Lighter than a feather... rock

 We had a fun weekend celebrating James' 61st birthday!  Ivan offered to take a photo of us with the pineapple carrot cake.  

I'm trying not to think about turning 60 next month, what the hell -how is that happening? I finally chopped the Berzelia albiflora and brought some inside. 

With all the celebrating & cooking going on, I wondered if there was a window for a boulder caper? About a year ago, while walking on the Sycamore trail with Sophia & Ivan - Ivan noted these 2 large featherock boulders.  They were good sized, and not knowing anything about them I thought no way can we pick those up.  Turns out they are lightweight for their size.  From what I understand, they are volcanic stone created when lava cools before the air can escape. Still I would guess this is around 100 lbs?

After our hike, we drove back over - he picked it up and carried it to the car!  I like that thumb-hole bowling ball style it has.  *It's currently in the unfinished tree fern area. 

The 2nd featherock boulder was left behind for another day.  I was on the trail solo this week,  I looked for the left behind rock, I thought for a second someone had picked it up.  I was immediately remorseful we had left it behind.  Then I realized a tree had overgrown and hidden it.  IT WAS STILL THERE! 

Important to note, in my mind I thought they were roughly the same size.  Twin boulders.  I barely had the words out about a possible rock caper, and my collaborator Ivan was game!  Carrot cake cooling, pasta dough resting, tomato sauce bubbling on the stove - off we went.  Moment made possible by Sophia actually making the filling and assembling the ravioli, Olivia frosting the cake & creating mocktails and Vincent even swooped in and set the table. 💚

Ivan running up the hill with featherock #2.  Not shown, we ran into a woman who lives in a HUGE house just past this point, (like small White House mansion sized) where we had parked.  She was complaining that someone had taken her barn cat Anthony, and she was NOT happy.  She was left with an angry biting cat named Angela, again - not happy.  There was crazy screaming coming from the house from her exotic birds.  The whole thing was very Grey Gardens smack dab in the middle of our rushed adventure!

Ivan suggested she make posters of Anthony the cat to post around the neighborhood, I kept walking and we made it to the car.

It's important to mention, this boulder is definitely not the same size as the first.  Easily x3 the size, and I have to note our first attempt with a small wheelbarrow ended in defeat.  We left the boulder in a more exposed spot, but closer to where the trail leads out to the street.   Talk of winches, boards and the XL wheelbarrow ensued, and that led us to try, try again. 

SUCCESS!  At this point, there was no room for Mr. XL wheelbarrow.  We hid it behind some brush on the trail, I'll go back today and pick it up.  Who knows, maybe I'll find Anthony the barn cat sleeping in it?

Ivan ended up using the regular wheelbarrow to get it out of the car and to the back.  You can see how utterly ridiculous it looks in there.  The texture of the featherock is like really rough sandpaper, he did get a few scrapes for his troubles.  

And in the slope she sits! This kind of rock is ideal for growing epiphytes, and I can't wait to try that out. HUGE thanks to Ivan, as always. 

Then, we feasted! Well, we added parmesan first.

As we were getting ready to play a game, I looked outside and saw this mallard peacefully swimming in the pool.  We've never had a wild duck swimming back there, it was a crack-up.  He was scared to death of us and flew away when we went outside.  Probably good, it's a salt water pool that can't be good for him. 

I can't imagine my birthday will be as fun as that!  

Edited to add: I did a little digging on the house we parked in front of on South L. St.  It was built in 1895, is 6,000 square feet, formerly known as The Gables.  This was the women's dormitory for the Livermore Sanitarium.  The barn is to the right and matches the house, the photo cuts it out - but it certainly doesn't look like a barn. It's been a private residence for some time.  The current owner has been there decades, raising 3 sons and 9 daughters.  The father is still alive at 84 and lives in the home.