Another Stoney Evening...

I'm just about to...

2011-07-05T13:45:00.001-04:00

...get this thing up and running again. We'll see how it goes! Stay tuned!

Okay, so I know it's been a while...

2005-08-05T01:23:00.000-04:00

...but I've been busy. And slack. And all sorts of stuff. But I took a couple of trips recently and got you some more pics. The weekend of July 16, Susan and I went to Panama City and stayed with my friend Mark Bowen. I did some balances on Shell Island. The next week I went to Portland, Oregon to visit my sister and did balances at Mt. St. Helens and on the coast. I'm back. Check it out.

2005-08-05T01:19:00.000-04:00

These are on Shell Island off of Panama City Beach in Florida. Look back to see the two balances on the jetty. I knocked over the ones I did on the beach, but kept the others standing. They stood through some really strong winds. I was impressed.

2005-08-05T01:17:00.000-04:00

This is the whole gang on Shell Island. They go eight in all. I later di another back on the jetty in the background.

2005-08-05T01:15:00.001-04:00

I liked this guy.

2005-08-05T01:15:00.000-04:00

A two-banger.

2005-08-05T01:12:00.000-04:00

Did this one at Mt. St Helens on July 26. This is at the end of the trail that they would let you walk, at the end of the curve known as The Devil's Elbow. The mountain steamed a lot that day, and the balance, St. Helenstone, paid homage to the forces that flung her so far from her home.

2005-08-05T01:07:00.001-04:00

Me and St. Helenstone

2005-08-05T01:07:00.000-04:00

This guy appreciated the balance. Then he went on.

2005-08-05T01:05:00.000-04:00

This guy is at Lincoln Beach on the Oregon coast on July 28. It is at the end of the beach, which is accessible at low tide. That means tide pools of starfish and stuff. This stone goes about sixty pounds, and as I balanced it, over my head while balanced on rocks below it, it dawned on me that the stone could break my leg and leave me stranded in a place that would turn ugly in a few hours. Luckily, I didn't have a knife, so I wouldn't have sawed off any body parts to escape.

2005-08-05T01:02:00.000-04:00

A little further out.

2005-08-05T01:01:00.000-04:00

And a long shot for scale.

Spring Fever

2005-04-20T13:15:00.000-04:00

has me by the short hairs, and it's yankin'. I know it's seeming like I've abandoned the rocks, but it's not true. The thing is that it's springtime in Atlanta, and that's a glorious thing. I've been indulging in various pasttimes that the gorgeous weather cries for--golf, tennis, biking, and various other enterprises al fresco. In addition, the garden stacks have exhibited remarkable resilience to the elements, and have needed no rebuilding. So please forgive the lapse in posting.
Below is a stack I did at the home of the girl I've been spending a lot of time with. When I finished it, she was disappointed that it wasn't more prominently featured in the landscaping, but I had to tell her of the dangers inherent in the craft, that is, falling stones can destroy cats, dogs, children, and landscaping. I call it Siegelstone, as her name is Susan Siegel.

2005-04-20T13:09:00.000-04:00

The Siegelstone. This baby goes about seven feet high, my tallest to date. It has bigger stones than I usually work with, as well. The top stone is from Sope Creek in Marietta. When I pulled it out of my trunk, Susan said, "What, you just carry rocks around with you?", like it was a weird thing to do or something.

2005-04-20T13:06:00.000-04:00

And another view.

2005-04-20T13:05:00.000-04:00

This is the lamp that Dave made for me. Extremely cool but rather cumbersome to move around within a decorating scheme. I just mean it's heavy, really heavy.

I Know It's Been A While, But...

2005-03-30T20:10:00.000-05:00

...I got out to the river yesterday and had a blast. My friend Jennifer went wtih me and turned out to be quite a stacker. She was more entranced with the delicate balances, and did well with them. We were at Sope Creek in Marietta GA. Here's a few shots.

2005-03-30T20:08:00.000-05:00

This was the prize stack of the day. It got a lot of attention from passing hikers. As we left, we asked some kids to knock it over on their way out so that it wouldn't harm children or animals.

2005-03-30T20:06:00.000-05:00

This was the favorite balance of the day. It was under a large stone in the creek and I pulled it out and it balanced in about two seconds. I call it the Solstice Stone.

2005-03-30T20:04:00.001-05:00

Trifecta Rock.

2005-03-30T20:04:00.000-05:00

Butt pose with balance.

2005-03-30T20:03:00.000-05:00

This is Jen's first stack. She calls it The Penguin.

2005-03-30T20:02:00.000-05:00

A photographer from the local paper showed up and took some action photos of my balancing. They were published in today's paper.

2005-03-30T19:53:00.000-05:00

This is Jennifer's first stack. She calls it the Penguin.

2005-03-30T19:51:00.000-05:00

Jennifer and her Rebar Balance. It's on a piece of rebar sticking out of the stream. I was quite impressed, as I had tried to balance another stone on it earlier. I did do a different stone on the rebar after hers fell, however, and redeemed myself.

2005-03-30T19:50:00.000-05:00

Working on North Sope Stack.

2005-03-30T19:49:00.000-05:00

Jen called this one "Ham Hock in Repose," but like to think of it as "Falling Water."

Got A Lot Done Today...

2005-03-15T01:57:00.000-05:00

...including some stacks. Ran errands all day, and still found time to do a little work in the garden. Here 'ya go.

2005-03-15T01:55:00.000-05:00

These were today's first works. On the right is Center Stage Stone. I haven't been doing any really delicate balances lately because they have a tendancy to fall and take down other stacks. I put up the stage so that I could do delicate stuff on the days that there is no rebuilding to do, and to showcase some really cool stones that have been serving border duty around the garden edge for lack of a better spot in the stacks. I think they appreciated their moment in the sun. Literally. They get the last of the day's sun.

2005-03-15T01:49:00.000-05:00

Center Stage Stone. I actually put one more on the stage later.

2005-03-15T01:46:00.000-05:00

Treehugger Arch. This is the last thing I did today. I may move it soon, even though it's pretty darned solid. I think it just needs a place where it is more easily viewed.

2005-03-15T01:44:00.000-05:00

Ghost in the garden.

2005-03-15T01:43:00.000-05:00

I like the slash of sunlight on this guy.

2005-03-15T01:42:00.000-05:00

This is a really great looking piece of quartz. The sun is good to it.

2005-03-15T01:40:00.000-05:00

One of my favorite little accents.

2005-03-15T01:39:00.000-05:00

I can't resist putting this one up again and again, even though it only lasts about an hour or two when I do.

Don't Pay The Ransom...

2005-03-13T19:50:00.000-05:00

...I escaped. I wasn't really kidnapped. I know it's been over a week since I posted, but last week we had monster winds that took down nearly every stack in the garden. I worked every day last week, had jury duty one day, and I had to study a lot for the new job, so I didn't get any stacking done at all. Today was gloriously sunny, though, and I got a lot of work done. All of the stacks are back up except one, which I hope to get to tomorrow. Here's the latest photo collection.

2005-03-13T19:46:00.000-05:00

Some of today's new work. Treehugger stack is back up, as are Tabletop Roundies and the rest of the gang. As usual, I moved some stones around the garden to give them a little variety.

2005-03-13T19:41:00.000-05:00

Another shot of some of the new stacks.

2005-03-13T19:40:00.000-05:00

This one is pretty tall, up to my eyes.

2005-03-13T19:38:00.000-05:00

A couple little balances with some of the leftovers.

2005-03-13T19:36:00.000-05:00

The new Redstone Arch.

2005-03-13T19:34:00.001-05:00

The new Baby Stack. It has three teeth now.

2005-03-13T19:34:00.000-05:00

The new Tabletop Roundies.

2005-03-13T19:33:00.000-05:00

Closeup of the new Treehugger Stack. The quartz on top has a really beautiful deposit of mica in it.

2005-03-13T19:31:00.000-05:00

End of the day in the garden.

I May Have Jinxed Myself...

2005-03-05T02:51:00.000-05:00

...last night when I wrote of the danger of stacking. Today I went out to stack and started by putting a roundie accent on the new tower. When I did I noticed a slight wobble, and when I bent down and started messing with it to fix it, the two top stones fell on my head. Dang. I took it down to a point and redid it.

2005-03-05T02:48:00.000-05:00

This is the second reincarnation of Trifecta Towers. It is now known as Conker Rock.

2005-03-05T02:47:00.001-05:00

Second view of Conker Rock.

2005-03-05T02:47:00.000-05:00

The Treehugger Stack, aka "Son of Greybar." Dave will understand.

2005-03-05T02:45:00.000-05:00

The garden at the end of Friday. Gotta run get ready for work.

I Have My Reasons...

2005-03-04T02:37:00.000-05:00

...for not posting lately, mostly lame. Okay, so I met a girl, and that's not lame, in fact it's been wonderful, so I've been out late and not posting. But the weather's been lousy (it even snowed on Tuesday morning) and the winds have been high and it's been cold and well, I've been busy with my new job. So there, deal with it. But here are the most recent.

2005-03-04T02:31:00.000-05:00

This is the rebuild of Trifecta Tower. I may have been a little bold in naming that one too soon. We had high wind Monday and Tuesday and it came down. On the plus, it didn't take down Tabletop Roundies (far left and low), but it did go back and take down the one behind it. This one has a savage pitch forward (which you can see in the next shot or two), and features a massive stone (rock D) that I purloined from a constuction site. This was one of those where, during construction, I worried for the safety of my skull as I was crouched and stacked above my head.

2005-03-04T02:24:00.000-05:00

The garden as of Thursday afternoon. On the far left is one that I rebuilt Tuesday during the high winds of Monday/Tuesday. I put the big beautiful piece of muddy quartz in there as rock F, as you can see.

2005-03-04T02:21:00.000-05:00

A view of Aguirre/Smith Manor with the garden. The garden is nestled beneath a spreading eastern hemlock (I looked it up. It really is a variety of hemock). The tree is gorgeous but farts boughs constantly on the lawn that must be picked up or raked nearly constantly.

2005-03-04T02:18:00.000-05:00

View number two of the homestead with garden. I posted this one and the last one just for the girl I've been seeing, so she could see the house. She's not been here yet, though I've been to her home several times. It's great. She has some great stones left over from landscaping and she said I could build a stack in her front yard. It's gonna be great. You'll see it soon enough.

A Stack By Any Other Name..

2005-02-28T00:18:00.000-05:00

...would still be as cool. I have taken the initiative and given names to some of the stacks. Since I have started learning more and the the stacks are now staying up for weeks at a time, I have decided that I can be bold enough to name them without fearing the heartbreak of their eminent demise due to the elements. I'll bore you with the individual names tomorrow. For now, enjoy some artsy photos via the magic of closeup (aka Macro ) photography.

2005-02-28T00:06:00.000-05:00

The one in the center is the rebuild of the one that fell and took down Tabletop Roundies (the little guy to its left). I rebuilt it yesterday, taking great pains to make it solid and windproof. I have named it Trifecta Tower, as it has three dependent stones in it. The big beautiful piece of muddy quartz (rock C from bottom, of course) was purloined from the construction site I recently discovered and plan to visit a lot once it dries out enough to enable maneuverability through the muck.

2005-02-28T00:02:00.000-05:00

Closeup of Trifecta Tower, with the tall little roundie accent. Ever since I got back from NC and Dave's Avant Garden (see link) I have been accenting a lot with the roundies, which remind me of the beauty of the river and the slow course it takes in making stones round. Patience is a virtue. You can't make a stone shaped like that overnight.

2005-02-27T19:24:00.000-05:00

Closeup of an accent on one of the dependent stacks. Actually I've gotten to where every stack I do has at least one stone that depends upon at least the stone above it to stay put, so they're all pretty much dependent stacks now.

2005-02-27T19:22:00.000-05:00

Closeup of Baby Arch.

2005-02-27T19:21:00.001-05:00

Closeup of The Roundie Arch.

2005-02-27T19:21:00.000-05:00

Closeup of the top of Tabletop Roundies.

When The Stacks Don't Fall I Don't Have Rocks To Stack

2005-02-25T01:26:00.000-05:00

Today the weather was agreeable, but the stacks were mostly still up. I did repair tabletop roundies, which had been taken down last night by the big one next to it. I suspect foul play, as the one next to it was pretty danged stable. As it turned out, I just fixed tabletop (which I have grown to love) and then went in search of rocks. I found a construction site that I plan to scour daily for a while. It was a giant mudpit today from the heavy rain storm last night (which means the stacks survived even that heavy a rain), so I couldn't go after a lot that I saw. I did retreive three beauties, though. One of them was a backbreaker that crushed my pinky as I loaded it (finally) into the trunk. I'll be getting some great stuff in the future as the ground dries and I can go into the clearings further.
I was pulling out of the driveway today when I noticed the neighbor had stacked four nice (little) pieces of quartz near his driveway. I may have a chance to coax him into giving me a tiny hunk of lawn (a three to four foot circle would be plenty) for a good stack. He'll get a free maintenence plan since he's across the street. I've already planned it out. I'll let you know, of course, how it pans out.

Seventy And Sunny Today...

2005-02-23T00:59:00.000-05:00

...a glorious day in the garden. I got up early (for me) and spent some time in the garden. I rebuilt, built from scratch, and spent the last of my free time before work using the last of my free little stones doing a nice border around the garden. All in all it was a glorious afternoon. I took frequent breaks to do laundry, drink coffee, read, and watch the birds frolic on the newly filled feeder. All but the laundry involved enjoying the sunny weather. This is good for my roomie, who sleeps till two in the afternoon, so he didn't have to deal with me tiptoeing around the creaky wood floor and laughing at internet jokes right outside his bedroom door. When I got home tonight all of the stacks were still up, so I don't know what I'll do tomorrow if there are no stacks to rebuild. Maybe I'll go in search of a good field of stone like Dave has to build in. I'm jealous of his availability of stackable stone. Maybe some riverside access will do the trick.

2005-02-23T00:57:00.000-05:00

Had to rebuild this arch today. The stack behind it fell last night and took this one with it. I got to use the bird stone (rock C from the right) and I think it's happy here. Time will tell.

2005-02-23T00:55:00.000-05:00

Replaced this one today after it toppled while I was toiling at the money job last night. It took down an arch from yesterday, which I just told you about. When working with this blog site I have to do my entries in reverse, so the last pictures you see were written about first. So I have to think backwards when typing and sending photos. It's harder than I make it seem. Try writing a journal entry backwards. You'll see.

2005-02-23T00:51:00.000-05:00

Tabletop roundies. This one is pretty delicate because the four legs of the table are just sitting on the ground. Working with the little roundies presents an unique set of balance issues, as they don't have three points of contact very often ( the triad of balancing stability),

2005-02-23T00:48:00.000-05:00

Buddy's kids. Send your money today.

2005-02-22T01:52:00.000-05:00

The garden when I left for work today.

2005-02-22T01:51:00.000-05:00

I like this one. It's heavy and dependent.

2005-02-22T01:50:00.000-05:00

Two towers. I did the right one on Saturday evening. The left one was today. I started putting the tall roundies on top after coming back from the river in NC.

2005-02-22T01:48:00.000-05:00

This is baby arch. It was the third of the day. She's pretty tough.

2005-02-22T01:46:00.000-05:00

The second arch of the day. It had big stones and I did it without supports underneath. It's about knee high.

2005-02-22T01:45:00.000-05:00

Did this roundie arch and surrounded it with roundies. This is, of course, a top view.

2005-02-22T01:44:00.000-05:00

The roundie arch. Those guys are tough to work with.

2005-02-22T01:43:00.000-05:00

Today's first arch. I just had to put that red rock on top. It's from Dave's garden in NC. It screams to be prominent. If ever there was a rock that thought it was a face, it's this baby.

2005-02-22T01:42:00.000-05:00

Playing with the camera last night.

2005-02-22T01:41:00.000-05:00

Last night. Experimenting with tihe shutter control on the camera.

I Finally Get To Sit And Write...

2005-02-21T00:25:00.000-05:00

...about the trip to Dave's Avant Garden in NC. It was like a vacation in paradise for the novice stacker. Dave has four places near his home where he can go and be surrounded by stones to stack. I wore a hat most of the time so that he couldn't see that I was green with envy. I got to his place about 1400 Wednesday and stacked in his back yard till he got home from work. Then we were off to the Garden. The first thing we did was repair the stack at Quayle Manor. It was at this point that I realized the first difference between Dave's stacking methods and my own--Dave works on a massive scale. The stack was in the middle of the river on a boulder. The rocks we stacked weighed from ten to eighty pounds each (except for the cap stone). "My God," I thought, "What have I gotten myself into?"
It was the begining of an awesome pilgrimage. I met Anne's sister (cool), Anne's father, (also cool) and got to see the kids again. I haven't seen Matt and KT since Matt was three and KT was donning diapers. I got to meet Josh for the first time and he was as super cool as the other two. I can't wait to know those guys as they get older.
You know what, this is getting wordy. Let's look at pictures.

2005-02-21T00:24:00.000-05:00

The Stack at Quayle Manor. Huge Rocks. Cold Water. This is why Dave is my guru. Well, one of the reasons. He's just my guru in stacking, though. There are things I could teach him about other stuff if he could afford my lesson price. Not about picking wives, though. His wife Anne and his kids are some of my favorite humans on this planet. It's a big planet.

2005-02-21T00:17:00.000-05:00

Dave photographing the new stack at Quayle Manor. I need some of those boots.

2005-02-21T00:16:00.000-05:00

This was one of my first stacks in the garden. It's dependent and cool, I think.

2005-02-21T00:13:00.000-05:00

This is Windy. Dave first balanced this one a couple of weeks ago and named it because it's incredibly sensitive to the wind that howls through the garden. It's a very delicate blance and a huge stone. He showed me the stone and the place it should stand and I got to balance it myself. It took about seven or eight minutes of holding this huge rock at shoulder height (I was crouching down). I was honored to re-balance one of Dave's creations. It is a true beauty. I mean come on, look at it. It defies gravity, logic, and rational thought.

2005-02-21T00:08:00.000-05:00

Just for scale. Windy is big. I go about eight feet tall, so this about a two ton boulder. Not really, but that sucker's big. I guess it's about fifty pounds really. Dave, leave a comment and correct me if I'm wrong. You've moved it more than me. It's a beautiful stone, though.

2005-02-21T00:04:00.000-05:00

See how high he builds? See how big the stones are in relation to his waist? It's heavy stuff, man. No, I mean heavy. Like "break your leg if it falls heavy."

2005-02-20T23:56:00.000-05:00

The Dave in his back yard repairing wind injured stacks. Look how freaking big they are. Huge stones.

2005-02-20T23:52:00.000-05:00

I learned a lot while I was there. Dave works big. Big heavy rocks that go high. If you want to make a staircase, start at the bottom. When making big arches on your own, stack logs underneath and then remove them. Make sure they're smooth and straight. Lots of stuff like that. I also came to realize that, at this point, at least, Dave and I have some differences in style and theory. Dave will build a big beautiful stack and if it falls he wants to reuse the same rocks in the rebuild. I like to move them around. My stacks are smaller and are more delicate. A lot of this stems, I think, from the fact that he has infinitely more stone and space than I do. He also has no aversion to moving rocks all over town. I like to take them from a site, bring them home, and deal with them. Again, I think it has to do with availability.

2005-02-20T23:45:00.000-05:00

This is the lantern we used to stack by after dinner on Wednesday night. We went and built ten waist-high arches together by moon and lantern light. It was an awesome experience for the novice stacker. Dave is a man possessed at times. There where times when I was beat and my hands were numb and I was about to say "Let's head on home," and he'd say, "The next one should be here," and we'd start gathering more rocks. That lantern is an old school wick and oil job. Not the Coleman "You're Carrying The Sun Around" lantern. It was beautiful to work with. A glorious yellow light that made excellent shadow cinema when you swung it around the stacks.

2005-02-20T23:41:00.000-05:00

You can see several of the arches in this shot. Tomorrow or the next day I may bore you with the individual shots of each arch. They are all incredible in their own way. Each has a unique balance feature. Anne's dad Peter, whom I've heard about for years and just met this week, even commented on how they were wonderfully different. When we did this one, Dave said he would allow the cheater stone (the long one that spans a long gap) if it would support another on top of it. It took it easily so we agreed it had to take another, which it did, thereby proving its worth.

2005-02-20T23:37:00.000-05:00

Here's another. Working togethr is great in a lot of ways. The key was getting enough rocks in the zone to work with one hand while supporting your side of the arch until the keystone goes in. Plus we were working by lantern light.

2005-02-20T23:34:00.000-05:00

View through the arches. That's one of my favorites. It has all of the proper characteristics of the classic arch.

2005-02-20T23:30:00.000-05:00

This is my tribute to Windy. This guy goes about fifty or sixty pounds and is delicately balanced. It was taken by the wicked wind after aabout twenty minutes. I called it Casper, because it's friends with Windy (Wendy). I know it's a stretch, but you weren't there and the dog (Sylvia) wasn't forthcoming with great ideas for names.

2005-02-20T23:26:00.000-05:00

A celebratory hillbilly dance. This one's a six-footer. It lasted till I left. Time will tell. I hope it hangs a while. It seems pretty tough.

2005-02-20T23:21:00.000-05:00

The first of these. I knew the wind would topple the little roundies on top, but I've been dying to try some of those river stones in a stack. They're so round that they are tough to balance, and the more you put on the more difficult it becomes.

2005-02-20T23:19:00.000-05:00

This is the first rebuild of this guy. Man it was windy there. I thought this one was solid as Sears, but it turned out to be as solid as, well, Sears.

2005-02-20T23:17:00.000-05:00

The Guru on the bench that he and I built on his neighbor's land. It's amazingly comfortable. The seat is at the perfect height in relation to the ground it sits on. You wouldn't believe what it took to get the rocks to the spot. Let's just say that there was danger and risk of fractured limbs. On my part, not the trees. Dave will haul rocks everywhere and anywhere. We took ten and used four. I convinced him to do the stack in the background so that we wouldn't have to take the left-overs home. He did insist that we take one of his faves back with us. It was a long walk back to the car with it. The folks we built it for really loved it, though. They baked him a beautiful cake. It had chocolate rock stacks on it. See the link to his site. It's awesome.

2005-02-20T23:10:00.000-05:00

My new tribute to The Dave. This one has huge stones. I had to roll rock C from about thirty yards away. It took forever. It goes an easy sevent-five pounds. Rock E is an easy forty pounder. The whole thing is about six inches higher than I am. I stand five foot twelve. That's six feet if you're no math whiz.

2005-02-20T23:06:00.000-05:00

Baby Stacks. I need to practice with the little smoothies. They present new challenges all their own.

2005-02-20T23:03:00.000-05:00

Part of the garden. From left to right are mine, Dave's, Dave's, Sewer Pipe, mine, more of Dave's.