See, you get yourself 3 or 4 good pals; then you've got yourself a tribe. And there ain't nothing stronger than that.

That line of course came from William H. Bonney a.k.a. Billy the Kid as spoken by Emilio Estevez in Young Guns.



I fully recognize that most of my avid readers are the women of the Bryant, Pearson, and Bunkall families. I thank you for following the life and times of "ME", but ladies if you will please hand over the laptops to your husbands because this entry is a MAN BLOG! Really anyone can read, however this entry isn't filled with pretty pictures of my boys or how I "feel" about something. This blog is a tale of guns, chainsaws, trucks, and of course words I learned while on the farm.




This is our family tree. When we bought our home 8 years ago there were only two trees in the front yard. We planted some trees along the park strip to ensure we would have some trees when we were ready to cut down the big cottonwood tree. Sure it is a pretty tree that provided much shade for our family to play under in the hot summer months. However everyone should know that cottonwoods are a poor mans tree. They grow quickly, but are very week and love to blow over onto your neighbors house. This tree is less than 1/2 the size it would grow to if we were to let it continue to grow. Short term it's a great tree, but long term it had to go. It would be a chore to remove, but the longer I wait the worse it's going to be; so I begin.



It all began on Saturday after Dad and brother-in-law Brian came over to go shooting. The ward had our turkey shoot where we went to the other side of Utah Lake and shot hundreds of clay pigeons. After a terrific showing at the competition (let's just say Jills got a turkey to cook sometime soon), Dad and Brian helped me fall the tree.



Normally you would just fall the tree in one cut, but because I didn't want to take out my neighbors cars, house, or my house for that matter, we took the tree down in pieces. Sure a branch landed on the house and scared the bejesus out of Jill and Landon, but the tree came down without incident. So this is what we had at the end of a long Saturday.



Later the next week I spent hours digging around the tree and cutting out the root system so a neighbor could come by and pull it out with his truck. My neighbor came over and we pulled.....and pulled. Even his big diesel powered Ford truck couldn't pull this tree from the root system that held it in place. A few other neighbors came over and after 5 men spent 2 hours digging, and picking, and chainsawing, we tried again. This time the stump actually moved!...about 2 inches.

One of the neighbors had been teasing the other because he had been driving a Ford. After he continued to chide, we called him out, and he brought over his Dodge diesel powered truck. Surely with TWO high powered trucks the root ball would come up right? WRONG!



it did budge a bit, but did not come free. We spent another few minutes digging deeper around the root ball, and finally just before we were ready to give up, it happened!



It finally broke free and the two trucks working side by side were finally able to accomplish the task. I find it symbolic that it took the Dodge and Ford to perform the job. This of course can be used in a good Priesthood lesson about diversity and working together we can accomplish more. Old and Young, Black and White, let us rejoice in our differences and use our individual strengths to "pull out the rootball" problems in our lives.... For a minute I forgot my audience in this blog entry is for the men. Sorry Men. Better put, with 5 men digging cutting and pulling, 2 full size trucks, and the grace of God we pulled that damn thing from the earth that held it in her clutches!



Of course a huge shoutout to my neighbors who helped me. Without you this would not have been possible. It's good to know I've got such great "pals".