I decided to mow the lawn again today. The back lawn, at least. My wife is coming home on Tuesday, and Monday is supposed to be rainy, so if I want the yard to look nice for her return, it has to be mowed today.
Toward the end, the brush hog struck a rock with its blade while I was going down one of the steep but still mowable hills. It was one of those pesky things that wasn't there last week but it's here now. That's how it seemed anyway. I find new hazards every time I mow. I finished mowing, hunted through the area and found the culprit pretty quickly. It was a small thing (to the eye), barely visible through the grass.
Example (Here's a similar rock that I photographed later):
Since the rock was in an awkward location, I decided to dig it out so I wouldn't break my blade on it some day in the future.
I grabbed my pick and shovel and dug down on all sides of the rock. It was bigger than I expected. I pulled out dirt and a dozen or so smaller rocks - softball sized and smaller. Once I was down a foot, I started to worry that my little rock might be part of the bedrock. I still couldn't get it to budge and was beginning to think I never would, so I changed tactics. If I could break an inch or two off the top, I could cover it over and never have to worry about it again. I tried the pick, but that was useless. The rock was too hard. I went back to the garage and got my digging bar - an iron rod that's an inch thick and six feet long. It packs a wallop . . . but I had no luck with it either. It could dent the rock, but there weren't any cracks and nothing big was breaking off.
Just for kicks, I rammed the digging bar into the soil alongside the rock and had my first basis for optimism. It didn't hit anything but soil - suggesting that the rock might actually be an independent rock and not part of the rock shelf. I did this on all sides and eventually found its boundaries. I did some more digging and used the digging bar as a lever. That didn't work. The soil behind the rock gave way when I tried to pry at the rock. I stuck some rocks behind the digging bar and tried again . . . but it wouldn't budge. This rock was huge or could still be part of the bedrock, affixed at its base. I kept digging and prying and eventually thought I saw the slightest wiggle when I pried. I kept doing that until I was sure. The rock COULD be moved.
At that point, I realized that even if it was moving, there was no way I'd be able to lift it out. I'd have to dig it out. At least the rock was on a hill. If I dug enough, I might be able to roll the thing. I was about to begin when I had an epiphany.
I got my chain, wrapped it around the rock and attached the other end to my tractor bucket. I got it in reverse and pulled. The rock moved forward noticeably before the chain slipped off. Now there was a gap on one side of the rock. I dropped stones into the gap so I wouldn't lose what I'd gained. I tried again with the chain wrapped lower. Again, some progress was made before the chain slipped off. I dropped more stones into the hole. I tried again - this time turning the tractor off before the chain slipped off. The gap was bigger so I dropped BIG stones behind the rock, then re-did the chain again. This fourth time the entire rock turned on end, now sticking out of the ground by more than a foot. I shifted the stones behind the rock to better support the rock and attached the chain again. This time, the rock ripped up the earth like a plow blade, then slid up and out of the ground.
I can hardly believe it. This thing is the size of a chair - more than 3 feet from end to end.
I *love* my tractor.
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