Sunday, March 31, 2019

Bags of Stones


Weather: The decent weather of the past few weeks turned rococo this week. First, it got way too warm, up to the high 70s from Tuesday to Thursday. Then, as always happens when the weather’s abnormally warm, cold air began blowing through yesterday. It brought snow to Los Alamos and Santa Fé, but so far all we’ve had here is wind and gray skies. The temperatures in the low 40s apparently haven’t created conditions to force precipitation.

Last useful rain: 3/21. Week’s low: 23 degrees F. Week’s high: 78 degrees F in the shade.

What’s blooming in the area: Apricots, first peaches, pear, purple leaf plum, forsythia

My largest apricot was fragrant on Monday; it’s the first time since it was planted in 2007 that the flowers have lasted long enough to reach that stage. Blossoms on the first trees to bloom in the area began turning brown Thursday, perhaps from the cold morning temperatures, while other trees that waited a week were still white on Friday. Usually, plants begin to bloom near the river first, and gradually work their way up to my yard. The apricots showed no such pattern. I suspect the first trees to bloom, like mine, were grown in some out-of-state nursery, while the later trees were grown from pits of locally acclimated parents.

What’s blooming beyond the walls and fences: Alfilerillo, purple and tansy mustards, dandelions

What’s blooming in my yard: Bradford pear, male cottonwood, violets

What’s reviving/coming up in the area: Siberian elms, leatherleaf globemallow, winterfat, golden hairy aster

What’s reviving/coming up in my yard: Spirea, choke cherry, flowering and fruiting crab apples, snowball, privet, lilacs, Siberian peas, blue flax, Mexican hats

Tasks: Saw a man out with a rototiller on Monday.

I spent the week cutting dead stems on Maximilian sunflowers that line a fence, then collapse over the walk in August. I usually do this in mid or late summer, but hadn’t done anything since I hurt my thumb in 2016. It always takes time because the stems have to be cut: if they’re broken off the dead wood brings the roots with it. I used to do this sitting on the ground with pruners. This time I used loppers to remove the long stems, and then sat on the ground and cleared the debris. I could spend less time bending over the loppers than I could sitting, but the loppers use my hands and arms, while the pruners use my thumb.

Animal sightings: Chickadees, small bees around apricots, small black ant hills appearing


Weekly update: Gravel is the cheap answer to building roads, and because it’s cheap it requires more maintenance than concrete or whatever the black paving material is. The stones gradually sink into the earth from the weight of passing vehicles. I put some rocks down this spring in an area that was still thawing, and half of them disappeared.

Last summer another problem developed. My neighbors killed some winterfat that was blocking the way past their main gate, and the loosened sand blew down on top of the gravel in front of my gate. It raised the level enough that the horizontal post on the gate couldn’t clear. At the time, I raked enough away to solve the problem.

Only, of course, it was a temporary fix. When the ground froze this winter it heaved just enough that the gate wouldn’t clear for months.


One thing you learn is it is far easier to hire someone to do a big job than a small one. If I wanted my drive rebuilt or needed a mason to build a long wall, I would have some problems but probably would eventually have found someone. All I needed was replacement gravel and a short retaining wall. For that, I was on my own.

I bought some pavers because they were the cheapest and lightest weight blocks available, and piled them uphill from the path of my gate. No mortar. It would function, but wouldn’t stand someone trying to use it as a step. Of course, some deliveryman has already tried to use it as a shortcut.

I discovered one of the local big boxes sells bags of rocks from Arizona. I bought the pea gravel to put under the gate, because of the low clearance.

The rocks were dirty. I don’t mean filled with seeds, like the base course from the local quarries, but muddy. Since it was sold by the bag, and not by weight, it didn’t mean the company was inflating its product. But, it did mean that, when it rained, I was going to have mud where I least needed it.

Every few years, some of my neighbors refresh their drives by having truck loads of base course delivered and crews with wide rakes spreading it. Only the gravel’s for sale. You have to supply the labor yourself.

I went back to the big box to buy some of the river rock, but it had been picked over and the only bags left were way back in a space under a shelf. When I asked an employee for some help, he told me he always tells customers to bring their own help because he’s too short staffed.

There are times when I wish my hair were completely gray so I could lay the grandmother’s guilt trip on people. As it was, I was left wondering if I was supposed to grease his hand to get some help.

The river rock, like the pebbles, came with bits of the river. The rocks no doubt were a different variety and color than the local ones, but the dirt was red. If I were creating a zen garden I might have created geometric patterns. However, I was being more utilitarian. I emptied a bag into my wheel barrow and used a small hoe to pull some out where the existing rocks had sunk.

For the time, the worst of my problems are solved. I’ll probably spend the rest of the summer going back to the big box every week or so and buying a few more bags of pebbles to spread in the thin areas that were impassable during the thaw period.


Notes on photographs: All pictures were taken 30 March 2019.
1. The retaining wall built with piled pavers with pea pebbles in front.

2. Pond rock that I placed in a wet area where part of it sank.

3. The gate with the low hanging post. If it didn’t drag, then the wood would have. I gouged a narrow trench under its path and spread pea pebbles under it.

4. The red, muddy river rock mixed with the local base course in the drive.

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