The other day while I was at a local rock and stone center ordering materials for our backyard makeover project (stay tuned for an upcoming post!), I spotted a 'boulder' that I thought would be perfect for my yard. I've never had a really large rock to create a 'naturalistic' look, so when I spotted 'the one', I asked how much it cost. The owner there said it was 20 cents per pound, and he estimated the stone was about 125 pounds. I was ok with that-and could spare $26 for a small 'boulder'. It was the largest I could imagine getting into the truck and getting unloaded and managing to maneuver to its final resting place in my yard.
So, 2 guys attempted to move it from the ground it was embedded in. It must have been there for years, because it was stuck there as part of the landscape. It turned out that the guys couldn't move it by hand, so they used a forklift. I weighed my vehicle then waited for what seemed like an eternity for them to find a way to get this monster into the back of my truck. What a project that turned out to be. There was just no way they could lift it off the forklift prongs, so they had to maneuver the thing directly into the truck itself. There I am watching as this machine enters the back of my truck, wondering if it'll find it's way out without my next stop having to be the vehicle repair shop!
After the rock was safely in the back of my truck I weighed the vehicle. The guy who gave me the estimate was more surprised than I was when it weighed in at over 300 pounds! At 20 cents per pound, I could still afford it-but it was 3 times as heavy as he had thought. Here it is in all its glory:
I had originally thought I'd have it placed in the backyard, but because of its weight, the only solution was to back the truck up as close as possible to the garden at the top of the driveway -and dump it - but it couldn't be dumped! 4 guys had to push and pull until it landed in the garden. And where it landed is where it stayed!
I added some more rocks that I dug up from the ground while gardening, surrounded it with mulch, and now I have a rock garden!
Oh, I almost forgot: Remember the lilac bushes at the top of this post? Here's one of them, tucked in behind the rock. What do you think?!
--Today I am thankful for the strong muscles provided to move my boulder;-)
