WiseAcre Gardens

Getting a boulder on a pick up truck is easy. All you need is a BobCat with forks.

Getting it off is another story. I’ll try to make it short.

It’s not going to unload itself so the first step to moving it by hand is to reduce the friction between the rock and the truck. Reason and dialog won’t work so you have to use what ever leverage you can to slip a roller under the rock as far a possible.

Using my weight scales (mud flap distance to the ground) I estimated this rock to weigh in at 1600 Lbs. Too heavy with no room to get a bar behind the rock a more creative way of persuasion was called for than a simple bar lever action in order to move the it forward.

Here’s where a chain, a come-along and a ramp used MacGyver style outwits a rock. Just pull down on the lever to pull the *BFR towards the back of the truck. Repeat as necessary until the rock is ready to roll.

Here’s the point things can get hairy. These longer rocks hang out and over the ramps. You never can be sure where the tipping point is so sometimes they come down hard when they keep extending out farther and farther before finally dropping. When that happens it’s best to run for cover. One time both ramps got snapped like toothpicks and the end of one went flying over the cab of the truck. I really don’t want to think how close it came to knocking some sense into my head.

This time the movement went smoothly and the rock rolled right as expected. Now it’s time to use fulcrums and the bar. This is basically the ‘crew’ position. Insert the bar at an angle, push down (thereby lifting the rock) and then ‘row’ letting the rock settle at the end of the stroke. Repeat as necessary. When dealing with something this large inches at a time make great strides.

Another position is the ‘Hernia Lift. Drive the bar into the ground under the rock at an angle. Lift and push at the same time. The rock (on rollers) will swivel.

This is the ‘don’t worry, you have enough kids’ position. With fulcrum in place this is basically the same maneuver as the ‘crew’. Only this time there’s so much weight that it might be necessary to throw a leg over the bar and sort of sit on the lever. It works but sometimes things slip.

One last move and the rock will be set in place. OOPS!

After getting rid of the evidence that I goofed up the rock is ready to display.

So this is one of the many things I do for fun and profit. There’s not much profit in it so I figure I must be having fun.

If you haven’t guessed by now a BFR is

Big (insert F…ing word here) Rock

I wouldn’t call rippled stone rare but you won’t find it easily. Every now and then a small amount gets pulled out of a sandstone quarry and I try to claim it before someone else does. It’s hard to imagine these ripples first formed millions of years ago by wave action on some shoreline and since that time have been set in stone.

The least I can do is return it to its natural habitat.

This is basically phase one of the Morley Library Raffle winner’s prize. I’ve removed the plastic ‘waterfalls’, the broken cinder block ‘rocks’ and leveled out the area. Now it’s time to play.

A good play day later.

The rippled stone is in place and once again has the company of water.

My pond garden gets a spring clean up. Finally.

Note the tree stump in the upper left hand corner – The Maple tree that is no more used to provide shade for my Ligularia and Jewelweed. I think the Ligularia will handle the extra sun but the Jewelweed is going to suffer. Not that that’s a bad thing – the Jewelweed sprouts everywhere and a little help controlling it is appreciated. Yea right – I’ve planted some Yellow Jewelweed seed I collected last year.

I want to do more of this. I just love a stone wall emerging from water. The Sweet Woodruff growing out of the cracks only ads to the charm.

Stone bridge over the drainage ‘ditch’ along the driveway. All part of the plan to get the vegetable garden dry before the end of may. The crushed stone dry stream is also part of the ‘easy maintenance’ pond overflow.

There’s a dam at the end of the pond I lower to drain and flush the pond. One reason to drain the pond in the winter is to keep frogs from trying to overwinter in it. The pond is way too shallow (only a few inches deep) so before they start to think about burrowing in I drain the pond, forcing them to seek better shelter elsewhere. They don’t have far to go though, my plot is surrounded by swamp.

A look at another bridge in the ‘construction’ area. Where the hand dolly is laying was flooded not that long ago. The spring melt usually fills the area about 8 inches deep. I haven’t decided if I want to make it a permanent pond or put in a drainage pipe to carry the water away.

The wall will get done sooner or later. It’s just that I suffer from Shoemaker’s Syndrome. I probably would never have started but I came across some stone that I wasn’t going to let anybody else have.

I call this Bubble Rock. It has to be the only pieces of stone like this around. How it formed is a mystery to me but it’s mine, mine, mine. All mine. Those Jewelweed seedlings in the crack are mine too but they’ve got to go.

I guess the best way to describe it is it looks like half filled water balloons that hardened into multicolored stone. The sandstone quarry had never seen anything like it before and probably never will again. There were only a few pieces and I took them all. They just begged to be in a water feature and I couldn’t say no to them.