18 September 2019

Tammy, Nate, and Jake arrived about 8:30 as I was busy scratching away with the Kubota, digging up more small rocks for use inside the stone walls.  Over the next several hours, we finished the stretch of wall along the south side of the driveway.  Marty, Merry, and Chree came out to inspect progress mid-morning.  Chree particularly liked how we incorporated a maple tree into the center of the wall… with lots of room for it to grow ever larger.  Chree was not so happy (the day’s understatement) that I authorized Tammy to buy a load of A-stone, which is crushed rock in the 2″ to 3″ size.  The not-so-crazy reason for buying rock in Leicester is that we were spending increasing amounts of time trying to find those size rocks anywhere on the build site (at many dollars per hour for labor) when a couple of yards of A-stone cost twenty bucks or so.  Not only was that far more cost effective, but the A-stone, being all jagged, makes a much more solid wall than the round stones native to our property.  Nate left after lunch for an appointment.  By the end of the afternoon, we had laid the base for the wall along Lake Dunmore Road to the south of our driveway and had the next course of stone pretty well done.