What Lies Beneath

Clank! Clank! The shovel had hit stone and the sound it made sent the tiny hairs on the back of neck to attention. I had made the executive decision to dig up all the stones outlining what I'm sure at one time in the history of this property was a beautiful garden. The borders of the two flower beds resembled two very large eyebrows in the middle of the sloped back yard and over the years grass had grown in amonst the stones. Rather than dig up all the sod in the flowerbeds which would have created an enormous amount of gardening work all summer to keep the weeds down, I thought it would at least be an improvement if the borders were dug out and re-layed to create a point of interest in the back yard.

Our new friend Tyler was looking for some extra money and was anxious to get back into landscaping which was a real benefit to me. We discussed the plan and he quickly set to work to remove the stones. Unfortunately for Tyler, (but fortunate for me) the stones were actually rocks with only the very top tips showing through the overgrown earth. What he uncovered after a couple hours of hard labour was approximately 80 rocks ranging in weight from 5 pounds to 50 pounds! He heaved and dug and cursed occasionally as the shovel hit yet another hidden treasure. Fifteen of the largest of the rocks were set aside to build a set of steps leading from the top of the hill off the deck down to the lower back yard where the rhubarb patch sits.

After digging out all of the rocks and raking the newly turned earth Tyler then set to the task of maticulously placing the rocks into place on top of the dirt. I thought some new topsoil would look nice thrown over top of the rocks and then swept down in among them to fill in the cracks so Lyndon and Tyler headed off to make the purchase. When they returned with the bags of dirt I looked out and was shocked to see Tyler removing all the rocks he had just put in place 1/2 and hour ago. I explained that I didn't think he needed to take the rocks out, just put the dirt around them but this was his job and I let him go to it.

With the flower bed borders complete he then set to putting the stone steps in place and started digging out the ground to set them in. It took us another couple of hours to get all 15 of the rocks placed and levelled but the result was great. I can now easily walk down to pick rhubarb and not have to walk sideways back up the hill with my arms full without falling.

Shortly after the job was done, we had enjoyed a nice supper and had some time to relax, there was a small knock on the back door. No one ever uses the back door so I was suprised to see a wee little girl there holding a sponsor sheet. She was collecting for the Jump Rope for Heart. I asked her if she used my new steps to come up the hill and she shyly smiled and answered "yes". I looked at Lyndon and said, "I knew if we built it, they would come!" Maybe the future name of my bed and breakfast should be "Field of Dreams".