Rock walls

I am obsessed with rocks.

It’s a love/hate thing.

When I first moved to the mountain, I liked rocks in the “wow, what a pretty rock” kinda way. This included the boulders in the 3 rock walls holding my property from sliding down the mountain. I loved the natural look of them. I stuffed dirt in the crevices and planted flowers. It looked great. I liked them a lot. I still do.

There is a but coming…can you hear it?

Then wanting to put in flower beds, I started to dig. Everywhere I plunged my shovel; I would hear the distinctive ring of metal against unyielding rock. Grunt. Sweat. Huff. Grunt. It was not uncommon to hear grunts and swearing rising like a floating miasma in the clean mountain air. Not all of that was coming from me, the neighbors were equal contributors. I tried everything. Thinking I didn’t have the right tool for the job, I bought a different shovel. Then I bought a pick axe. And a mattock. Then another mattock, with a sturdy yellow plastic handle. I even got a special pointy shovel that has teeth thinking it would maneuver around the rocks. All to no avail. Digging rocks is plain hard work. I have dug out dozens of rocks over the years and I think I have gotten pretty good at it.

As a result, there are now burgeoning stacks and tottering piles of rocks sitting around the property. I use them to stuff into groundhog holes, to level the birdbaths, to make garden paths and shore up the rock walls. I have extolled their virtues to rock-less guests who have taken some of them home to display proudly on their own lawns. My family has even hauled some back to the flatland.

Whatever you do, don’t buy rocks. There is no doubt someone with a pile that would gladly let you haul them away. You can certainly have any and all of mine

Chipmunks Galore

There seems to have been a mini baby boom in the chipmunk population living in the 4 rock walls on my property. Or perhaps they have all moved to the mountain; slogging over hill and dale to seek new life and opportunity…. Either way I have loads of them. This is a new development.

Before…

I had snakes. Big 6-foot black snakes. Snakes that would sun themselves on the steps, so you had to be careful coming and going out the front door. Snakes that left old skin under the shrubbery to scare the unsuspecting weeder. Snakes that gorged themselves, then being too stuffed to move, lay draped over the top of the rock walls. Snakes that I was constantly cutting out of the deer netting. Each part of the property had its own black snake.

Then…Poof!

No snakes. Not a single one!

And now I have a bloom in the chipmunk population. I do find chipmunks adorable. I do not mind them living in the rock walls. I even bought a wildlife waterer for them. But enough is enough already.

I think I am sorely in need of snakes. I wonder if they will come back?