Rolling Stones

At the farm there is a really big rock.

It has been there since we bought the farm, just kind of sitting beside the barn. I rolled it a couple of times a few years ago, just to get it out of the way, so I could back the trailer up, but it has more or less just sat there for years. More more than less, judging by the moss growth.

The plan for it, however, has always been to put it in the garden next to the willow tree to make a pedestal for what will eventually be a shrine either to the Holy Family or the Blessed Mother.

More to the point, it keeps the left gate into the barn area from opening fully. With Adam’s new living arrangements, we needed to get the area around the gates cleaned up, so last Monday we hitched it to the truck and pulled it out of that area and out into the driveway.

The kids got to drive the truck in four-wheel low, and chain up a big rock and drag it.

Cause, ‘Murica!

There it sat the rest of the day, because that was the day Gertrude gave birth, and we were very distracted. Mommy took the kids to Oregon to the Oregon trail museum, so Daddy was there by himself on Tuesday.

The tools of the trade: long bits of wood, a pry bar, and several blocks of wood.

You would be surprised how much stone you can move with a little leverage and a lot of blocking. A lever moves it a few inches per lift, then as long as you can shove a block in to capture that forward movement, you can reset the lever and do it again.

Unfortunately, the last roll was a touch too far, and it rolled into the chain link fence. I had to hire some dead dinosaurs to hall it a foot off the fence so I could get the chain link opened up to roll it through.

Lever, block. Lever, block. Lever, block.

This is more or less where we want it.

Had to use the truck as an anchor point to stretch the chain link so I could re-attach it.

All ready for another willow tree and a statue.