Today we hooked the little flatbed trailer to the truck and went rock hunting. We brought a couple of loads of rocks down to the project site and started stacking them up, drywall style. We live in a part of California where rock walls, put together without mortar, run for miles around the countryside. They were built in the latter half of the nineteenth century by Chinese laborers who had finished building the transcontinental railroad, and who had mined as much gold as they could from the nearby streams. A neighbor told us that the workers were paid 25 cents per rod, which translates to 16.5 feet or 5.5 meters. Of course, 25 cents back then was worth a lot more than it is today, being a silver coin and all. Gold at that time was around $21 per ounce, so do the math. Their walls averaged 4 feet or 1.2 meters high and were rather thick, being two walls with a space between that was filled with rubble. I guess it was cheaper than buying fence posts and barbed wire, and not only that, it cleared the fields of millions of rocks.Oddly, when we finished work for the day, we had a strong craving for stir fried veggies and fried rice. A little pork would be nice, too.…
5 comments:
How cool! That looks like a good start.
The Chinese laborers around here just dug holes in the mountainsides looking for precious minerals for white people, and never built any intriguing rock walls.
I'm sure you remember the walls that Dad built. The last time I saw them--about 10 years ago--they were still standing. Walls are neat.
In regards to the Plant That Hates Me, I'd say no wonder its called a ghost plant. The poor thing must feel that you are trying to do it in and as a consequence has lost its normal robust complexion.
Re: Ghost plant, Pat. That's its normal complexion as rendered by Blogger. When you send a picture in for posting, Blogger strips out most of the color, so you have to pump up the saturation to the point of garish in order for it to have any color left.
I remember Grandpa's walls and paving. What you are doing looks great - looking forward to more pics.
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