The Stump Man

About The Stump Man

The oak groves still standing between Portage's newer streets and the dune country to the north drop plenty of work on this crew year-round, and winter just changes the tool from a stump grinder to a plow blade. Driveways cut through wooded lots get cleared first, since a fallen branch under fresh snow is easy to miss and hard on a plow blade that hits it blind. Once the drive is open, walks get shoveled to the door and any low limbs bent down under snow load get knocked clear before they snap onto a parked car. Properties backed up against the tree line get checked twice, since drifting off open ground piles up differently than snow falling straight down through a canopy. By the end of a pass through these wooded streets, the drives sit open and the trees above them stand a little lighter for the shaking-off.