Boulder Boys

Well, the Great Boulder Adventures turned out to be just a little more work than expected! After 6 tons of 6-inch slab stones were delivered in our driveway, Margo called to beg the quarry manager to take back the stone. A professional mason cautioned that it would cost up to $5000 to have the slabs craned OVER the house, since most pieces weighed from 1000 - 2000 pounds! Much to our relief, the manager graciously sent a pick-up team to retrieve all but the 4 smallest stones. Greg rented an industrial 3-ton pallet jack so that he, Nick, and Isaac could move and hoist the 4 remaining stones in place in the backyard.

Promised the final arrangement, Margo cautioned the grunting team that they should arrange them in a row down the center, as the most functional and aesthetic design. Greg insisted that she would just "love" his idea - boulders arranged across the front of the deck. It looks like his aesthetic skills are matched only by his engineering calculations about getting 6-inch 1-ton stone slabs into the backyard in the first place! Poor Isaac shrugs in realization that they'll have to lug those boulders yet again! Greg wailed about injuries and lawsuits as Margo left with the burger order for the work crew. Upon return, and the smell of food, Greg admitted that the row arrangement was indeed the best, so he cancelled the liability call to his attorney.

Not happy with a morning of back-breaking work, Greg decided that Margo's list of wedding chores was just too easy. Back to the professional tool yard for a disk-grinder, he got even more committed to hard labor! The idea to rent a professional grade sander was for stripping off the old paint on the surrounding patio, which didn't quite showcase the new slabs as nicely as expected. The one hour job stretched into 5 hours of grueling and gitty work. Perfection is a small price to pay for,...um, perfection? Thank goodness for a Jacuzzi at the end of this day! With a few sore muscles and a few pounds of sweat, Greg has finally begun his work-out routine.

At the end of the day we arranged the pots of flowers around the slabs to Greg takes a well-deserved break with Kelsey, our niece, who is staying for the week to help with house-cleaning and getting things ready for the wedding. The boulder boys have given us the best "step-up" on the block (possibly in all of Santa Clara!)