We pulled out a tree stump on Saturday.  It was the strawberry tree next to the raised beds outside the kitchen window.  It was a beautiful tree but very messy and providing shade where none was desired. 20 years old, 20 feet high, and over a foot in diameter.  The roots were large and many.  It took three guys over three hours to chop and dig away so that the tractor could pull it out.  I decided to remove it last week   after realizing that that space was where the outdoor fireplace should go, along with an extended patio.  It is nice to have the luxury of studying, living with, building sites before designing structures. It makes for much better decisions, with vineyards and sheds and pools and ball courts and gardens and fences, etc.   It is sad when a beautiful tree, 20 years in, is in the wrong place.  But these strawberry trees, of which we still have 6 or 7, are very messy.  We also pulled out 5 of these trees last year from the front yard, and had moved 7 of them 6-8 years ago, into much less tarvelled spaces.  These other strawberry trees, however, were all dwarf versions, now maybe 10 feet high.

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