We got a call to come help a friend with his eagle project. He just asked for Harold and a shovel. I asked if his brothers could come too, knowing how many hands make lighter work. I was not sure what the project was but Harold is quickly approaching his time for eagle and we need all the good will we can get for the projects he is considering. I dropped the boys off at a large pile of rocks with a shovel a piece and left to run errands. When we got back I went to inspect the progress and was taken back in time to my childhood.
Being an experienced rock mover I told the kids they could almost go as fast with hands and a bucket as with shovels. I also wanted Livy to get a feel for moving some rocks.
Rock hauling was a big part of my childhood. It was the punishment for most offenses and one that worked wonders on attitudes. It is a hard job to move rock. This size doesn't shovel well. They are heavy and that pile seemed to never shrink. On this day or as a kid. The boys were explaining their tiredness and taking a break from working. To be fair they had worked all day before this outside so they really weren't just lazing around. However, they revived quickly upon entering the swimming pool on the other side of the rock border.
All in all they moved about 2/3 of the pile. I'm glad to say they were industrious rock haulers and got a good feel for the labor of rocks! It made me want to order a truckload or two of rocks to landscape around my house and instill some though provoking discipline. Greg however refuses to buy rocks when we live very near a lot of gravel pit grade rock piles... we have spent a lot of hours picking rocks out of fields. Not nearly so many hours as he has but way more than I had previous to our life here on the farm. The kids cutely say "oh mom there's no more rocks we got them all."
On this bench ground there will always be more rocks. Which is a good because there are always more kids needing that experience. And thank goodness there are always more eagle projects too. We have learned a lot working with these different boy scouts that have climbed to that rank. It's always inspiring to see how much a group of people can accomplish in a given amount of time.
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