only I had a place to put it. However, I think I will in the future leave stump-grinding to the professionals.

I was unable to completely split either wood-pile, but there is now enough room alongside the studio that we can install some wood racks, once our welder-neighbor is done fabricating them.