Lawnbott Chronicles: Herman, Slayer of Trees

A couple months ago, my wife and her father planted a willow tree in the front yard. They bought a sapling about six feet tall and lovingly placed him in a low spot where he would be able to soak up the sogginess that is our front yard.

A couple weeks ago, the tree was looking pretty sad. The wind had bent the trunk so the upper part was parallel to the ground and we thought we would have to stake the trunk to keep it from falling over.

Last week, the willow tree righted itself and finally started looking healthy. The trunk was straight(er) and we praised the tree for standing it's ground.

Also last week, I put Herman back out in the yard after his winter break. All was well until...



Apparently, Herman strolled up to the tree, popped his front wheels off the ground, and eviscerated the trunk with 3200 rpm of "I just came out of hibernation and I'm hungry" FURY! While I find the idea of owning a robot that topples trees exciting, my wife was very upset. We got a new sapling that same day, but this time we barricaded the area for protection...



My wife now takes great joy in laughing at Herman when he fails to eat her tree.

We're going to take the old stump and plant it in the back yard (another soggy spot) and give him a chance to show off that fighting spirit yet again.