Stones in the Forest

[quick dog]

Has Bill been slacking off again? Perhaps your plan has been vetoed by your "superior" instead?

I was out in Folsom yesterday (and again today) and noticed a short rock retaining wall along Folsom Blvd. and I thought of you and your wall project...so I was curious as to which kind of wall you were going to build. Are you talking about the kind of natural stone wall they have there (various sizes of boulders filled in with dirt and smaller stones) or the kind where they rocks are roughly formed into fairly uniform sizes?

P.S. Any news on the program/time your daughter may be appearing in on the Food Channel? I'm thinkin'...if she comes home for her Christmas holiday she looks a bit more energetic and helpful than Bill (sorry, Bill...you're a beautiful dog but your boss seems to think your work ethic is lacking, something about too many breaks and needing too much direction! ).
KK!

Issue One: Bill will chase balls and sticks ad infinitum, maybe 50 runs per day. Yet, I am sad to report that he has yet to retrieve a single stone from the forest, nor has he placed a single firewood stick on a wood pile. He is a hopeless slacker. He shall undertake no useful work before it's time. This does not stop him from lying in front of the wood stove all night. Sad.

Issue Two: The wall will basically be a low retaining wall, not that solid bedrock requires retaining. I could get stones from friends with abundant supplies. Little work would be required. However, my boulders are better looking because of the rock types, quartz and siliceous metamorphics, and they are covered with moss and lichens. If I had to buy these things they would cost $0.25 to $1.00 per pound. I need a couple hundred boulders, and the average weight will be about 40 pounds. Do the math.

Issue Three: My daughter's fiance and my brother-in-law both volunteered to help move rocks down the hill. That would also mean the assistance of my daughter, wife, and sister-in-law. This is a significant break. It means I can probably gather all the stones necessary for the wall project in two days, maybe one long day. Unfortunately, She Who Must Be Tollerated (SWMBT) , who incidently is largely responsible for this folly, has stopped the project for the Christmas season. Darn!

Issue Four: Instead of the television studio, my daughter has to go to Florida on business on Monday. When she gets back, they are sending her to Chile, a trip that will include one of those total-emersion courses in Spanish. Tough life.

I was complaining to SWMBT about how lucky our daughter is, and SWMBT suggested we could always drive down to Huron to learn Spanish. (This is of course an inside joke. You would have to have been to Huron, California to understand. Insert Southeast Stockton.)

I think the food program on TV may have been deferred. Not sure. Her boss, the plant breeder, is trying to get out of it. The program is based on knowing what is really in your food, which is apparently why my daughter won't eat at the major fast-food restaurants. Insider knowledge.