All ye who dare question the sanctity of fossil fuels, BE GONE! Grab your battery-powered wheelbarrow and sally forth to grub out a house site with a pick and a shovel. Just make sure that the wooden tool handles do not derive from an endangered tree species 10-thousand miles away. And bring along plenty of broccoli and celery for nourishment. The work can be rather labor intensive.
From my usual managerial outpost safely away from the machine, I had pause to wonder. Would I be better off, I asked myself, with 25 insolent, contemptuous, lazy, hungry, wholly dependent slaves, or would I be better off with a Kubota? I will ponder this monumental question, and return to you upon completion of my deliberations. I can say at this point, though, that I am leaning toward the inorganic.
What you see here is a boulder wall of what is known as field stones. They differ from quarry stones that are more squarish, and fit together much more simply than the odd-shaped or rounded field stones. In this case the rocks came out of the house site excavation 25-years ago, as well as from the bank recently excavated to provide area for a lawn and for a parking space at the end of the garage.
The homeowner used what was on site, and avoided buying quarry stones. The savings was substantial, to the tune of about 30-thousand dollars.
Oh, what I said earlier about staying a safe distance from a working excavator was not some helicopter-mom hysteria. You might believe your reflexes are good, but that very heavy steel bucket can zip around and knock your brains out faster than Mike Tyson.
Share this post