Of course the wall has a story.
I built it, rebuilt it once, and it needs re-building once again.
My house was a handy-man special. A real stone wall exists from the sidewalk to our entry steps, then there was a concrete block retaining wall, for this section on both sides, leaning in, iron rods holding them up leading to the garage door.
My wife said ’buy’ rocks. NFW am I paying for a dog or buying rocks (or water). Well, Nancy did pay $50. for Becky, our AKC Bassett Hound. Picked me up at the train, drove over to pick her up.
One Sunday, after church, wife and two boys (Peter 9 years old, Chris only 4), dressed in our Sunday Best, on Mountain Blvd, a town project, dredging and putting big drain pipes under the road, a pile of muddy rocks is spied.
I looked back at Peter, he started taking his jacket off while I backed up.
We had the back of that station wagon loaded so fast, the nose was up, and we had to go down the mountain with all that weight and I couldn’t see over the hood.
We made it home, Peter and I went back, back seat folded flat now, a huge load, took a more gradual round about way to get down the mountain.
That Ford Grand Torino Wagon could fit 4x8 plywood flat between the wheel-wells.I think with the tailgate closed. Maybe not, it was one that went sideways or down flat.
I took the concrete wall out, washed the mud, built the wall. What the hell did I know about rocks, most are not stones, they are shale, which breaks into layers like a beryllium cantilever.
For the last several years, our neighborhood is loaded with Deer. They jump onto the wall getting up to chew our bushes, knocking stones hither and thither. We had two bad winters in a row, 10" on top of 10" and 2" of ice on top of that. They were starving, they started eating things they never ate before, peeling bark off trees, azaleas, Hydrangeas, Rhododendrons, and now they keep eating EVERYTHING!
