My trusty Ford Ranger continues to put up with my abuse so I thought I’d give it (and myself) a break and haul something a little less back breaking.

Normally I’m hauling close to a ton of sandstone. When ya pay $100 for whatever you can get on the truck I have a tendency to go a little overboard.

Regardless of the type of stone the loading process is basically the same. First you’re going to need a long bar to lift the front of the rock high enough to get the first roller under it. With the truck backed up to the intended stone use ramps, rollers, chain and a come-along (hand winch) to slowly get it on the truck. My ramps are nothing more than three 2 x 4s nailed together.

One thing to remember – the rollers act as a steering wheels. Make sure they’re aligned to go in the direction you want. Even the back rollers need to be aligned correctly or the back end of the rock will swing in the direction they’re pointing.

Did I mention slowly? Rounded boulders really don’t like to be off the ground. They have an inherent fear of gravity and a nasty habit of jumping off the ramp. You have to coax them along a little bit at a time. This one had a fairly flat bottom so the loading went smoothly.

Easy as cake. Well, you try to get my wife to bake and you’ll know what I mean.

Go ahead and try this at home. If you don’t have a place for one I’m sure your in-law’s driveway would be a great spot to drop it off.

A purple sandstone walkway on Judson Street is finally finished. Now a few more boulders need to be placed and the beds will be ready for spring planting.

From the boulder I placed last week – the false stream bed is in place but needs more assorted river rock.

That Hosta has to go – that area is the sunny spot and I’m planning on more sun loving flowers there. A mass of coreopsis (Zagreb most likely), a smattering of coneflowers and Brown Eyed Susans and creeping sedum lining the borders. But that might all change. I reserve not to know what I’m dong until finished.

I’ve thought about digging out the island bed and lining it to hold wet soil. I’d like to plant some Ligularia and Yellow and Blue Flag Iris but the space is small and that just might not work out as I vision it.

On the far side of the ‘stream bed’ I can see a boulder in each corner. I’ve got a couple of nice weathered rocks in mind that will match the one along the walk.

I like the weeping pea tree in the island bed along the driveway. The bed is mainly planted with Iris, Coreopsis, upright Sedum with a couple of spots left for ‘undecided’. Like I said that Hosta has to go.

I loved this job. When the home owners said they wanted to eliminate the lawn – I was all ears. Originally the walk went straight to the front steps from the driveway. One requirement was that the garden had to be low maintenance. Rock is about as low as you can go. So a false stream bed was added to eat up space and to add a little interest for winter when the plants disappear.

The only lawn left is under the truck. Next year that area will be turned into a shade garden – I don’t have enough Astilbe planted yet

This is one of the last stone projects I will do. I’m afraid I really messed up my back beyond it’s ability to heal this year. I have a large patio to finish and after that I’m going to call it quits.

One last walk – finally finished. It only needed to be leveled off but had to with 2 months before I could pick up my bar.

I’m now working slowly on finishing the patio in Lisbon. I probably won’t finish this year. I got another kink in my back and am going to take a bit more time off.

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