I'm so stoned

It's only a figurative statement.  The reality is that my property contains quite a bit of field stone.  And oak trees.  Thus I decided to name the place Stoned Oak.  You only have to go down a few inches into the soil to hit a rock and this time of year, you are quite likely to be hit by falling acorns.  Nature is dangerous - stay inside.

So the question I've been asking myself is... why bring in more stone?  The property yields enough for doing borders but last year I wanted to do a three level terrace.  I hired a landscape guy to take care of that for me.  A beast has to know his limitations.  I liked the stone he used so much that I bought more from him.  I used this to replace the rotting railroad ties bordering the flower beds.  It turned out very nice and everything matches.

However, the big project for this year though went well beyond the amateur level.  I had to call in some big guns.  I say I had to but really - I wanted to.  And I'm so glad I did.  There was a retaining wall which was falling down at the side of the house.  It wasn't really an eyesore to the casual viewer but to me it was terrible.  The idea was to rebuild the wall and perhaps add some stairs to make a pathway around that side.   Enter Devin Devine the wizard of stone.  Ok, he doesn't call himself a wizard but it sounds good to me.  I met him at a local home show and was convinced he was the guy for the job after consulting with him.  Below you'll see what he did to make an eyesore into a focal point.  Yes, I had to buy more stone.

There is a small stone wall in there but with the ivy it's similar to finding Waldo.

 

The pictures barely do it justice.  This is a sweet piece of stonework.  I'd even call it artwork.  Realize that all the stone is dry stacked.  No mortar was hurt or killed during it's production.  Devin is definitely coming back to do more art like this at the Lair.