Sisyphean labors

Tiny atop the compost box behind the house guards entrance to the work site as Tuck pauses before jumping back in to the Sisyphean task of moving the retaining wall back away from the west side of the house, toward which it has been creeping, inch by inch, for years. Begun last summer, the project employs a homemade overhead crane to hoist giant granite stones into place atop the base course. For background and more pictures, see Mr. Willis, move back this wall, Romancing the stone and There is something that likes a wall.

Tuck finishes clamping together components of the crane, which must be disassembled, moved into position and then reassembled for each stone.

The culmination of an honest day's work, the stone of the hour rests solidly in place. This is the same stone --  suspended from the crane, inset in pictures here -- that decided to escape and tumble down the hill on the far side just as Tuck was in the final stages of moving it into place last week.

Close-up of interface between base and stone suggests the mouth of a cave opening up to a mysterious inner chamber bathed with light.  Shangri-la in our own backyard?

Comments

[goomp]

The Egyptian pyramid builders had nothing on Tuck. A runaway granite block is a scary thought