The Meteor Has Landed!

I was on pins & needles Friday morning, wondering if I had cleared enough space for the forklift to drop the rock. Or if it would be left on the driveway.  Just before 1pm, I could hear a big truck arriving!

I ran outside to meet the driver.  Could he fit the forklift through the pathway?  He responded "well, the forklift is 9.5' wide".  Oh no!  I let out "I don't mind if you run a few things over".  That's all he needed to hear, he actually grabbed a shovel and popped a salvia out of the ground he thought might be in the way.  I liked his attitude immediately.   It really was a wide machine.  Although moving the rock ourselves via the winch anchored by the tree stump would've been effective.  I was happy to have some of the work done for us. 

Heres a video of the actual drop, if you are interested.

I worked on putting a few things back, then had to get myself cleaned up. James' office Holiday party in San Francisco. The venue was chilly, I kept my coat on for most of the evening.  Which made me wonder if I could've just kept my sweatpants on? 😉

Back home and in bed by midnight, the traffic felt very pre-pandemic level.  Many more cars on the road than I expected at that time of night.  Yay, Sophia and Ivan arrived while we were out!  The next morning, Ivan quickly took care of the tree stump. 

And we decided the rock was pretty good where it was, but we'd like it adjusted a bit.  Using a digging bar, a heavy duty shovel (extra tall and heavy) like this Nursery spade.  Ivan's friend David passed it on to us, for Ivan to use to dig out the cherry tree.  It is actually a bit too heavy for me to use, but I'm grateful to have it - it has really come in handy. And, of course the winch. Thankfully the cold fog lifted as the day went on. 

Winching, winching.

After, Ivan went to setting up the mid sized boulders - our thinking 3 in an off set triangle for balance.  3 is always the magic number, or any odd number for that matter! The green tool he's using is that heavy duty shovel.

Sophia and Ivan made the trek back to their house, I worked on getting another yard of soil in place.  I could use another yard.  

I never order enough soil, a yard dissipates into nothing!

I'm giddy with the thought of planting the bed out.  And the possibilities of planting "on" the rock.  I haven't decided on plants that could thrive growing on rock... alpines, cliff dwelling aloes, orchids?!  If you have any ideas, please feel free I'd love to hear!  

I realize the current state of this is slightly monstrous and ridiculous.  However with plantings in place 🤞

and some time for growth, I'm hoping for a pleasing display.   

In other news, we made rosettes.  A thin fried crunchy cookie dusted with cinnamon & sugar. 

Delicious! I remember having these as a youngster, and they lived up to the memory. 

Happy Holidays!