More Fun With Rocks

Everyone knows that Jason and I do not have a good track record with rocks. Unless you have been living under a rock (it is a joke - get it - HAHA) you already know the story of our first encounter with a rock. If you happen to have missed those posts here are the links:

Finding the Rock

Rock: 2, Jason & Melissa: 0

As we continued our construction progress, and thus the lengthening of our driveway (which is now just shy of 4,000 feet long), we found another rock. Another big rock. The lovely rock was located right in the path of where the driveway would run. Jason asked me if I thought we should change our plans and reroute the planned fencing along the driveway to avoid the rock. In a very cavalier moment I announced I would "not live for the rest of my life with our fences and driveway in a less than perfect location over a damn rock." God I'm stupid sometimes.

I refused to redesign this masterpiece of fencing and driveway location over a rock.

We built our fences as planned. We kept driving along our "driveway," and driving around the large rock sticking up in the middle of it. We built more run-ins, built another barn, ran water lines, and merrily went on with life, all while driving around this rock. Jason kept telling me it was pointless to start having gravel hauled in until we had dealt with the rock and gotten it out of the way. We carried on with life, driving around the rock on our redneck, dirt/mud only driveway.

Finally I said to Jason on Monday that the time had come, we had to deal with this rock so we could have a real driveway. You know, one that has an actual surface aside from dirt. Jason started telling me how busy we are, how much we have to do. I replied that I was fully aware of how busy we are and how much we had to do - and that maybe some things would be easier without this stupid rock in the way all the time. He broke down and called the equipment rental place. Yesterday a bobcat with a jackhammer was delivered to the farm for our entertainment frustration near death experiences rock removal.

This time we had a plan. Instead of trying to remove the entire rock, because we had no idea how big it was, the plan was to just bust the rock up to the point where it was now level with the rest of the driveway. I have bad news for those of you hoping to read about our usual disasters and projects gone wrong.

The plan worked.

Yes, you read that correctly, the plan worked. The equipment was big enough for the job. The equipment did not break. We did not break. There were no "marriage building exercises" involved. I know, we're in shock too.

Jason was able to bust big chunks off the rock, and then bust those down into smaller pieces. And then our rock was level with the driveway after awhile. At one point Jason was whipping around on the bobcat and gleefully slamming the jackhammer down on rocks with a big grin on his face. He looked like he was actually having a grand time. Later he told me that he was assigning names to the rocks - naming them after people he doesn't like or people who aggravate and annoy him - and then having fun smashing the rocks into bits. Of course this led me to ask "was my name assigned to a rock?"

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I posted this picture on facebook page with the caption "be afraid, be very afraid."

Something is wrong with these pictures. The plan is working.

Sam running from Jason on the bobcat. Just kidding, he was actually running for dinner.

Darby, B-Rad and Alex were also on the run

Noble, Snappy, Thor and O'Reilly

Fuzzy Punch

Clay and Chili

Maisie, MyLight and Lily

Renny using Sebastian as a scratching post

Rampal and Tiny

Dutch and Wiz