Some people have all the luck. Take Pablo at Roundrock Journal, for instance.  Not only does Pablo have cute, cuddly, nameable rocks at Roundrock, such as Stoneman, he is also blessed with the good fortune to possess other memorable specimens.  Specimens with names like “Craters o’the Moon” and “Orange Rock”.  It almost makes you want to go out and adopt the first piece of orphaned schist you can find.  Don’t do it!

Rocks are evil. Evil, I tell you.  And how do I know this to be true?  Ladies and gentlemen, I grow rocks.  Real rocks.  Big rocks.  And I harvest these rocks.  Before you click away from this page, muttering something like “I know rocks, and Hal must be off of his”, let me tell you a little (true) anecdote.

During our first season of owning this place we call home, I spent a great deal of time picking up rocks from our various pastures and fields.  In two fields next to the house, I took extra pains to be certain I picked up all of the rocks, because I intended to add these fields into hay production, and hay equipment and rocks don’t mix.  Using the front-end loader on the tractor, a rock bar, and lots of stoop-labor, I eventually managed to strip these two fields clean of any rocks.

Winter came and went, then spring arrived, and the grass was growing tall.  When June rolled around the grass was just about in it’s prime to be baled.  Now it doesn’t make economic sense for me to cut and bale my own hay, so I usually have a neighbor do it for me on a share basis.  In this particular year, a neighbor named Boots came around with his tractor to cut the hay.  After just a short time cutting grass – BANG.  The sickle-bar mower had hit a rock, damaging several of it’s cutting teeth.  Boots replaced the damaged parts and began cutting again, when another loud BANG could be heard.  More damage to the sickle-bar mower.  And more time spent repairing the mower.  When this happened a third time, Boots came over to have a talk with me.

Boots:  “I thought ya said ya picked up all them rocks”

Hal:       “I did.  I picked up every rock in sight for nearly a month last summer” 

Boots:   “Yeah, but yer field growed more of them rocks this winter”   

Hal:        “My field grew WHAT this winter?”

Boots:    “It growed more rocks.   Didn’t ya harvest ’em this spring?”

Hal:        “Harvest WHAT?”

Boots:    “The rocks.  Ya gotta harvest ’em each spring”.

Now I thought that old Boots had been out in the sun too long or something, but you know what?  He was absolutely right.  These fields do grow rocks.  It is apparently part of a geological process that is normal in the Ozarks.  The best way that I can explain the process that is going on in my fields is to have you picture a batch of chocolate-chip cookie dough spread out in a pan.  This would represent my field – an amalgam of soil and rock.  If you were to pick out all of the chips that appear on the surface of the dough, leaving no more chips visible, that would be analogous to my picking up the rocks in my field during the summertime.  Whenever the soil expands and contracts, such as in a freeze/thaw cycle, or a wet/dry cycle, the resulting dynamics that ensue create an up-force to the rocks below the surface.  Eventually, they will rise to the surface, waiting for just the right moment to inflict their havoc on the unsuspecting, as seen here:

If you recall from a previous post, we suffer the loss of chickens and guineas due mostly to daytime predation.  In an effort to stem the tide of such losses, Retta and I have decided to take these two fields (closest to the house) out of hay production.  We intend to keep the grass short this year in these areas, in the hope that our fowl will stand a better chance of survival.  To that end, I was busy with the tractor this morning cutting the grass in these fields, when – BANG – the bush-hog hit a rock.  It was a sneaky rock, hiding like the one in the previous photo, barely above the surface of the soil, but extending out just enough to get snagged by the corner of my bush-hog:

And here you see that, in addition to finishing up the mowing, Hal now has to haul away a big rock, fill in and compact a big hole, and fix the broken blade on the bush-hog:

These are the kind of evil, good-for-nothing rocks I have to deal with out here.  None that are cute, none that are cuddly – just DANG ROCKS!

 

After three months of blogging, I thought it was time to pause and assess this site.  This has pretty much been a play-it-by-ear endeavor.  Since I had not planned on having a blog (see new page – “A Little About This Blog“), it stands to reason that I also did not have a clue as to what direction this blog should take.  I still don’t.  But no matter, I’ll press on anyway.  I have decided to make a few minor changes.

First, I have eliminated the category “Media Center Ramblins”.  I still like Windows XP Media Center, and I still use it daily.  But now that Microsoft has decided to incorporate the Media Center functionality into the upcoming Vista OS, I don’t think I will have too much to be saying about it in the future.  If I do, it will be included in “Computer Ramblins”.

Second, I will be increasing the frequency of posts in the “Photography Ramblins” category.  Having had dozens of cameras over the years, and photographic images numbering in the thousands (both terrestrial and underwater), I think that I can find something to say on the subject.

Third, I have included a new category entitled “Flashbacks in Time”.  Included in this category will be those things that I might have included in a blog 10, 20, or 30 years ago, had the technology existed at that time.

The fourth, and most significant change is the addition of a new feature, which I shall call “Flashback Fridays”.  Friday will be the designated day that I post items into the “Flashbacks in Time” category.  These posts will draw on my photographic collection, and will undoubtedly be quite varied in nature.

Considering my expectation was that I would be the only person reading my words and looking at my pictures, I am pleased to see that my web host reports the following:

Average successful requests per day: 2,660
Now if only I knew what that statistic means!