Many long years ago when Ol' Br'er was a strapping young rabbit, he was given a pin-on button that read "I'm Not Real Smart, But I Can Lift heavy Things". (Pithy and humorous buttons were right popular back in the Dark Ages) This was after he watch several people trying - unsuccessfully - to raise a side of a large object in order to get blocks under it to raise it a few inches.
I will not describe their suggestions. Suffice it to say Rube Goldberg would be duly impressed and humbled.
After many minutes of this idiocy, Br'er walked up, lifted the side of the structure, and held it there while the blocks were put in place. He then repeated the same thing for the other side. Task done in less than a minute. Thus the button was awarded.
Well Ol' Br'er ain't a young bunny any longer.
There is a small family cemetery barely visible at the edge of some woods WAY off the road out in the country. We've passed it several times, but time restraints and weather have always conspired to prevent our investigating it. That changed recently. We were in the area, had the time, the weather was great (even if Pollen was as toxic levels), AND there was a Find A Grave photo request for it to boot.
Ok. The 150 yard walk in and out through tall grass was not pleasant. But otherwise the conditions were excellent.
As always, viewing the cemetery merely ends up presenting me with unanswerable questions. To explain, I have to explain what we found. Looking at the image below (Hey! I spared no expense in creating my graphics!)
The blue-gray area in walled and the area covered in concrete. There are multiple inscribed headstones there.
The yellow area has a granite border almost covered by grass now. It has crushed marble covering the space that, too, is almost covered by grasses. The red are within it is an obvious grave site. It is an unmarked pebble impregnated concrete slab the exact dimensions of a grave.
The green area is just like the yellow with the exception being no obvious graves in it.
The smaller tan items are individual stone markers.
The blue line marks the demarcation from grassy area (left of the line) and wooded/overgrown area (right of the line).
All the surnames in the blue-gray area are the same. Oddly the one tan marker closest to the blue-gray area (a husband and wife) is the same surname as those in the blue-gray area. All the other tan markers are different surnames.
So right off the bat I want to know why the one family member was delegated to a spot outside the family plot. Who did they piss off? What heinous sin did they commit? Did he marry someone of whom the family did not approve? Did she insult Grandmother Webb somehow? Surely there must be a good story there and nothing so mundane as "that is where they ended up and it did not fit in the existing grid plot".
It was from that spot that the markers in the trees became somewhat visible.
What makes people maintain only part of a family cemetery. We are not talking about a large area by any definition. It wouldn't be much additional work to cut back some grown from time to time. Honestly, it would not take a full day to clear back the growth around these markers and make them easily accessible. Why this is not done perplexes me.
If you look closely at the left edge of the top photo you will see a marker where the top section has fallen over. The fallen section is about 8 by 12 by 20 inches. "Why that is nothing!", I think to myself, "I'll just set it back on the base. The base is nice and level, and obviously this tree fell and knocked it over."
Recall the who thing about not being smart but lifting heavy things? How it inferred having a strong back and a weak mind?
Yeah. Things have reversed. As I have grown older and wiser the mind has gotten stronger and the back weaker.
And stone is fecking HEAVY!
I fight giving myself a hernia a couple of times before I rethink things. I did completely lift the stone a couple of times, so honor was served. But handling it was too unwieldy. Selah; Pause and consider. Pausing and considering the matter I reassessed and formulated a new plan. I lifted the bottom of the fallen part and rested it on the base. I then lifted the top part using the bottom as a pivot point until the block tilted over and came to rest back on its base. A couple of adjustment pushes and it was realigned and good as new. Well, new-ish. Interesting that it obviously never had a pin or adhesive of any kind to keep it in place. Inertia and Friction alone did the job nicely for a century. Should last a good long time again.
Not anticipating any effort like this being necessary I had not brought along any tools so the mud just had to remain. At least I had reset the stone. So one good deed done.
That should cover my quota for the year.
Now please pardon me while I go shop for a truss.
No comments:
Post a Comment