Tuesday, June 5, 2012

the day the asteroid belt came to my back yard

I'd been having this craving for rocks, but having a really hard time with being willing to actually plunk my cash down for something as crazy as rocks. I would go some place and talk to the owner of the rock store (most any place that sells dirt and mulch by the square yard or truck load) and act pitiful and talk them down to get a better price for a pallet of flat stones. They are stacked in rounds made of fencing wire, sort of 'bins' on pallets and sold by the ton. I'm very well informed. You would not believe how much people expect to get paid for a truck load of stones, that come in a surprising variety of shapes and sizes. Something as absurd as $450 for a two ton stack.

 Plus in order to avoid having to pay for having the rocks delivered, you have to know someone with a pickup truck. To borrow, so you can go to the 'durty wurks' or landscaping place and get them to load the pallet on the back of the truck with the front-end loader. Then you discover that the pallet is too wide to fit on the bed of the truck. Now might be a good time to practice your salty 'sailor language'.

I was looking for something like you see in stacked rock walls, or used for flagstones on walkways that have  lush low growing ground covers in between the oddly placed chunks of flat stones.But every time I would get right down to the point of making the commitment to paying good money for rocks, it would be in the same classification as paying hard earned cash for dirt. And why would anyone be willing to pay for dirt? I'm sure I don't know - and amazed at the number of people who can hardly wait to spend their money for those big bags of mulch (in hideous colors) we get in by the pallet load and park out on the sidewalk in front of the store every spring.  They come with trucks and load up bags and bags of the stuff: crazie people.
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The guy at the store on Memorial Drive in south Atlanta seemed to have a pretty good price for his half pallet of rocks, and that looked like a huge pile - more than I could ever figure out what to do with. So the crazie person who knew how interested I was in becoming the owner of flat rocks to use for edging around a flower bed showed up on a Monday in her little red pickup truck with a big pile of rocks in the back. We unloaded the rocks and put them in a neat little row along the edge of the bed, but I will have to wait for a good soaking rain before I can get a trench dug to put them upright. My goal is to have them stand on edge, so they will keep the grass from growing into the beds. When they start standing at attention, I will shovel some mulch behind them to help keep them in place, and also help to keep the moisture in the things that I have planted (all deliciously blooming pollinator attractors) in the beds behind the stone edging.

It was so amusing: All I could think of was the time my parents brought me a load of manure for my birthday.  Certain people are still entertained by the time their grandparents showed up one afternoon when they got home from school. They must have been about ten and twelve years old, and delighted to have been entrusted with a surprise they were able to keep quiet about. I was not in on the 'secret plan' that they kept to themselves remarkably well. So I was completely taken aback by the appearance of the grands: sitting on the back porch awaiting our arrival. To say nothing of how speechless I was when I discovered the birthday present was a pick up truck load of #%&*.

Also amusing that I was so indecisive about buying rocks that someone else had to do it for me. I am very pleased with my rocks. There were enough after lining out the edging around the beds on the north side, to start a little stacked rock wall across the front where there will be a bed of hostas (already starting to bloom so I need to get planted asap) and beautifully varigated solomon's seal that loves shady places.

How that pile of rocks we unloaded piece by piece came to be known as The Asteriod Belt, I do not know. But we continue to call it that, even though it is strategetically and tidly placed end to end across a wide swath of grass along the edge of the flower beds.

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