the Way of the Turtle

Science Is Pretty Darn Nifty
Saturday, November 9, 2019

During the past summer it became evident that one of the fence posts in the back yard had rotted through somewhere below ground level - hey, it lasted over 20 years. A few weeks back I tore down the two sections of fence attached to it and started to dig out the 2 feet of post still down in the ground - and it very quickly became obvious that digging it out was not going to work, unless I was willing to dig a hole far larger than the one I needed to sink the new post.

Youtube to the rescue - where I found a video that suggested attaching a hitching ring to the top of the stump and then using the old post as a fulcrum and the new post as a lever to lift the stump out of the ground. Earlier this week I picked up the ring attachment, and today I actually found myself with sunshine and a little time, so I dug the hole out a bit more and did as the video described, and voila, the stump came right up. MUCH easier than the digging and chopping I did about a month ago. As a science teacher, I actually found it incredibly cool how easily the post lifted when I pushed down on the lever - when I grabbed the ring with my hand and pulled, the best I could do was wiggle it arounf a bit.

Now I just need to pick up some extra fill for the hole (a bag of gravel, to help the space around the post drain) and then I'll be able to sink the new post, attach the two sections of fence, and the job will de done except for breaking up the old sections of fence and putting them out for pickup on a trash day (and who knows, I might wait until spring to do that.)

JMH