Getting Boulder by the Day

Some folks go up GA 400 to hit the outlet malls. Others of us are drawn by the siren song of Pyramid Stone. Just as the controlled access ends, if you have to stop at the light, you can’t help but notice the rock yard off to the right. The boulders beckon.

No?

Boulders don’t beckon you? Hmmm. To each his own.

This one used to be next to the gate at Pyramid Stone. Actually, it used to be the gate, as evidenced by the screw eye in the top.

It was just what I needed. It had the straight side and stackable shape that would fit perfectly at the end of the retaining wall.

I also envisioned some steps going up there to get from the back yard up on top of the retaining wall, so I rounded up a few nice, flat boulders,

had them weighed,

made sure they didn’t have the tractor on the scale,

and arranged to have them delivered.

When I arrived down at the house in the morning, Builder Gary was already hard at work, making a spot for the boulders.

Soon the truck with the boulders arrived and the driver brought them around to the back.

It was like Rock City – complete with Fat Man’s Squeeze.

It’s a good thing I wasn’t driving!

Builder Gary and his mighty bobcat struggled to pick up the boulder and place it. Luckily, the driver was the sort who can’t stand to see someone else struggle, so he gallantly, scooped it up on his forks

and deposited it where we needed it.

See? It’ s almost a perfect fit. All we need to do is prop it up a bit. So, Builder Gary climbs the hill and gets to work on it.

With the weight of the rock pulling him down the hill, he lifted.

At this point, I was sure he was saying, “Hold my beer and watch this!” but I think he was actually beckoning Nathan to put more rocks underneath.

We got that one set, added another,

a few more,

and before long we had a staircase going up.

It was looking pretty good, but we needed a few more steps.

So, three rock yards later, we had what we needed and got back to work.

With the last step placed, we put the last big rock to finish off the boulder wall.

A little smoothing, and fluffing, and voila!

Now if we can just get some suitable weather for planting.

What do you think? Bold, boulder, bouldest?