I moved a stone with someone who wasn’t Jack today. I didn’t take any pictures, because it’s hard to take pictures and to do the sort of work necessary to hauling stones. Either carrying a stone in your arms or hauling it with a sledge is sweaty and dirty and prone to blows. Maybe I ought to bring a tripod.
Maybe not.
I went into the woods with Gabe, he didn’t seem sold on the notion, which makes me appreciate his willingness to join me even more. I tried explaining the lever, the sledge, the reward of the work, but he was skeptical. The fact that he made it to the stone and gave it a shot makes me love him, the fact that Jack did the same makes me love him, too. It implies a degree of trust because I must sound like a crazy person when I espouse stone carrying.
I’ve identified four types of stone moving.
That’s when you find a nice rock, the size of two fists or smaller and bring it home because it’s shiny or smooth or otherwise pretty. You do this to collect them, or to show it to someone you like, like a crow. I do this almost every time I go on a walk, I just tuck a few into my pocket, usually quartz, the whiter or the more transparent the better.
That’s carrying a rock for size or exercise without tools or assistance. I started by collecting stones to ring a fire pit, then I worked my way up to stones for footings for posts, those have to be larger. Generally I try to carry rocks as large as possible with no regard for distance. Sometimes I’ll have to visit the rock several times a day so it doesn’t just kill me outright.
3. Hauling
Hauling’s what I did with Gabe today: moving rocks too large to carry by hand, with additional tools, usually simple machines. It’s not nearly as exhausting carrying them by hand, that’s what makes it fun to do with a friend. You take turns, you take breaks, you appreciate the modest distance you’ve dragged something that weighs more than the two of you put together.
Testing stones are perhaps the most famous kind of stones for lifting, and my least engaged with sort. Testing stones are generally enormous, the very limit of what a strong human can lift. The lifting’s not always the same. Sometimes you’ve got to just get it up off the ground a few inches, other times you’ve got to lift it high enough to kiss, or hoist it onto an altar. As a test I tried to lift the first stone Jack and I hauled, I was able to get the wind under it, but that was about all. I don’t think I could have done that in July.
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I’ve identified four types of stone moving.
1. Crowing
That’s when you find a nice rock, the size of two fists or smaller and bring it home because it’s shiny or smooth or otherwise pretty. You do this to collect them, or to show it to someone you like, like a crow. I do this almost every time I go on a walk, I just tuck a few into my pocket, usually quartz, the whiter or the more transparent the better.
2. Hefting
That’s carrying a rock for size or exercise without tools or assistance. I started by collecting stones to ring a fire pit, then I worked my way up to stones for footings for posts, those have to be larger. Generally I try to carry rocks as large as possible with no regard for distance. Sometimes I’ll have to visit the rock several times a day so it doesn’t just kill me outright.
3. Hauling
Hauling’s what I did with Gabe today: moving rocks too large to carry by hand, with additional tools, usually simple machines. It’s not nearly as exhausting carrying them by hand, that’s what makes it fun to do with a friend. You take turns, you take breaks, you appreciate the modest distance you’ve dragged something that weighs more than the two of you put together.
4. Testing
Testing stones are perhaps the most famous kind of stones for lifting, and my least engaged with sort. Testing stones are generally enormous, the very limit of what a strong human can lift. The lifting’s not always the same. Sometimes you’ve got to just get it up off the ground a few inches, other times you’ve got to lift it high enough to kiss, or hoist it onto an altar. As a test I tried to lift the first stone Jack and I hauled, I was able to get the wind under it, but that was about all. I don’t think I could have done that in July.
