May 13, 2026
On May 1, Bruce’s reign of terror and destruction continued as he once again worked on removing Pine Tree One’s stump. He wasn’t going to let a little thing like a moat stop him!
A new player entered the field to pull the stump out, Cliff the Big Red Truck. For those of you who are new to my blog, Cliff the Big Red Truck is a RAM 3500 Dually with the max tow package. We used the truck to pull our Riverstone RV (21,000 pounds) when we were full-time RVers.
Cliff the Big Red Truck is a long-time minion. Through thick and thin, he has always been able to do anything we’ve asked of him.
Bruce directed Cliff the Big Red Truck, to get ready to pull the stump from the moat.
When Bruce told Cliff the Big Red Truck to pull out the stump, the response was, “Let’s do this!”
As Cliff the Big Red Truck backed up, there was a loud cracking noise. The last of the stump roots had broken free! 
Cliff the Big Red Truck returned to his parking space after a job well done.
The destruction was halted for the day.
It was time to use the tractor to help with hilling the potato plants. I really am not sure if we waited too long. The plants were 6 to 8 inches tall. The potatoes hadn’t bloomed, so I’m hoping it wasn’t too late.
To hill the potato plants, Bruce scooped the Bama Dirt Pro Mix with the front loader. He drove the tractor around to the exposed side of the tall raised garden bed. Bruce lowered the front loader to an easy height for us to reach. This allowed us to remove the dirt from the bucket. Using our hands and a shovel, we were able hill the dirt around the potato plants.
We repeated this process until all the potato plants were hilled.
It was a very busy day. Did you notice the hay artwork to the right of the “Bed Filled and Hilled”? What does it remind you of?
Blackberry Homestead 
A Golden Doodle facing the fence! Or a big ole lion.
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Bruce said a Golden Retriever. I thought it was a lioness looking for the cows!
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Golden Doodle was my guess too!
What will you do with the stump now? (I wasn’t expecting shrews to be living underneath!)
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It is fun to see what our minds come up with.
We weren’t expecting shrews either. Stay tuned to learn more about the defeated stump.
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I hope you are proud of me for showing a great deal of restraint and not blurting any comment about “shrews” on the homestead. I had to bite my tongue. 😈
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So, how much blood dripped out of your mouth after biting your tongue? 🩸 It didn’t do you any good because I thought this, “Restraint, what restraint? He may not have blurted it out right away, but he did find a way to share.” 😆😂🤣😂😆🙂
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Cliff to the rescue! Well done.
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The mighty Cliff!
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I thought it was a lion.
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Me too!
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Yay for Cliff the Big Red Truck! Mission accomplished.
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We are expecting the is be Cliff the Big Red Truck’s mission for us, as he’ll be sold.
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