The Fence Post Rock

This is a flash-back to March 26, when we were seizing a window-of-opportunity, and enlarging our playground in a frantic rush.

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The very first post hole involved three large rocks, but the second involved a boulder. There was no way to relocate the hole, (which is often an option, and is a reason that fences in New Hampshire are not always the straightest.)

Therefore I had to smash the rock, using a heavy sledge hammer and my heaviest crow bar.

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As I worked, the after-school crowd came spilling from the school bus, and of course they all had to see what I was up to. Immediately they wanted to try to swing the sledge hammer and pound at the boulder, although in some cases they could barely hoist the weight. I did not need to use any Tom Sawyer tactics; youth simply likes the prospect of breaking things, and not being scolded for it.

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I had to take various safety precautions, such as making the youth that swung the hammer wear goggles, while all other youths stood far back. Everyone, boys and girls, got to swing at least once. A few little chips flaked off the boulder, but the stone seem largely unimpressed, until a rather slender youth basically dropped the sledge onto surface of the stone.

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It seemed to be a final straw. I noted a hairline crack, and by hammering the crow-bar into the crack it enlarged, and the boulder became two stones. Other cracks followed, and soon the boulder was out of the hole, as the rubble which appears in the picture.

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So much sweat is involved in digging post-holes in New England, that it is helpful to have a daughter who has a strong boyfriend to give you a hand. (Second picture.)

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I was in a hurry to finish the job, because as long as you have holes in the ground you run the risk a small child will find them irresistible, and jump into them. The third picture shows we were digging the final holes even before the snow was entirely gone. This meant the holes filled with water even as we dug them. It was a struggle, because the holes had to be two feet deep. We were basically digging a row of small wells.

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Even though a new fence is erected for safety's sake, having a row of wells at a child-care center in not safe. The danger is as follows:

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A small child estimates the depth of a puddle by the circumference of it's circle. Even as you talk to a three-year-old's parent, the two-and-half foot tall child is liable to walk to the circle of water and, assuming the water is two inches deep, jump into a post hole that is two feet deep.

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To avoid this sort of situation, which can be embarrassing, I highly recommend that all fences be completed, at all child-care centers in New England, before small children arrive on Monday morning.