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+---
+title: Dynamite and the Old Snag
+---
+
+_I can't remember the precise time of this memory. My best guess is that
+it happened during the Summer between one of my later high school years
+or perhaps one Summer between university semesters at BYU._
+
+Dad was developing a large parcel of land to break it up into smaller
+lots for building homes. This often involved building a road through the
+forest. Dad had a Caterpillar that could handle most of the forest
+clearing and leveling that was necessary to create a good access road.
+However, he occasionally came up against an obstacle that required
+blasting with dynamite. He asked me to go with him to help out with the
+blasting. I was all over that like "ugly on an ape". Anything that
+involved blowing stuff up was high on my list of cool things to do. This
+probably contributed to my later interest in pyrotechnics and "energetic
+chemical reactions".
+
+On this occasion, the obstacle that was too big for the Caterpillar to
+handle was a large "snag" pine tree. It was an ancient old beast that
+was about 5 feet in diameter. The trunk was about 40 feet tall, but the
+top of the tree was missing. It probably snapped off in a wind storm a
+hundred years ago and had been rotting in its vertical position ever
+since then. It was too rotten to attempt to fell like a normal tree. It
+could easily break up and fall in an uncontrolled manner. Thus, the best
+solution was to try to blast it with dynamite from a safe distance.
+
+The first step in the process is to open a hole under the stump with a
+small charge. Dad cut one stick of dynamite in half for the job. He used
+a special pair of plyers to crimp a blasting cap on a 2-foot piece of
+fuse. Then he used the pointy end of the plyers to make a hole in the
+end of the half stick of dynamite. He stuck the blasting cap in the hole
+and Bob's your uncle. It looked like a large fire cracker. Then Dad used
+a 6-foot heavy iron pry bar with a sharp end to make a small hole in the
+ground just beneath a few of the big roots of the ancient tree stump. He
+then placed the big fire cracker in the hole and lit the fuse. Dad
+started walking casually away from the tree stump. This told me there
+wasn't too much to be afraid of, but I had no idea how much power was
+contained in a half stick of dynamite, so I booked it out of there in a
+bit more of a hurry.
+
+The sound of the charge going off was more like a "thud" than a loud
+boom like you see on the TV shows. It was kind of like a big T-Rex
+stomped on the ground just to let you know who is the biggest "baddest"
+dude in town. When we walked back to the old stump, sure enough, there
+was a nice little cave under the stump. It was just right for placing in
+it the big charge that would truly get the job done.
+
+This time Dad got out a five-gallon bucket and poured about 20 pounds of
+ammonium nitrate fertilizer into it. These were the typical small beads
+that looked about like tapioca before you add the water and cook it.
+Then Dad poured about a gallon of diesel fuel into the bucket. After
+stirring the goop with a big stick, he said that should do the trick. He
+then prepared a small bundle of about5 sticks of dynamite that were
+taped together to form a nice tight cylinder. He prepared a fuse with
+another blasting cap crimped on the end and inserted it into a hole he
+made in the side of one of the sticks. Finally, he poured the ammonium
+nitrate goop down the hole under the stump and carefully shoved the
+bundle of dynamite as far into the hole as he could reach.
+
+This time the fuse was about 6 feet long to give us plenty of time to
+make some distance between us and the stump after lighting the fuse. I
+remember running with Dad about 50 yards away where we stood behind the
+truck and watched the fuse burn. It was just like in the old movies
+where the fuse made lots of sparks and smoke as it burned. It seemed
+like we watched the fuse burn for about 5 minutes, but it was probably
+only about 20 seconds. The excitement and anticipation were thrilling to
+a young guy like me who had never seen a real dynamite explosion before.
+
+This time, the sound was much more impressive. It was a big ka-whump
+that shook the ground and filled the air with a big cloud of dust. Rocks
+and chunks of rotten wood were thrown into the air about 80 feet high.
+We had to keep our eyes looking in the air for a while to make sure none
+of those big rocks were going to make it all the way over to where we
+were standing. It took at least a few minutes for the dust to settle
+enough for us to see what had happened. When the dust finally cleared
+Dad started to laugh. The big old stump was still standing, but now it
+was only about 8 inches in diameter. Apparently, the charge had blown
+away all the rotten wood, but there was a solid core of wood that was
+strong enough to resist the blast.
+
+It just goes to show ya that when it comes to people and old stumps, you
+just can't tell what's really inside by looking at what's on the
+outside. We had no idea that that old stump had a solid core of wood
+inside that was strong enough to survive a sizeable blast of explosives.
+And just like that ugly old stump, the funny-looking kid next door could
+have a heart of gold when you really get to know him. The moral of the
+story is... don't trust your eyes when it comes to judging a stump or a
+person's character. The skill of "looking upon the heart" takes a lot
+more effort than a mere glance with our mortal eyes.