Nothing beats a small waterfalls and a shallow rock littered pool to attract dirty birds.

This waterfalls is part of the project I helped with to obtain my latest Rock Ranger. When I went back to take some photos I caught a pair of Grackles taking a bath. First the male flew in.

Grackle – Quiscalus quiscula

Then a female joined him.

The male ‘showered’ and left quickly while the female stayed behind to freshen up a bit more.

Let me zoom in for a closer look at the bathing beauty

She dove in and with one last flurry put on the finishing touchs.

grACKle

Now you know where the title of this post came from.

This waterfalls was part of the job I helped with to obtain my latest Rock Ranger. All I really needed to do was to set the sandstone slabs for the patio. The contracted landscaper (EarthWorks) had laid out the general outline, excavated the area and provided a strong back to lug the slabs to me. The strong back proved to be more than capable and I let him finish the work once I had setting done. He did a good job of filling in the holes.

The BFR in the foreground is one of the little finishing touchs I added.

Stepping back from the waterfalls the stream comes into view. Just to mention – the waaterfalls and stream are fed by a solar pond pump. It doesn’t flow at night or on cloudy days (about 4 hours on battery pack) but it sure beats paying the eletric company.

Stepping back even farther the pond comes into view.

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I was feeling a bit grACKlish myself lately. I had a bout with Diverticulitis and nearly lost. I’m feeling much better now but no where near normal. After 8 days of a clear liquid diet I admit I’m still a bit fuzzy headed and weak as a dead kitten. Just writting this post has exhausted me. Time to sign off and take a nap

The original plan was to make this boulder into a disappearing fountain. I had to put a plug in that idea and turn it into a bird bath instead.

I cleaned up and defined a path to the bulkhead using moss covered rocks and crushed stone. Once the rest of the area was mulched it became obvious that some kind of focal point was needed. Nothing wanted to grow under the hemlock tree in the full shade so I figured it was time for a BFR*. The home owner thought of a bird bath. I hammered out a compromise.

Using a rotary hammer drill I drilled a circle of holes and used a chisel to chip out a rough hole about 4 inches deep, just enough to allow me to use the 18 inch bit to drill a hole through the boulder. (it was going to be a fountain) Getting the rough hole was the easy part and only took minutes using the hammer drill. The boulder sat in my yard for a couple months before I got back to it.

I finished the basin with a 3 lb. hammer. I pounded on that rock for about 4 hours.

I was happy with the results.

It does look better wet.

I’ll be making some more of these.

*BFR – Big Freaking Rock

I wasn’t looking for work. I was just talking ‘garden’ with someone my wife knows when the subject of the driveway and a retaining wall came up. The home owners were planning on having a block retaining wall built before paving the driveway. I cringed at the mention of block and then had to go open my mouth about how much nicer real stone would be.

BW – Before WiseAcre

Last year some drainage work was done along the side of the garage. It was plain to see the retaining wall the excavator built was only temporary. It did hold the soil back but you can see it had a bad leak at the bottom. Make a note – retaining walls need to extend below the grade.

Day 1 The morning was spent digging out along the garage and removing the landscape timbers. I got lucky and found a deep base of sand so there was no need to haul in stone dust for the base. Instead it was off to the quarry to get the first loads of stone. Unfortunately the first day had to be called short on account of a wicked thunderstorm. No way was I going to wave my steel bar around with lightning strikes nearby. At least we got the heavy stuff off my helpers truck before having to flee.

Day 2
My truck remained loaded over night. That’s nearly a ton of stone on a 1/2 ton pick up. Say what you will about Ford but their little Rangers can handle a load.

Once my truck was unloaded we headed out for two more loads. By the end of the day the job was showing some progress.

Day 3
My old truck, now belonging to my helper was taking some abuse and I could feel the hesitation on his part to continue hauling rock. I couldn’t blame him, I may be an idiot but he isn’t. I worked alone, got a load and barely managed to get the next slabs unloaded before calling it quits. It really is too hot for this kind of work in my condition.

Day 4
Back I went to set the stone slab steps. It took about 3 hours in the heat.

What’s the next step? I haven’t quite figured that out yet. I’m debating whether to use some field stone to build up the right side of the steps. I’ll go rock hunting tomorrow to see it i can find something I like that may work both aesthetically and functionally. The only problem with large boulders is they’re so much harder to move. They have a tendency to roll off the ramps when loading and unloading. On the plus side – they’re free (on my land) and I don’t have to drive 100 miles (round trip) to get them.