Tag Archives: rocks

Rockin’ and slowly rollin’.

July 1, 2022 Rivergirl 46 Comments

We took a short break for lunch after getting the first half of stone stacked at home and then headed back out for the rest.

Me.

Dirty, hot, and sweaty but smiling ear to ear because I was surrounded by rocks.

While the yard man was picking up the second half of our stones with the forklift, my husband met a Marine. And if that wasn’t bad enough… he was also a fellow Vietnam Veteran. Much talking ensued. Sooo much talking. By the time they were done gabbing and ready to spread the rocks in the truck bed, the husband decided he didn’t want to go to the extra trouble and told the kid to just set it down as is.

I disagreed. Vocally and quite loudly. Naturally, I was ignored. I lamented hurting his new (old as dirt) truck and kept saying it wasn’t worth the risk of straining the engine and suspension. For that? I got ‘the look’. You know the one, the “how dare you question my manly logic?” look.

We drove the 25 odd miles home on the back roads at 30mph with a squatted rear end and an overheating engine. The truck strained big time and we realized this second load was much closer to 2,000 lbs than the 1,500 we thought. 5 miles from home the temperature gauge was pegging out. I begged him to stop, but no. I swear at that point he would rather have blown his engine than admit I was right.

We made it home, barely. With a smoking hood and a radiator that was literally boiling. I could hear it… he couldn’t (because he’s half deaf in one ear, thank you USMC) ergo it wasn’t happening.

Men!

You really are a ridiculous species.

As the truck temperature came down from surface of the sun hot, we got back to work…

And made a lovely little pyramid of stone. We’re definitely going to need another pallet or two to complete my vision of the perfect garden border. He says no, but trust me this is nowhere near enough.

Can’t say that I’m looking forward to another trip like that though.

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So we bought some rocks.

June 30, 2022 Rivergirl 17 Comments

After a full day of shopping for rocks…. the sheer joy of it made my heart sing!…. a decision was made and we returned the next day to make our purchase.

I tried unsuccessfully to talk the husband into a few prime boulders…

But settled for a pallet of fieldstone. Rule #1 of working with stone? If someone agrees to build you a garden border… don’t push your luck.

Because the husband’s new (read – old as dirt) truck only has a a half ton capacity and a pallet weighs 3,000 lbs… I wanted to have the stone delivered. But the fee was $150 so my thrifty spouse wanted no part of that. The compromise? Split open the wire, divide the bundle and spread half the weight in the bed.

This was hot, dirty work but we made the first trip home safely.

And then stacked the rocks in the garden they’ll be bordering.

1,500lbs of stone seems like a lot more when you have to keep moving them.

To be continued…

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Rocks. Glorious rocks!

June 29, 2022 Rivergirl 19 Comments

It has begun.

The search for rocks to build a new border for my defunct perennial bed is underway and I can’t tell you how thrilled I am.

We went shopping…

For rocks!

Did I mention the aforementioned rocks are not cheap? Many rocks will be needed for this project so we drove around all day to multiple yards to compare prices.

So.

Many.

Rocks!

I think I died and went to heaven right on that spot.

This will be our border. 1-3” fieldstone. 3,000 lbs a pallet.. and at $458 per it was the cheapest we found. The bed is 10’x20’ … I say we’ll need two pallets , maybe 3 for a finished bed border… the husband says we’ll start with one.

Silly man. Doesn’t he know you can never have too many rocks?

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Ogunquit Cliff Walk cont…

June 6, 2022 Rivergirl 21 Comments

This is the quintessential Maine coastline for scenic photography….

And selfies.

It is also one seriously beautiful stroll.

With lots of access points to the beach below.

If you’re willing to take the risk.

Did I mention there were rocks? Over a mile of glorious rock filled shore.

And a few weirdos up on the trail.

This is a wild beach rose, they’re everywhere along the Maine coast and the cliff walk is lined with them. It must be wonderful when they’re in full bloom, but we were a tad early and only saw a few here and there.

I could have easily plopped myself down on one these benches and spent the entire day.

The mini lighthouse pops up out of nowhere…

And the rocks?

They soothe my soul.

👍

To be continued…

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Random nonsense

October 10, 2021 Rivergirl 18 Comments

While I’ve been known to enjoy some oddly flavored beer …

That’s a hearty no from me. Pretzels belong in a bowl on the bar… to make you thirsty for more beer… not in the bottle you’re drinking. Blech!

For the first time in over a year, I lost a game of Scrabble to my husband. But in my defense?

Even Noah Webster would have a hard time with those letters.

We had a nice rain storm pass through recently so the husband and I took to the barn porch with adult beverages. He was interested to see if his leaky gutter repair worked ( it did ) and if his strategically placed rock ( which I told him was too small ) would protect the lawn from a rain induced pothole. ( it partially did )

And in case you’re wanting a piece of jewelry to commemorate the shit show of the last year?

I have just the thing.

You’re welcome.

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Rock Steady.

July 31, 2021 Rivergirl 11 Comments

Day 4, the finale.

And because no project ever goes smoothly at Casa River…. when they reached the end, something went wrong and piles of rocks had to be removed and replaced.

And right after I filmed that utterly riveting video (that WordPress decided to cut and only load half, for which you should be grateful)? They disturbed a mouse nest and were attacked by one royally pissed off mother rodent. But finally… late that afternoon, it was declared finished.

Okay, so it looks a little pregnant in the middle due to a slight bump out.

But at that point I don’t think their aching backs cared.

Before:

And though I do miss the curved corner, after:

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

To be honest, he dug this one down too far as well… and I still wish it was taller on the high end of the grass. I’m not complaining just to complain…. but I’m the one who has to pull all the grass and weeds that blow in there from the mower because it’s too low.

But it looks a lot better than it did…. and in 10-15 years when Maine’s notorious frost heaving and shifting earth crumbles this one? We’ll probably hire someone to rebuild it again because we’ll be too old and decrepit. Maybe then I can have a high wall.

🤣

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Rock on.

July 30, 2021 Rivergirl 13 Comments

Stone wall rebuild… Day 3.

The end was in sight.

And I thought they were almost finished…

Until I caught them at the large (also slightly crumbling) stone wall behind the choke cherry tree.

The dreaded cannabalization had begun.

Robbing Peter to pay Paul….

And now sections of the big wall look bereft.

Good thing they’re almost done.

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Still rocking’….

July 29, 2021 Rivergirl 19 Comments

Day 2 of the stone wall repair.

Did I mention the day lilies were blooming?

Progress was made, but it was slow going.

Building a rock wall is like assembling a giant jigsaw puzzle.

Where some of the pieces weigh 300 lbs.

One rock put in, two rocks taken out.

It requires a lot of contemplation. And more silent cursing of the wife who made you do it..

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Holiday weekends rock.

July 28, 2021 Rivergirl 19 Comments

But at our house, not in the way you might think.

This is one of our stone walls. It’s the smallest and has been falling in on itself for years.

Mainly because when my husband built it 19 years ago, he didn’t listen to me and dug it level to the higher edge of lawn.

You can’t tell but there’s over a two foot difference in height there.

Anyway… on July 2nd, the start of the holiday weekend, I came home from the grocery store and found this.

Because the husband decided July 4th was the perfect time to redo the corner of the wall where stones were starting to slip into the ditch. He enlisted a friend, dug a trench and figured this jerry rigged engineering marvel would work.

A slab of untreated wood, a line of black stakes and yes, God help me… roofing shingles to hold back the dirt. Not what I would call aesthetically pleasing.

There was a discussion. Followed by a heated debate. Which turned into the beginning of an argument. I offered multiple solutions and they did not go over well. Naturally the husband wanted to do as little lifting as possible because, you know… rocks = heavy. But if you’re going to rebuild a wall? You can’t just do one section, and after some (not so) gentle persuading, he finally saw it my way. Since the slipping stones were his main concern I conceded defeat on that point and we eliminated the corner.

Filling it in with dirt which we will then seed or sod.

And then the real work began.

If you’ve never built a rock wall? (And I mean a real New England cement free rock wall, with rocks of all different shapes and sizes and weights… not the nice flat ones you buy at a landscapers) Trust me, it’s work!

Which is undoubtedly why my husband only wanted to do a corner.

Silly man, he really should have known better.

Day one? It went something like this:

Move rocks, install barrier, argue with wife, remove barrier, curse wife under your breath, fill hole with dirt, move rocks, curse wife again, start rebuilding entire wall when all you wanted to do was one corner, move rocks, curse wife under breath one more time because you can and she’s too far away to hear you.