A few weeks ago my dedicated neighbor George’s efforts to till the central part of the Bluecircle came to an abrupt halt when the rotary tiller encountered a 6″ honey locust stump.  A few hours and a greasy mess later he was able to repair the broken chain drive, but collateral damage included a broken tine on the tiller.  Worse yet, the gear box emits a nasty clacking and will need further diagnostics by the local repair shop.  As George put it, “No matter what college you go to, you have to pay tuition”.  A Google search of this phrase produces 4,120,000 hits, but it appears to be a unique bit of Chicago construction site wisdom.  

We will be in the stump-removal business before any more work tilling in this area, and add the tiller repairs to lessons learned in the field.  I think I may also mark the remaining stumps a bright Hoosier Red as a reminder of this entry-level course in field preparation.