Stump: A History

It was early spring, 2002 (I think) and I had planned a trip out to San Francisco to visit my good friend Kym. She had recently moved out to California to move in with her boyfriend Jared and this trip would be the first time that I was to meet Jared. They were living in a gorgeous little apartment on Potrero Hill that had a lovely back yard, and a huge kitchen, with plenty of room for us to hang out. It was during that trip (I have pictures!) that I was first introduced to the game up Stump. Jared handed me a hammer and Budweiser and told to flip the hammer and hit someone’s nail into their beautiful birch stump.It was then that the life long obsession was created. Unlike many of my friends, who had to hear me talk about the game before ever viewing it, I knew nothing of the game and therefore did not experience that characteristic response of “That sounds kind of dangerous!” I jumped right in and began flipping that hammer with all the enthusiasm of youth! We played a few rounds of stump that day, and few the next day, and I flew home to life as usual.

Stump remained a purely San Francisco experience until I returned home from a trip where we had played a particularly lot of Stump and I thought to myself, “I can do this at home too!” It didn’t hurt that I was dating a gaming fiend and drinking partner who, when I described the game to him replied, “So, when do we get our stump?”

It was January, 2004; the snow was falling gently through the bare trees at Lake Jeannette while Dan and I crunched through the frozen leaves to look for our very first stump. We found a wet, barky stump and carried it back to the car. We dropped in into the trunk and watched the entire cylinder of bark fall off the stump at once. This stump was our very first stump; it still lives in our backyard but is no longer usable as over 25 pounds of nails have been pounded into both ends. The sides are covered in bottle caps and other things we felt like hammering onto it. It is a beautiful stump.

As it began to fill up with nails we realized that we would have to find another stump and our good friends Ethan and Tom hooked us up. One night we came home to Dan’s place where we found a short wide stump sitting on the front porch. This stump became our new playing stump when we retired the previous and we played on that stump until it was partly destroyed during our first, and last, game of “fire stump”.

The rules of fire stump are essentially the same as regular stump, except that after the nails are tapped in, the stump is set on fire. I recommend using lighter fluid and saw dust. It produces a fire that is not too hot and that goes out pretty easily over time. The night we created fire stump was a crazy night, and unfortunately, we didn’t realize that the side of the stump continued to smolder long after the game was actually over. We retired that stump when our neighbors Janie and Josh gave us a new one from their stump pile in their side yard. We taught them Stump and after their gift, we had matching stumps in each of our yards. Hilarious! Unfortunately, we took this stump to someone’s house for a party and never got it back.

Which brings to our newest stump; anyone who knows me knows that this calls for great celebration. Which of course, got underway this past Friday night, when we dropped the thing into our backyard and began whacking it with a hammer. Since we had lost our last stump we had been playing on the half burned stump from Ethan and Tom, which still worked pretty well. We would have continued to play on the blackened stump if we hadn’t have discovered this new stump during a walk through our neighborhood.

Dan, Bronwen, Mr. Cavin and I were walking to Fishbones when we came upon a pile of stumps along the side of the road. They were beautiful, evenly cut, wide enough and high enough to play on. We examined them all and after dinner and a walk home, we drove back to pick up two stumps, one for the yard, and a table top stump, which we jokingly threw on the picnic table for games of “sitting down” Stump, which I am sure is entirely too dangerous to actually play.

Matt, Cavin, Chris, Dan and I got our respective drinks (beer, sake, Boone’s Farm, beer and sake), christened the new stump and played a few games. I won the first game, Dan the second, Cavin the third, and Chris the last. It was really fun.

This new stump is half cut through the middle so it has a satisfying hollow sound when you hit it, but it is much taller than any stump we have had which makes playing on it a little different. But I think it is perfect, and just in time for the summer! I am looking forward to more Stump and barbecue all summer long.

I'm ALIIIIIVVVVVVE! (use mummy voice)

Today, my life has totally changed. For the first time in over two years, I have not fallen asleep at my desk. Not only that, but my mind is clear, my brain is functioning, and my creativity is running wild.

I hate the CPAP machine, but it has made me feel like a normal human being again. Last night was the first time I have been able to strap that thing onto my face and fall asleep. With the help of a healthy measure of sake, I was able to fall asleep with it on, and keep it on the whole night.

Unsurprisingly, I felt tired this morning (I stayed up drinking sake with Cavin until midnight) but there was a difference. Normally, I would come into work and immediately pass out at my desk. But this morning, despite the fatigue, I sat at my desk, read and answered emails, did some writing and made phone calls without any of that crippling, uncontrollable falling asleep that has plagued me for what seems like, forever.

Did I mention that I hate the CPAP machine? And I resent myself for having gotten too fat to breath properly at night, but I have learned to be civil with that machine, and after today, I can’t help but want to use it again, so that I can continue to feel this way; awake, alert, aware, interested, and alive.

Pottery, hurray!

Tonight I am starting (along with my friend Chris) an 8 week pottery class at the Cultural Arts Center in downtown Greensboro. I have taken this class before and it was wonderful. Truthfully, I just spent all my time during the open studio, throwing as much as I could.

This time, I have plans for something great. I want to throw a sink basin that I can install in our upstairs bathroom. And of course, I want to make functional sculpture and beautiful bowls and teapots and plates and all that. Hopefully, I can get all of Christmas presents made in time for summer break.

I will post some pictures of completed projects as soon as things start getting fired and glazed.