Another Brick in the Wall

Finally, it is finished! We wanted to spruce up the front yard a bit so we got a crazy idea to build a couple rock walls. We built two walls, one was a large semi-circle around a tree in our front yard and the other was along our driveway and sidewalk. Two months, 4.5 tons of sandstone, and way too many wheelbarrows of dirt later we are finally done. Here are a few pics of the journey...

Here I am prepping the site for around the tree. You also get a nice view of our lovely stump. No one knows where it came from but it has been there for years. Someone hauled it in and dumped it. I started hacking on it with my ax and whittled away some of it before Tom (the neighbor) took it for an alter and pulpit he was building.


This was just after the first 2 tons were delivered. This was when it still seemed fun to build a wall.


Getting the perfect fit


Starting to see the shape


And the final product for the wall around the tree


Starting on the wall next to the driveway. We also replaced the steps, which were originally railroad ties. We put in three large slabs of sandstone instead. Here is the hole


Here you can see the stairs and the wall starting


Excavating along the driveway. I really like how this pic makes it look like I am bending the handle.


Progress on the driveway wall. I didn't get a picture of it but we had another 2.5 ton of rock delivered.


Displaying my dominance


Rounding the corner


Nearing the end


Me hating rock walls


The last rock!!


Out of 4.5 tons of rock, this is all we had left. In fact, the dark rocks were ones we dug up in the yard.


Some pics of the final product





One final note. In putting the pictures up I noticed they were mostly of me. While I would like you to think that I did most of the work while my photographer shot pictures, the opposite is true. Molly logged probably four times as much work on the wall as I did. I think most pictures were of me because she was amazed to see me doing physical labor instead of clicking the mouse. In fact, most of the neighbors now refer to her as Molly the mason.