Not wanting to spend $100+ for a stump grinder to come out, having an excess of free time since I'm currently unemployed and having a few Lowe's gift cards from my recent birthday left me no choice. It was time to get an axe. A man isn't really a man if he doesn't own an axe. An axe will solve all your problems. I purchased this axe from Lowe's for about $30. I love it. If you're cultured in "The Simpsons" you'll understand when I say that my new axe is to me like Homer's giant lobster was to Homer. The axe doesn't talk back to me like the boy, nag me like the woman or need to be fed and let out like the dog. I digress.

As a do it yourselfer, you sometimes come across projects that are hard, time consuming and for which you have no idea what you are doing. Removing an oak stump was one of those projects for me. Googling "how to get rid of a stump" yields a plethora of information--some smart, some stupid, and some just downright dangerous. Here are some methods I read about:

• Hire a stump grinder service ($$$)
• Rent a stump grinder ($$$)
• Hack it to ground level and cover
• Use stump remover (potasium nitrate--fertilizer. Speeds natural decomposition, but still takes a long time)
• Pull it out with a tractor, truck or some other equipment you don't mind ruining
• Burn it with charcoal
• Burn it with diesel fuel
• Blow it up
• Folk remedies
• Combination of items above

Since I just need it out of sight for the time being and have no immediate plans to plant another tree in its place, I chose a combination of hacking it to ground level, burning it with charcoal, using stump remover and covering it.