We are now in the rock collection phase:
Since it is horrible for the crawdads and other critters to take them from the creek (not to mention super illegal), we are stopping at every rockslide and hillside and grabbing what we can. I need about ten times what is here. Should be fun. And by fun I mean fucking awful.
But it will be beautiful when we are done.
rikyrah
Um…do you have to put some sort of sealant/cement with these? Or, are you just gonna put them on the ground? Won’t that be unstable? Trying to see your vision, Cole.
Jerzy Russian
Maybe you can plant a rock garden?
jl
” we are stopping at every rockslide and hillside and grabbing what we can. ”
Is that legal in W By God VA? Just us loyal commenters watching out for Cole so he don’t get in unnecessary trouble (or, seeing that it is Cole, egregiously unnecessary trouble, or wait.. he gets into that anyway… I’ll think about how characterize different degrees and classifications of Cole trouble and amend as necessary…)
NotMax
Everybody must get stoned. :)
No abandoned quarries within driving distance?
John Cole
@rikyrah: Dig down six inches, put down landscape paper, crushed rocks, level, more crushed rocks, place pathstones, level, mortar
Anne Laurie
Pro tip, Cole: Unless you really need the exercise, pay a professional to dig down those six inches, et al. They will do it better, and in a tiny fraction of the time it would take you, even with semi-skilled ‘assistance’. And you won’t further damage your shoulders, either!
piratedan
scavenging is fun! I have roadside rocks from all over the western US lining my driveway and I have to say that the country is far better for it…..
NotMax
@Anne Laurie
Already anticipating ranty wintertime post about slipping on icy stones and injuring [insert body part of choice here].
Either that or one next year about the willow roots uplifting the path.
;)
Jharp
I have a rock collection in and around my garden that I gathered from most of the noteworthy paces I have visited.
And yeah. And few of them might have been poached.
Patricia Kayden
It’s going to so beautiful once it’s done. You all are so creative with your gardens.
mrmoshpotato
@NotMax: You should be banished to Alaska.
Ohio Mom
@Anne Laurie: My late friend the DIY-house flipper gave up on a similar project (brick walkway to front door) halfway through and called in a landscaper to do the digging — and she was working with her college-age son on the project, who had plenty of muscle power. So I see the wisdom in your advice.
Judy saved the fun part for herself, making a herringbone design with the bricks. Breast cancer got her seven years ago. Still miss her.
mrmoshpotato
Are you guyses playing with the site? The font looks different.
JustRuss
I for one would like to commend Cole for reminding me just how much of my sanity I regained when I stopped being a home-owner.
mrmoshpotato
@NotMax: The willow is too close to the walkway.
randy khan
As someone in the midst of a project to build two rock walls, I sympathize with the soon-to-occur aches and pains Mr. Cole will incur from moving all of that rock around.
Mandalay
@jl:
I wondered exactly the same thing. I know from personal experience that it is illegal to remove driftwood from the beach in Florida. It’s also illegal to remove anything from a state park.
I suspect it would depend on state law, where and how the rocks were removed, and the quantity involved. I can imagine that removing rocks from a hillside owned by an individual is not the same as removing rocks from the road following a rock slide on state land.
Regardless of all that, you can buy rocks like those shown in the OP from nurseries in South Florida, but they are really expensive, since they are usually priced by the pound.
JR
No quarries in WVA? Not so expensive to get a decent quality flagstone. Will save you heartache down the line
TomatoQueen
My parents did the thing with digging out the path by hand and setting in bricks. They thought that was so fabboo (Yankee for okay) that they took up drystone walls by hand. Daddy’s shoulders have not been functional since.
gluon1
I wish you all the best but the leveling is super hard. Also, @John Cole:, you will want lots of sand, not just rocks, to put under. And, depending on how you plan to path, you may want to consider a slight angle to achieve the requisite drainage. I have to fix a slight depression in my path that puddles up whenever it rains.
Duane
@John Cole: Rent a gas powered sod cutter, preferably a smaller unit. More professional look and you can do tree rings too.
TenguPhule
This is an industrial accident waiting for Cole to happen.
trollhattan
@John Cole:
Sounds like a plan, more of a challenge with different thicknesses but what the hey. Make sure to add compacting to the prep steps.
Cheryl Rofer
I see that Donald is so fond of Melania’s peplum styles, he decided to try it himself.
A long time lurker who finds interaction hard
What are ideal dimensions for the rocks?
*has a wild hair idea*
mrmoshpotato
@Duane: I was thinking he takes his roto tiller to the pathway.
schrodingers_cat
@Anne Laurie: I have another post ready on my blog and I sent you an email.
schrodingers_cat
@John Cole: Post a DIY video, I am interested in this project, and would like to do something similar.
mrmoshpotato
@TenguPhule: Cole happened decades ago. Ask his parents.
Litlebritdifrnt
@Cheryl Rofer: As I said in the previous thread Trump looks like he is Ron Weasley wearing Great Aunt Bessie’s dress robes or worse that he is an awkward teen who has been dressed by his Grandmother for his first prom. Seriously doesn’t he have a tailor who would have explained the proper length for a white waistcoat and tie? Seriously?
trollhattan
@randy khan:
We had a stone path and patio installed last year. 100% of the pain involved writing a series of large checks. Looks good, though. Gator Dust mortar is flexible and seems good at resisting cracks.
zhena gogolia
@Litlebritdifrnt:
Please have pity on his tailor.
Leto
Pretty much sums up your entire homeownership so far ;)
@NotMax: I too can’t wait for the Legend of Cole to expand by one more “so I slipped…” story!
Cheryl Rofer
@Litlebritdifrnt: I would have expected that he would have a tailor who built the whole outfit. It looks like he bought the outfit at Ross. Maybe several Ross stores.
hells littlest angel
I’m doing the same thing around my pond, but I have the dubious luxury of having all the stone I need. I just stick a shovel in the ground. I estimate per cubic yard of soil there are five cubic feet of stone, ranging in size from pebble to boulder, quite a lot of which is shale suitable for paving.
hells littlest angel
@Cheryl Rofer: He’s been begging her to let him wear her “I don’t really care” jacket.
J R in WV
Regarding the stone path… it will be more beautiful if it isn’t just dead straight. Put some curve into it, with plantings to appear to have made it curve. Not centered in the curves, but on one side or the other of the apex centroid of the curve. It will take more rock, but it will be worth it~!!~
Wife used to leave Dan to plant some plants she brought home, Dan was a handyman and friend — but he always wanted to plant things in a straight row — this make sense if you need to weed with a cultivator… but if you’re planting perennials for the long term, you want patches and curved plantings.
So now we have paper-whites Danny planted in straight rows, to remember him by. USAF veteran, proud hippy, builder of gnome houses in trees in the woods around his cabin. Proud to have paper-whites in Danny’s rows.
I plant wife’s new plants in groups where she wants them. My plants I put wherever I think they can grow well….
Right now we have water-hardy iris, tiny rhododendron, maidenhair fern, and she’s in town fetching a hemlock tree, which I will have to dig a big hole for.
I just finished mopping the kitchen floor, first time in quite a while. Did shed the shirt, kept the shorts on. PineSol works on a tile floor. I was really careful not to slip. ~!!~ done with the worst bit now, just waiting for wife to get home before cocktails and dinner.
Did you see the menu for QE’s state dinner? HERE is the MENU:
~>Steamed fillet of halibut with watercress mousse, asparagus spears and chervil sauce
~>Saddle of new season Windsor lamb with herb stuffing, spring vegetables, port sauce
~>Strawberry sable with lemon verbena cream
~>Selection of assorted fresh fruits
~>Coffee and petit fours
Wonder what will be Trump’s favorite part of the dinner? hmmmm…. does he do cofvuvoflew?
randy khan
@trollhattan:
There is something to be said for the build-it-with-a-checkbook approach. The stone walls are more or less at the tippy top of my skill level, since really all they require is digging for the bottom stones, leveling with sand, and piling the rocks in a pleasing fashion. If I had to do mortar or make them really tight and even, it would be beyond me.
Anotherlurker
Be sure to look closely for fossils, when selecting the stones. Roadcuts are a prime source of some beautiful specimens.
J R in WV
@J R in WV:
These are the plants in pots waiting for me to dig holes. I have a big bed of what I call swamp Iris in bright yellow for a couple of weeks in the early spring… they’re all done and gone now. These are hybrid leaves and purple blooms, also water loving.
I planted rhodos year before last, they did well at first, but last winter they turned brown and died. Hope these will do better — we have a really big old rhodo down where the old far house was, but it’s all alone now, and we’re up the hollow in the cove.
mrmoshpotato
@J R in WV: All wasted on this hamberder Soviet shitpile mobster conman manchild.
mkd
@jl: My husband had a wonderful uncle who built his stone cased home in Washington, Pa ( think south of Pittsburgh) from the landslide rocks he picked up bit by bit when traveling to and from a small iron foundry he owned in WVA. All scavenged, he and cousins built the house stone by stone. I love that story.
mkd
@randy khan: My dad, a carpenter, had a third side job building driveway retaining dry-walls in the upper middle class homes of the hilly Pittsburgh suburb of Mt Lebanon, no mortar. The key is a footer at the base and then canting the wall back as it rises at a small angle against the dirt behind it. A treat would be being picked among the 6 kids to go to the small jobs and help pick out the little filler stones that wedged between the bigger limestone pieces he used for the main wall.
That lurker person with social phobia
If John Cole needs rocks one could get a priority mail flat rate box and place said specimen inside and send. Sure it will cost but then we would all have a spot in his garden. He would not have to scrounge around in the outback and avoids any problems along streams. He can look about his yard and think … those Balloon Juicers actually sent me rocks. Of course I would wash them off thoroughly before. <- Wild hare idea done
Anne Laurie
@Ohio Mom: The Spousal Unit wanted to build a brick patio outside our back door, to make it easier to keep things tidy. He’s actually quite good at general handyman-style jobs, but this one looked like it might end up killing us and the little dogs. After five years of patchy efforts and a near-crippling incident, he finally called in the pros — who accomplished the project in one afternoon!
LeftCoastYankee
I’d second the sentiment for a layer of sand between the base and stones. It makes it easier for leveling uneven stones.
A large board or even square plywood section helps with leveling a group of different sized stones before mortaring. You can use a tamper on the wood w/o chipping the stones.
Do use the mortar. Just sand = future weeding.
My $.02, based on my own “fun”. Enjoy!
Leto
@J R in WV:
Really really happy about this.
mad citizen
@Jharp: I include rocks in my hoarding tendencies, and have rocks from all over the U.S. and a couple from Canada lounging around our house. About 7 years ago my wife and me replaced a small fake brick patio with a much larger travertine patio (mostly travertine pavers at 75% off at Home Depot, which was a major catalyst for the project). We did the crushed stone tamper machine, the whole bit. I ended up having to take a week off work to complete it. Today at 58, I would go for the checkbook way of completing such a job.
Personally I think the flagstones are too uneven for a walking path, but to each their own. We have a great Stone store here, and I’ve got quite a few Pennsylvania bluestone garden pavers for a path there–they are expensive, though–acquired over a few years.
J R in WV
@Leto:
Glad you feel good about Danny. He introduced me to collecting rocks, and we covered the USA from Maine to Colorado collecting together. Mostly in southern Indiana and Ohio and Kentucky.
Then he came down with inherited dementia, and lost his ability to remember stuff. Sad. The VA covered his nursing home until he passed a few years ago.
He was putting in a new water heater, some years ago, and found a 66 inch snake skin shed upon an A.C duct under the basement ceiling. Another friend, biologist, determined that it was a black snake, living in the walls of the house. No wonder we never had a rodent nor many beetles, etc. Think the big black snake died of old age 10 or 15 years ago. Still no rodents, since cats work well. They also do beetles to some degree.
Dan was a good friend, originally from the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre area of PA, where his ancestors were anthracite coal miners, as opposed to the bituminous coal here in SW WV. Short guy, but really strong!
rikyrah
@John Cole:
Wow. That’s gonna be a lot of work.?
laura
Mr. Cole, where is the “Rock collection phase” in relation to the “OMG! I’ve got a bee beard/bird’s nest IN MAH BEARD- and I’m lovin’ it!11!” phase, because I’ve got a shiny nickel wager hanging out there.
So, you know, bee beard/ bear’s nest, if you please . . . . .
laura
Bird’s nest, unless you think you could handle a bear’s lair. If so, rock on!
Waynski
Consider Belgian blocks next to each side of the path. They’ll divert rain water right out into the street.