"Doesn't take much to make a man happy. We've water aplenty, a roof of sorts over our heads, fire when required, food and best of all, four or five tons of rock to relocate. Probably could've had the Andersen's do the last few rocks but I didn't want you to miss out on the fun of boulder relocation. Would've been a lot easier had Mother Nature shown a little foresight when she was putting heat to the glaciers. The well truck was able to negotiate the trail 'cause of its high carriage. Not so the Nomad, therefore the Ford. Anyhow, that's the plan for today. Rule number one for the day is don't do anything worse than chip a nail. Number two is don't chip a nail."
Ten minutes later we were hiking through the dappled shade of the forest toward the truck, a pair of six foot, steel digging bars in hand. In the wheelbarrow, two shovels, the come-along and Emil's version of a logging chain sling shot.
"Uncle Emil, this isn't what I had in mind when thinking of how your cabin would be built. When you asked, I had visions of saws and hammers and lumber. One day we'd be looking at open ground, a week or two later we'd be pulling up to the finished building after a hard day on the water. Can't exactly say I'm surprised at what we're up to but mucking boulders sure never entered my thoughts."
"Archie me lad, the world is built from the ground up. Basics first. Even God had to start by turning on the light so He wouldn't stumble over an angel snoozing in the hallway while on His way to the john in the middle of the night."
Emil paused then asked, "Can God drink enough iced tea to overload an infinitely big bladder? Sounds like something the Cardinals might have come to fisticuffs over during the Reformation. Anyhow the point is, we can't use the lumber 'til we get the lumber. Can't get the lumber 'til the mill can make it up the driveway. Don't need the lumber 'til we finish building the piers. And building the piers is as much a mystery as the boulders waiting for us in the driveway. There's the plan in my head and there's the reality of the situation to be revealed when we break ground. Who knows what surprises might lie beneath? Spanish treasure? Viking swords? Most likely lots of rock."
We started by the truck. Emil figured the closer the Ford was to camp, the less we had to walk when heading to town. Along the way we passed a couple dozen boulders of size. Most looked like no problem for two men with steel levers, strong backs and weak minds. A couple might have been a half ton plus. Like the pier holes we wouldn't know for sure how big they were 'til we started excavating.
Warmed up with a pair of the little ones. In less than five minutes they were off the track. Our first stone of size was another story. Took near a half hour of digging, a length of birch log as a fulcrum and a whole lot of four letter encouragement before it came to rest out of harm's way. I swear my sweat stood on end when we turned the nob up to full leg and back. So it went. Then we came upon the first true beast.
"I've considered the possibility of dynamite and churned over the use of large helium balloons in hopes of floating this chunk of glacier scat off to the side. Even thought of resurrecting Archimedes and his long-enough lever to lend a hand. Unfortunately for you and me our method will involve back strain."
We dug for half an hour. Sweat every minute of it in the shade of spruce and popple. Self-caused misery in Eden. Thankfully we were there to work and were rewarded in spades. She was either a boulder iceberg or a pimple on the bedrock beneath. Finally it no longer mattered how big the grey slab might be since it'd already passed into 'too big to move' territory.
I slowly raised up out of my cramped stoop, "So what's the answer Uncle Emil?"
"Well, if we can't move the rock, we have to move the driveway." My jaw dropped. "Not the whole driveway Archie me lad. Just that jack pine ten feet back. Sure didn't want to drop anymore trees but we've no choice. First let's go catch us some lunch."
By afternoon's end all that remained was removing the jack pine. Never once did we use Emil's chain sling. My poor uncle was near tears. "A lot of thought went into its creation. And there it sits like a forgotten child. A pity, but who knows, maybe it'll come in handy as a seining net for whales?"
Turned out the second of the beasts was no more than a chip. Half ton chip to be sure but three flips and all we had left to deal with was the hole. Learned there's levels of strength in my body I didn't know existed. Can't say much more than hard's what you see coming and easy's in the past.
Also re-learned moving stone makes a body one with the earth. Seems like an inevitability when I'm with Emil. By that I don't mean anything philosophical. Both of us were coated, head to foot with mud, moss and sweat. There were places on my body to run an itty-bitty John Deere and plant a decent crop of corn. But tired and sore as we were, once back in camp we headed straight for the pump. Emil said if we didn't clean up right away we sure wouldn't feel like it come evening. And we might start to rot. Dinner was sandwiches, lots of ham and cheese sandwiches.
"Uncle Emil, this isn't what I had in mind when thinking of how your cabin would be built. When you asked, I had visions of saws and hammers and lumber. One day we'd be looking at open ground, a week or two later we'd be pulling up to the finished building after a hard day on the water. Can't exactly say I'm surprised at what we're up to but mucking boulders sure never entered my thoughts."
"Archie me lad, the world is built from the ground up. Basics first. Even God had to start by turning on the light so He wouldn't stumble over an angel snoozing in the hallway while on His way to the john in the middle of the night."
Emil paused then asked, "Can God drink enough iced tea to overload an infinitely big bladder? Sounds like something the Cardinals might have come to fisticuffs over during the Reformation. Anyhow the point is, we can't use the lumber 'til we get the lumber. Can't get the lumber 'til the mill can make it up the driveway. Don't need the lumber 'til we finish building the piers. And building the piers is as much a mystery as the boulders waiting for us in the driveway. There's the plan in my head and there's the reality of the situation to be revealed when we break ground. Who knows what surprises might lie beneath? Spanish treasure? Viking swords? Most likely lots of rock."
We started by the truck. Emil figured the closer the Ford was to camp, the less we had to walk when heading to town. Along the way we passed a couple dozen boulders of size. Most looked like no problem for two men with steel levers, strong backs and weak minds. A couple might have been a half ton plus. Like the pier holes we wouldn't know for sure how big they were 'til we started excavating.
Warmed up with a pair of the little ones. In less than five minutes they were off the track. Our first stone of size was another story. Took near a half hour of digging, a length of birch log as a fulcrum and a whole lot of four letter encouragement before it came to rest out of harm's way. I swear my sweat stood on end when we turned the nob up to full leg and back. So it went. Then we came upon the first true beast.
"I've considered the possibility of dynamite and churned over the use of large helium balloons in hopes of floating this chunk of glacier scat off to the side. Even thought of resurrecting Archimedes and his long-enough lever to lend a hand. Unfortunately for you and me our method will involve back strain."
We dug for half an hour. Sweat every minute of it in the shade of spruce and popple. Self-caused misery in Eden. Thankfully we were there to work and were rewarded in spades. She was either a boulder iceberg or a pimple on the bedrock beneath. Finally it no longer mattered how big the grey slab might be since it'd already passed into 'too big to move' territory.
I slowly raised up out of my cramped stoop, "So what's the answer Uncle Emil?"
"Well, if we can't move the rock, we have to move the driveway." My jaw dropped. "Not the whole driveway Archie me lad. Just that jack pine ten feet back. Sure didn't want to drop anymore trees but we've no choice. First let's go catch us some lunch."
By afternoon's end all that remained was removing the jack pine. Never once did we use Emil's chain sling. My poor uncle was near tears. "A lot of thought went into its creation. And there it sits like a forgotten child. A pity, but who knows, maybe it'll come in handy as a seining net for whales?"
Turned out the second of the beasts was no more than a chip. Half ton chip to be sure but three flips and all we had left to deal with was the hole. Learned there's levels of strength in my body I didn't know existed. Can't say much more than hard's what you see coming and easy's in the past.
Also re-learned moving stone makes a body one with the earth. Seems like an inevitability when I'm with Emil. By that I don't mean anything philosophical. Both of us were coated, head to foot with mud, moss and sweat. There were places on my body to run an itty-bitty John Deere and plant a decent crop of corn. But tired and sore as we were, once back in camp we headed straight for the pump. Emil said if we didn't clean up right away we sure wouldn't feel like it come evening. And we might start to rot. Dinner was sandwiches, lots of ham and cheese sandwiches.
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